Ireland finished with aplomb in the closing round of the World Amateur Team Championship to share 10th place as Denmark claimed the Eisenhower Trophy by one shot on 39 under par.
The Danes posted 13 under on the O’Meara Course to win gold ahead of the United States. Spain edged New Zealand for the bronze with Ireland tied for 10th on 27 under par alongside Germany.
For the hosts it was a memorable championship even if their title dreams were dashed during Friday’s third round on the Montgomerie. Twelve shots off the lead at the close of day three, Ireland’s best hope was a top-10 finish. Thanks to a 68 from John Murphy and a 69 from Robin Dawson, Ireland improved by nine strokes as they signed off in style.
“It was a great week,” said Ireland captain John Carroll. “Unfortunately yesterday knocked us out completely. Three players didn’t play up to scratch and that happens in golf. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Unable to keep pace with the front-runners in the penultimate round, Ireland found themselves falling from second to 12th and such was the standard in this championship, a nine-under return on day four could only move them up two places.
“I’d have thought 27 under par around these two courses would have put us higher than we finished,” said Carroll. “I saw some guys playing out there and they certainly wouldn’t be lost on the tour.”
A bogey-free round of 68 from Kinsale’s John Murphy proved the highlight for Ireland at the end of a memorable week. In true showman style, Murphy birdied his final hole, the 9th, to secure Ireland’s place in the top 10. The 20-year-old kept the galleries entertained throughout, sinking long putts at the 17th, his eighth hole, and the 7th, much to their delight.
While it was a disappointing day for Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell, who finished over par for the first time this week, Tramore’s Robin Dawson kept the good vibes going, signing off with 69 to finish as Ireland’s leading individual on 14 under, which earned him a share of 13th place. Spain’s Alejandro Del Rey topped the individual standings on 23 under.
Ultimately, golf was the real winner at Carton House. Kind weather certainly contributed to the occasion but the performances were simply phenomenal, the combatants redefining the nature of elite play.
When Ireland won bronze two years ago their final tally was 18 under. Nine shots better this week, Ireland just about cracked the top 10. The home side might have been aiming to better that third-place finish in Mexico but this result still represents a significant achievement, and what’s more, for two days they were right in the hunt.
“Just being up in contention was probably the most enjoyable bit of it,” John Murphy reflected. “After the first round, we were all just in such good form. It was just a great day. It was a pleasure to be part of it.”
There were some lighter moments too, not least during the final round when Murphy spotted a familiar face in the crowd. Waiting his turn to putt at the 16th green, Murphy could not restrain a smile.
“My friends came up to watch,” Murphy explained. “They don’t have a clue about golf. I gave one of the lads a golf top and a hat and he was wearing it and going around tipping the hat. I was laughing at him because he just looked so out of place on a golf course. It was great to have him there. It was so nice to play in front of my friends and family. We’re not going to get the chance to play Eisenhower Trophy in my home country again.”
Asked for his highlight of the championship, Conor Purcell returned to the scenes at the start of the second round on Thursday.
“I was so nervous,” said Purcell. “There was such a big crowd and I was kind of feeding off them. I was the most nervous I was all week and I still played well. I just didn’t feel confident in what I was doing and I still pulled off the shots so that was pretty cool.”
For Robin Dawson, the golf was only part of it. His memory will be framed as much by what happened off the course.
“I like having the craic with the lads in the evening time, going for dinner and stuff like that,” said Dawson. “After the first day, we were all on a high after shooting a good round and we were all out in Avoca having something to eat. I like little moments like that.”
Wednesday’s opening round seems so far away now and yet the four days since have passed by in a flash. The time just flew. They must have been having fun.
The World Amateur Team Championships were hosted by the ILGU and GUI with support from Sport Ireland.
