Winning is becoming a habit for Richard Kilpatrick after he made it three victories in a row on the PGA in Ireland region at the Ballymore Newlands Pro-Am.
Kilpatrick carded two eagles on his way to a four-under 67 which gave him a two shot win on a blustery day at Newlands Golf Club as he kept his rich vein of form going after breakthroughs at Luttrellstown and Donegal Murvagh.
“I seem to be playing quite well lately and we’ve been going to a lot of courses that suit me,” said the Banbridge man. “Long may it continue. As we know when you get on a run you try and stay out of your own way and just let it happen because it will end soon so you just try and prolong it as long as you can.
“Luttrellstown is a course that suits my eye, Murvagh was very difficult it was a course management course and it’s the same here there was wind this afternoon and you had to be very careful in places and take advantage of the shorter holes, the par fives, I really played the par fives well today which really got me going and built my round.”
It was a par five clinic from Kilpatrick. Starting on the back nine, he birdied the par-5 13th before hitting a six iron to three feet to eagle the 18th. He was back amongst the eagles again on the par-5 2nd after hitting an 8-iron to kick in distance and he could afford a bogey on the difficult par-4 5th as he finished two clear of David Higgins and Nicky Grant.
“There are so many places here where you can hit a good shot and end up behind a tree from nowhere. The couple of eagles was lovely, hit a nice 6-iron into 18 to three feet and holed that one and on the 2nd I hit an 8-iron stone dead. To pick up a couple of shots on the field means the holes where it can get tricky you can lay back on and not be as aggressive.”
Kilpatrick had been knocking on the door of the winners circle for quite a while this season, a double bogey finish cost him at Mount Juliet but since getting a taste for victories in recent weeks he wants to keep the ball rolling.
“I have played quite well all year, the game has felt good. Just on occasions I have hit the wrong shot at the wrong time, getting too aggressive on holes, I always think there’s a fine line between aggressive and stupid, I’ve been stupid! I’ve played well all year and it’s nice to see the wins, when you get one the confidence levels go up.”
Rounding off the under par scoring were Brendan McGovern, Liam Grehan and Damian Mooney with one-under 70s. Newlands own Brian Cosgrove carded a very respectable level-par 71 to share seventh place.
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