Gerard Dunne waited all day to send a packed local crowd into raptures and he did so in style as he rolled in an eight-foot eagle putt on the 18th to grab a share of the lead heading into the final round of the Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open Championship.
On a dramatic afternoon at Seapoint Golf Links, Dunne held firm while others around him endured tricky spells on the back nine and he got his reward on the last to climb alongside England’s Lewy Hayward on twelve-under-par after a hard fought round of 70.
“Delighted with the finish, battled all day. It was tougher today so bit of patience and we got rewarded with a nice three on the last so I’m delighted with it,” said Dunne who credited his caddie John for keeping him in the moment down the stretch.
“John is a good friend of mine and has been caddying for me for the last couple of years so it’s really important. You can focus on the business at hand when you have somebody on your shoulder.”
Teeing off in uncharted territory, Dunne opened with a bogey but drew his first cheer of the afternoon with a birdie on the par-5 8th. The Baltray man birdied the tenth and bogeyed the eleventh but was steady if unspectacular as he left several birdie putts short.
The guidance counsellor held the putts when he needed to most coming down the stretch. After fluffing a pitch into the green side bunker on 16, he got up and down before a towering iron shot to 8-feet set up a grandstand eagle finish which has given him a chance to win his maiden championship.
“It’s massive, I hit a really poor drive on sixteen and hit an equally as poor second shot but got a decent lie in the bunker to be fair, left myself six feet down the hill. Hit good shots into 17 and 18 to get something out of the round.”
Hayward also showed some late fireworks with a birdie, birdie finish to remain alongside Dunne with eighteen to play.
After flirting with the course record on Friday, the Englishman roared four shots clear through nine holes on Saturday thanks to three birdies in a row from the sixth.
Seemingly unflappable for 27 holes at fourteen-under, the wheels began to come off for Hayward who dropped four shots in five holes including two three-putts. But he rallied admirably with birdies on 17 and 18 to give himself some momentum for the fight tomorrow.
“It turned into a serious grind out there today, hit some loose shots, but that’s going to happen in a 72 hole tournament and I was just happy with how I bounced back finishing birdie birdie,” said Hayward.
“I just kept thinking one shot at a time and see where it took me and luckily the putts started dropping. The birdies are a massive boost heading into tomorrow it could have got ugly out there and put myself out of it.”
Welshman Matt Roberts shot up the leaderboard with a 67 to briefly set the clubhouse lead on ten-under courtesy of four birdies in a row on his front nine while Tullamore/County Louth’s Stuart Grehan is a shot further back alongside Archie Davies after he ground out a 72 to remain on nine-under.
Grehan plotted his way along and picked up birdies on the 7th and 8th to close in on a rampant Haywood but bogeys on the ninth, tenth, thirteenth and fifteenth threatened to derail his bid but birdies on 14, 16 and a superb par on 17 after getting up and down from the right fescue have kept him firmly in the mix.
The former South and East champion was pleased with how much he battled despite having his ‘D’ game.
“You’re always going to have a sticky round so I felt like that was today. Didn’t have great ball control, missed a few short ones but another round tomorrow. My game is still good so hopefully shoot a low one tomorrow.
“The up and down on 17 is probably the best I’ve had in three or four years. I am still in there, eighteen holes to go anything can happen.”
At seven-under and five behind is Birkdale’s Greg Holmes while Keith Egan carded two birdies and sixteen pars to climb to six-under alongside David Howard and defending champion Matthew McClean who made a double bogey and two further bogeys in a frustrating and birdie less round of 76.
Dooks star Conor Hickey had a hole in one on the par-3 17th.
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