Final Scores
541 Denmark (Axelsen 69, Hojgaard 66, Hojgaard 67)
542 United States of America (Morikawa 71, Suh 69, Hammer 66)
544 Spain (Pastor 73, Del Rey 65, Hidalgo 72)
545 New Zealand (Ieremia 76, Mountcastle 71, Hillier 70)
548 Italy (Manzoni 72, Mazzoli 70, Scalise 70)
548 Norway (Hovland 67, Reitan 69, Volden 69)
548 Thailand (Hamamoto 71, Kaewkanjana 70, Chothirunrungrueng 72)
549 England (Petrozzi 71, Waite 69, Jordan 65)
550 Canada (Bernard 68, Rank 72, Savoie 68)
553 Germany (Hammer 74, Long 69, John 70)
553 Ireland (Murphy 68, Purcell 74, Dawson 69)
554 Australia (Lee 68, Micheluzzi 72, Wools-Cobb 70)
554 Scotland (Lumsden 71, Scott 67, Walker 71)
555 Austria (Steinlechner 73, Regner 70, Lipold 72)
556 Japan (Kanaya 67, Nakajima 69, Imano 78)
556 Switzerland (Freiburghaus 70, Cohen 68, Ettlin 73)
558 Sweden (Widing 72, Gillberg 69, Nilehn 72)
560 Argentina (Schonbaum 69, Fernandez de Oliveira 74, Contini 74)
560 Chile (Morgan Birke 69, Errazuriz 76, Gana 70)
560 Colombia (Ramirez Velandia 69, Restrepo 68, Ardila 76)
560 Wales (Chamberlain 72, Hapgood 70, Williams 69)
562 Czech Republic (Zuska 69, Hruby 73, Zach 70)
563 Republic of Korea (Choi 73, Jang 72, Oh 82)
564 Poland (Pakosch 73, Pedryc 70, Szmidt 72)
567 Belgium (Dumont de Chassart 68, De Bondt 73, de Wouters d’Oplinter 74)
567 Serbia (Cvetkovic 72, Dimitrijevic 72, Gudelj 70)
567 Singapore (Ho 69, Lee 73, Foo 71)
568 Netherlands (Ji 69, Kraai 78, van Tilburg 75)
568 Peoples Republic of China (Chen 76, Liang 73, Zhang 66)
569 South Africa (Saulez 72, Nienaber 70, Mitchell 68)
570 India (Kaul 74, Bedi 78, John Thomas 70)
572 Costa Rica (Gagne 68, Chaplet 76, Ortiz 72)
572 Hong Kong, China (Cheung 73, D’Souza 66, Ng 72)
572 Mexico (Pereda 68, Terrazas 69, Ortiz Becerra 72)
573 Iceland (Sveinbergsson 71, Juliusson 72, Petursson 68)
573 Portugal (Lopes 74, Girao 73, Lencart 71)
576 Finland (Mahonen 74, Honkala 73, Valimaki 69)
577 France (Gandon 74, Lacroix 77, Veyret 72)
578 Estonia (Hellat 77, Jegers 76, Turba 70)
578 Puerto Rico (Esteve 71, Alverio 71, Morales 80)
579 Guatemala (Villavicencio Calderon 75, Castellanos Conde 77, Gurtner 75)
579 Taipei, Chinese (Wang 73, Lai 80, Ho 73)
581 Peru (Zubiate 77, Freundt-Thurne 77, Barco 73)
581 Zimbabwe (Allard 79, Amm 69, Krog 73)
582 Brazil (Ishii 80, Park 66, Machado 73)
582 Slovakia (Brezovsky 72, Mach 70, Lucansky 83)
582 Venezuela (Garcia 70, Brauckmeyer 78, Prieto 77)
