O’Reilly skates to victory in ‘Irish Assistants’
GLENLO Abbey’s Brian O’Reilly battled strong winds and heavy rain to win the Irish PGA Assistants’ Championship at the Nuremore Hotel and Country Club.
The Galway man (25) started the final round with a two-shot lead before grinding out a closing 76 in deteriorating conditions to collect the trophy with a four-round total of five-over 289.
He won by three shots from 36-hole leader Stephen Barry from Royal Tara, Royal Dublin’s Brian McCormack Jnr and Shannon’s Paul O’Neill, who fired a brilliant final round 69.
“Delighted to get the win, hopefully, I will try and play a bit more now, that’s the plan anyway,” said O’Reilly, who opened with rounds of 71 and 72 to end day one tied for second, one shot behind Barry.
He then added a third round 70 to open up a two-shot lead over Barry and Headfort’s Callum Slater.
“The third round wasn’t too bad, it was still breezy and at the time, I thought it might be good enough to put me in the lead,” O’Reilly said.
“I missed a short putt on nine, but I responded well with birdies at 10,11, 12 and 13 to get into a nice position. I had a couple of other chances coming in but also threw in a couple of bogeys.”
Out in one-over, he dropped shots at the 10th and 16th before losing a ball on the 17th, which cost him a double-bogey, before finishing with a stress-free par.
“I hit a really nice shot down 18 and then a lob wedge to about 12 feet,” he added,
“I burnt the edge with the birdie putt but, luckily enough, I holed a three-footer on the way back for par. I was disappointed coming off the golf course but I still thought there was hope, that I might get a play-off.
“I knew that Callum and Stephen, who were playing in the final group, would have to shoot a 73 to win it and that would have been a decent score in those conditions. It was a bit of a nervous wait but in the end, I had done enough.” Nuremore Irish PGA Assistants’ Championship, Nuremore Hotel & Country Club (Par 71): 289 Brian O’Reilly (Glenlo Abbey GC) 71 72 70 76; 292 Paul O’Neill (Shannon GC) 71 78 74 69, Brian McCormack Jnr (Royal Dublin) 75 74 71 72, Stephen Barry (Royal Tara) 74 68 73 77; 293 Callum Slater (Headfort) 74 69 72 78; 294 Tara Delaney (Carlow) 75 73 71 75, Jack Howard (Fota Island) 75 68 76 75; 295 Ciaran Lavery (Concra Wood) 74 71 74 76, Shane Jenkinson (St Margaret’s Golf & CC) 71 73 73 78.