Hometown favourite Anderson aims to take back his crown
Former winner and Sligo golfer Barry Anderson held his nerve down the tricky home stretch to snatch an unlikely victory and make it through to the semi-finals of the Connolly’s Audi West of Ireland Amateur Open Championship.
It was another thrilling day on the blustery west coast yesterday, and after Seve Prins shot a hole-in-one on Sunday, Marc Boucher (Carton House) followed that up with one of his own in his 2&1 quarterfinal victory over Castleknock’s Quentin Carew.
Elsewhere, strokeplay winner James Claridge (Enville) also booked his place in the final four with a 5&3 win against Patrick Keeling of Roganstown, while Slive Russell’s Shane McDermott secured a big 6&5 victory over Cian Harkin (Letterkenny).
Claridge will battle it out with Boucher in the first semi-final this morning (8 a.m.) before McDermott and Anderson tee it up (8.15 a.m.).
Coming up the 17th late on Monday evening, it looked as though there would be no Sligo involvement in today's action. James Hewitt (Tandragee) seemed to have a putt for a 2&1 win only for the 2017 winner to swoop.
“I thought I was pretty much near the end on 17 and I managed to hole out a 25/30 footer for par,” said Anderson.
“I just said 'Feck it, if I’m going down I’m going down fighting and I’ll give it a go'. I just said I would pick a line and hope it was the right one. When I looked it was tracking and it had the legs to get there.
“Matchplay moment, I make and he misses. Just a bit mad, I can’t believe it. I was down most of the match and trying to hang on in there.
“It would be unbelievable (to win). I never even contemplated it so to be in with a chance of it is just brilliant.”
Claridge was the big winner yesterday morning as he got out early and secured an emphatic 5&4 victory over Joe Lyons (Galway). Keeling also impressed in his 4&3 win against reigning Bridgestone Order of Merit champion and Royal Dublin golfer Hugh Foley.
Carew had to battle hard to see off another leading English contender, Arron Edwards-Hill, with a 2 up win. It was even tighter in the match between Boucher and Jordan Hood (Galgorm Castle), with the former claiming a 1 up success.
McDermott beat Grange’s Jake Whelan 3&2, Harkin advanced after a 2&1 win against Jack McDonnell (Forrest Little), Hewitt squeezed past hometown golfer Ruairi O’Connor (1 up) and Anderson got the better of David Shiel (Enniscrone) 4&3.
However, the highlight of the afternoon took place on the fourth hole where Boucher stood forward and landed an ace, giving him a 2 up lead en route to a precious win.
“I was between a 9 and an 8 iron, so I hit 8. I’d hit 9 in the morning and I said to Darragh that I might just cut up an 8 and yeah, just hit a lovely shot, straight at it, one bounce and couple of rolls and straight in. You can’t really predict those things, but they’re great when they come off,” said Boucher.
Meanwhile, Claridge has already claimed the Pat Ruddy Perpetual Trophy this week and he will be determined to double-down after another impressive showing on Monday. His attempt to overpower the golf course early paid dividends in his quarterfinal against Keeling.
“I did the same this morning. The tough stretch coming in, I wanted to get it done as early as possible. Win the strokeplay and then just carry the momentum. It’s golf – when you get in a rhythm it’s a snowball effect. It can go the other way but thankfully it’s going the right way at the minute,“ said Claridge.
Similarly, McDermott was desperate to get his head in front and after going 1 up on the first against Harkin he wouldn’t be caught.
“I got off to a good start, just tried to put him under as much pressure as I could. I’m driving the ball really well this week so I just nailed the driver on those holes and got as close to the green as I could and thankfully made a few putts.
“So it’s great. I’m embracing the pressure. This is the furthest I’ve ever gotten in this competition so just got to keep pushing, the sky’s the limit,” said McDermott.