583 Dominican Republic (Valverde A 80, Pena 78, Guerra 70)
586 Morocco (Id Omar 67, Raouzi 77, Dahmane 78)
588 Bermuda (Dillas 74, Ming 74, Campbell 72)
596 Turkey (Esmer 76, Yamac 74, Acikalin 82)
599 Slovenia (Trnovec 73, Potocar 76, Burkelca 74)
601 Qatar (Al Kaabi 77, Al Kuwari 82, Al Shahrani 71)
601 Uruguay (Reyes 73, Teuten 78, Alvarez 80)
604 Croatia (Buerk 77, Stepinac 76, Vucemil 75)
604 Luxembourg (Weis 75, Weis 78, Winandy 83)
607 Saudi Arabia (Almulla 81, Alsakha 81, Attieh 77)
608 Cayman Islands (Hastings 74, Wight 79, Jarvis 73)
608 Panama (Ducruet 75, Cargiulo 74, Ordonez 76)
609 Malta (Borg 79, Critien 74, Micallef 75)
610 United Arab Emirates (Al Jasmi 70, Skaik 75, Thabet 81)
615 Liechtenstein (Schredt 80, Schreiber 75, Schredt 80)
617 Republic of Moldova (Coica 79, Volostnykh 72, Podgainii 81)
620 Bulgaria (Marinov 82, Savov 82, Staykov 71)
627 Guam (Camacho 78, Manalo WD, Poe 84)
639 Lithuania (Vaicius 85, Momkus 81, Markevicius 77)
651 Ghana (Angel 78, Dogbe 80, Kusi-Boateng 91)
664 Nigeria (Thompson 92, Inalegwu 80, Thompson 87)
678 Haiti (Brandt 87, Saint-Fort 95, Mehu 82)
699 Iraq (Al-Hashimi 101, Barnouti 101, Radee 78)
727 Gabon (Illien 83, Perez Ayo 93)
757 Armenia (Balyan 100, Karakhanyan 93, Saghatelyan 108)
Individual
267 A Del Rey (ESP), 70O, 64M, 68M, 65O;
268 T Kanaya (JPN), 66M, 68O, 67M, 67O;
273 J Suh (USA), 69M, 67O, 68M, 69O; D Hillier (NZL), 69O, 65M, 69M, 70O; P Cohen (SUI), 65O, 72M, 68M, 68O;
274 M Lee (AUS), 72M, 68O, 66M, 68O; N Hojgaard (DEN), 71M, 70O, 67M, 66O;
275 C Morikawa (USA), 72M, 66O, 66M, 71O; R Hojgaard (DEN), 68M, 70O, 70M, 67O; L Scalise (ITA), 68M, 69O, 68M, 70O; R John Thomas (IND), 64O, 72M, 69M, 70O; V Hovland (NOR), 70O, 73M, 65M, 67O;
276 R Dawson (IRL), 65M, 68O, 74M, 69O; J Axelsen (DEN), 64M, 69O, 74M, 69O; N Regner (AUT), 70M, 67O, 69M, 70O; A Pedryc (POL), 71M, 68O, 67M, 70O; G Petrozzi (ENG), 70O, 68M, 67M, 71O; S Kaewkanjana (THA), 66O, 65M, 75M, 70O;
277 J Savoie (CAN), 71M, 67O, 71M, 68O; A John (GER), 69M, 67O, 69M, 72O; G Foo (SGP), 70M, 69O, 67O, 71M; J Ji (NED), 70O, 70M, 68M, 69O; D Ieremia (NZL), 70O, 66M, 65M, 76O;
278 R Lumsden (SCO), 71M, 67O, 69M, 71O; S Scott (SCO), 73M, 71O, 67M, 67O; M Jordan (ENG), 73O, 70M, 70M, 65O; K Reitan (NOR), 71O, 70M, 68M, 69O; W Chothirunrungrueng (THA), 75O, 66M, 65M, 72O; J Garcia (VEN), 68O, 69M, 71M, 70O;
