O’Keeffe takes Kerry Scratch Cup at Tralee

MUNSTER Inter-provincial Peter O’Keeffe from Douglas took the Kerry Scratch Cup at a very blustery and rainy Tralee over the weekend, edging out home favourite Fergal O’Sullivan who led the tournament for much of the weekend.

Two rounds were played on Saturday with the top thirty players qualifying for the final round on Sunday which saw O’Keeffe and O’Sullivan tied for the lead with eighteen holes to play.

An early disaster of a triple bogey when he hit it out of bounds on the par three third hole, looked like scuppering O’Keeffe’s chances but he settled down to par the next nine holes on the bounce, to get back into contention with a share of the lead with just six holes left.

A birdie at the fourteenth saw him take the lead which he handed back to O’Sullivan again following a bogey on the par three sixteenth and in a nervy finish he missed the green on seventeen but got up and down for par to stay tied for the lead.

O’Sullivan having found heavy rough at the last, was left with a 30foot bogey putt and with O’Keeffe just six feet from the hole in three, it looked like the Cork man would have two for a win, but O’Sullivan holed it to the delight of the home gallery forcing O’Keeffe to hole his for victory which he duly did, to win by a single shot.

Former Kerry Boys winner John Murphy from Kinsale was the other player in the final group and he claimed third spot.