279 A Dumont de Chassart (BEL), 71M, 71O, 69M, 68O; H Bernard (CAN), 74M, 66O, 71M, 68O; L Lipold (AUT), 69M, 69O, 69M, 72O; S Mazzoli (ITA), 79M, 64O, 66M, 70O;
280 I Ramirez Velandia (COL), 70M, 71O, 70M, 69O; L Gagne (CRC), 73M, 67O, 72M, 68O; C Hammer (USA), 71M, 71O, 72M, 66O; B Gudelj (SRB), 70M, 67O, 73M, 70O; A Id Omar (MAR), 74M, 68O, 71O, 67M; O Gillberg (SWE), 70O, 65M, 76M, 69O; A Hidalgo (ESP), 73O, 69M, 66M, 72O;
281 P Lencart (POR), 67M, 70O, 73M, 71O; J Murphy (IRL), 69M, 70O, 74M, 68O; H Zhang (CHN), 71O, 74M, 70M, 66O; T Widing (SWE), 71O, 68M, 70M, 72O; J Zuska (CZE), 74O, 72M, 66M, 69O;
282 J Guerra (DOM), 70M, 71O, 71M, 70O; M Fernandez de Oliveira (ARG), 68O, 69M, 71M, 74O; 282 M Waite (ENG), 70O, 70M, 73M, 69O; J Volden (NOR), 72O, 68M, 73M, 69O; J Hapgood (WAL), 72O, 68M, 72M, 70O;
283 C Purcell (IRL), 69M, 69O, 71M, 74O; S Wools-Cobb (AUS), 72M, 70O, 71M, 70O; G Rank (CAN), 68M, 72O, 71M, 72O; M Contini (ARG), 73O, 68M, 68M, 74O; J Freiburghaus (SUI), 72O, 71M, 70M, 70O;
284 S Zach (CZE), 69O, 70M, 75M, 70O;
285 A Juliusson (ISL), 73M, 72O, 68O, 72M; H Choi (KOR), 71M, 73O, 68M, 73O; S Jang (KOR), 73M, 68O, 72M, 72O; H Long (GER), 74M, 76O, 66M, 69O; B Chamberlain (WAL), 69O, 74M, 70M, 72O;
286 D Micheluzzi (AUS), 69M, 74O, 71M, 72O; M Saulez (RSA), 70M, 75O, 69O, 72M; L Barco (PER), 70M, 72O, 71M, 73O; G Morgan Birke (CHI), 72M, 71O, 74M, 69O; W Wang (TPE), 76M, 70O, 67O, 73M;
287 A Ortiz Becerra (MEX), 72M, 73O, 70O, 72M; S Valimaki (FIN), 76M, 73O, 69O, 69M; W Nienaber (RSA), 73M, 76O, 68O, 70M; E Walker (SCO), 73M, 69O, 74M, 71O; V Veyret (FRA), 70M, 72O, 73M, 72O; K Hamamoto (THA), 74O, 71M, 71M, 71O; F Nilehn (SWE), 74O, 68M, 73M, 72O; T Williams (WAL), 73O, 70M, 75M, 69O; L D’Souza (HKG), 73O, 76M, 72O, 66M;
288 C Ardila (COL), 73M, 70O, 69M, 76O; P Mach (SVK), 73M, 70O, 75O, 70M; M Dimitrijevic (SRB), 78M, 68O, 70M, 72O; M Steinlechner (AUT), 73M, 69O, 73M, 73O; T Gana (CHI), 80M, 69O, 69M, 70O; L Park (BRA), 73O, 75M, 74O, 66M;
289 J Turba (EST), 73M, 69O, 77M, 70O; M Alverio (PUR), 71M, 72O, 75O, 71M; A Errazuriz (CHI), 68M, 73O, 72M, 76O; D Amm (ZIM), 68O, 73M, 79O, 69M; V Pastor (ESP), 70O, 75M, 71M, 73O;
290 J de Wouters d’Oplinter (BEL), 73M, 70O, 73M, 74O; B Petursson (ISL), 74M, 73O, 75O, 68M; R Pereda (MEX), 73M, 74O, 75O, 68M; M Honkala (FIN), 72M, 75O, 70O, 73M; D Gurtner (GUA), 71M, 70O, 74O, 75M; T Ng (HKG), 73O, 75M, 70O, 72M; K Mountcastle (NZL), 73O, 76M, 70M, 71O;
291 P Hruby (CZE), 73O, 72M, 73M, 73O; M Cheung (HKG), 75O, 71M, 72O, 73M;
292 A De Bondt (BEL), 74M, 73O, 72M, 73O; G Sveinbergsson (ISL), 74M, 72O, 75O, 71M; M Hammer (GER), 77M, 67O, 74M, 74O; P Pakosch (POL), 71M, 77O, 71M, 73O; N van Tilburg (NED), 75O, 72M, 70M, 75O;
292 J Dillas (BER), 72O, 75M, 71O, 74M;
293 E Restrepo (COL), 73M, 78O, 74M, 68O; P Chaplet (CRC), 77M, 68O, 72M, 76O; F Lacroix (FRA), 70M, 72O, 74M, 77O; A Schonbaum (ARG), 76O, 72M, 76M, 69O;
294 V Lopes (POR), 72M, 78O, 70M, 74O; C Hellat (EST), 75M, 70O, 72M, 77O; M Brezovsky (SVK), 75M, 78O, 69O, 72M; H Machado (BRA), 75O, 76M, 70O, 73M;
295 J Esteve (PUR), 74M, 79O, 71O, 71M; D Lee (SGP), 77M, 73O, 72O, 73M; P Freundt-Thurne (PER), 74M, 72O, 72M, 77O; G Manzoni (ITA), 73M, 77O, 73M, 72O; Y Ho (TPE), 76M, 77O, 69O, 73M;
296 A Villavicencio Calderon (GUA), 75M, 75O, 71O, 75M; J Szmidt (POL), 78M, 74O, 72M, 72O; J Gandon (FRA), 75M, 73O, 74M, 74O; K Kaul (IND), 73O, 73M, 76M, 74O; E Liang (CHN), 72O, 72M, 79M, 73O; L Ettlin (SUI), 73O, 74M, 76M, 73O;
297 A Terrazas (MEX), 81M, 73O, 74O, 69M; P Castellanos Conde (GUA), 78M, 73O, 69O, 77M; Y Chen (CHN), 77O, 71M, 73M, 76O; W Campbell (BER), 72O, 81M, 72O, 72M;
298 S Oh (KOR), 67M, 78O, 71M, 82O; A Girao (POR), 71M, 79O, 75M, 73O; J Ho (SGP), 76M, 75O, 78O, 69M; D Volostnykh (MDA), 71O, 79M, 76O, 72M; K Al Jasmi (UAE), 73O, 75M, 80O, 70M; E Schreiber (LIE), 76O, 74M, 73O, 75M;
299 K Jegers (EST), 73M, 75O, 75M, 76O; M Reyes (URU), 73M, 76O, 77O, 73M; T Yamac (TUR), 74M, 75O, 76O, 74M; M Trnovec (SLO), 78O, 76M, 72O, 73M;
300 D Imano (JPN), 71M, 76O, 75M, 78O; J Allard (ZIM), 73O, 75M, 73O, 79M; L Buerk (CRO), 73O, 76M, 74O, 77M;
301 R Pena (DOM), 71M, 75O, 77M, 78O; G Weis (LUX), 75O, 76M, 72O, 78M; G Markevicius (LTU), 77O, 76M, 71O, 77M;
302 A Ortiz (CRC), 76M, 74O, 73M, 79O; J Hastings (CAY), 78O, 76M, 74O, 74M; A Al Shahrani (QAT), 76O, 81M, 74O, 71M;
303 R Camacho (GUM), 75M, 74O, 76O, 78M; K Attieh (KSA), 77M, 72O, 77O, 77M; V Mahonen (FIN), 75M, 76O, 78O, 74M; D Cvetkovic (SRB), 77M, 73O, 81M, 72O; L Acikalin (TUR), 75M, 75O, 71O, 82M; C Lai (TPE), 77M, 75O, 71O, 80M; A Bedi (IND), 74O, 72M, 79M, 78O; C Weis (LUX), 75O, 76M, 77O, 75M; S Al Kaabi (QAT), 72O, 79M, 75O, 77M;
304 O Almulla (KSA), 73M, 72O, 78O, 81M; 304 S Zubiate (PER), 75M, 74O, 78M, 77O; F Alvarez (URU), 75M, 75O, 74O, 80M; K Burkelca (SLO), 77O, 75M, 78O, 74M; S Krog (ZIM), 74O, 80M, 77O, 73M; J Ducruet (PAN), 79O, 75M, 75O, 75M;
305 K Brauckmeyer (VEN), 77O, 73M, 77M, 78O;
306 M Ordonez (PAN), 77O, 77M, 76O, 76M;
307 N Teuten (URU), 75M, 76O, 78O, 78M; A Jarvis (CAY), 79O, 75M, 80O, 73M; I Vucemil (CRO), 73O, 79M, 80O, 75M;
308 V Potocar (SLO), 75O, 80M, 77O, 76M; R Critien (MLT), 75O, 78M, 81O, 74M; R Staykov (BUL), 77O, 81M, 79O, 71M;
309 E Morales (PUR), 79M, 73O, 77O, 80M; S Dahmane (MAR), 75M, 76O, 80O, 78M; J Micallef (MLT), 76O, 81M, 77O, 75M; M Stepinac (CRO), 76O, 78M, 79O, 76M;
310 S Kraai (NED), 74O, 81M, 77M, 78O; M Ming (BER), 77O, 80M, 79O, 74M;
311 D Ishii (BRA), 77O, 77M, 77O, 80M;
312 H Esmer (TUR), 78M, 75O, 83O, 76M; A Skaik (UAE), 83O, 77M, 77O, 75M;
313 O Raouzi (MAR), 74M, 83O, 79O, 77M; V Marinov (BUL), 81O, 76M, 74O, 82M; L Cargiulo (PAN), 83O, 79M, 77O, 74M;
314 E Valverde A (DOM), 77M, 76O, 81M, 80O; A Alsakha (KSA), 77M, 78O, 78O, 81M; A Borg (MLT), 81O, 75M, 79O, 79M;
316 P Wight (CAY), 82O, 75M, 80O, 79M;
319 A Coica (MDA), 83O, 77M, 80O, 79M; F Schredt (LIE), 77O, 83M, 79O, 80M;
320 E Prieto (VEN), 82O, 82M, 79M, 77O; A Radee (IRQ), 85O, 80M, 77O, 78M; J Mehu (HAI), 79O, 77M, 82O, 82M;
322 B Lucansky (SVK), 80M, 78O, 81O, 83M; J Al Kuwari (QAT), 86O, 77M, 77O, 82M;
324 Y Dogbe (GHA), 82O, 83M, 79O, 80M;
325 D Poe (GUM), 80M, 79O, 82O, 84M;
326 S Schredt (LIE), 79O, 90M, 77O, 80M; G Inalegwu (NGR), 81O, 85M, 80O, 80M;
327 A Angel (GHA), 82O, 82M, 85O, 78M;
331 D Savov (BUL), 82O, 89M, 78O, 82M; D Winandy (LUX), 76O, 82M, 90O, 83M;
332 S Thabet (UAE), 87O, 83M, 81O, 81M;
340 D Momkus (LTU), 86O, 90M, 83O, 81M;
343 A Illien (GAB), 84O, 84M, 92O, 83M;
348 O Thompson (NGR), 85O, 83M, 88O, 92M;
349 J Thompson (NGR), 80O, 90M, 92O, 87M;
357 A Podgainii (MDA), 85O, 100M, 91O, 81M;
361 K Kusi-Boateng (GHA), 90O, 91M, 89O, 91M;
366 M Brandt (HAI), 95O, 93M, 91O, 87M;
368 L Karakhanyan (ARM), 91O, 94M, 90O, 93M;
372 R Saint-Fort (HAI), 88O, 99M, 90O, 95M;
382 L Barnouti (IRQ), 93O, 92M, 96O, 101M;
384 D Perez Ayo (GAB), 109O, 94M, 88O, 93M;
389 R Balyan (ARM), 84O, 108M, 97O, 100M;
434 A Saghatelyan (ARM), 103O, 122M, 101O, 108M;
WD R Manalo (GUM), 82M, 78O, 86O, WDM;
NC M Mitchell (RSA), 78M, WDO, 74O, 68M;
WD
NC K Nakajima (JPN), WDM, WDO, 72M, 69O;
WD
NC H Al-Hashimi (IRQ), 90O, 103M, WDO, 101M;
WD
NC M Vaicius (LTU), 84O, WDM, 91O, 85M;
WD
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