The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
O’Hara wins in Ireland
Paul O’Hara (North Lanarkshire Leisure) pipped Christopher Currie (Caldwell) by a shot to win the Titleist and Footjoy PGA Professional championship and the £10,000 first prize at Luttrellstown Castle Golf and Country Club, near Dublin, yesterday.
O’Hara finished on a three-under-par total of 285 after four rounds. Former champion Rory McIlroy found form too late to avoid a second consecutive missed cut in the US Open but was able to take some positives from his display at Erin Hills.
Playing just his seventh tournament of the year due to a rib injury, McIlroy left himself a mountain to climb following a first round of 78 on Thursday, when a record 44 players broke par.
Despite carding four birdies in his last six holes for a 71 yesterday, the fourtime major winner saw his own pre-event prediction come true, having said on Tuesday that anyone who could not hit the wide fairways “might as well pack your bags and go home”.
“I showed up for the last six holes anyway,” said McIlroy, who won at Congressional in 2011 with a record 16-under-par total, but is now a combined 55 over par for his other eight US Open appearances.
“I hit it better off the tee. I think I hit 11 fairways other than the five I did (on Thursday). But I think at the end of the day it’s competitive rounds with a card in my hand that I need and I’ve been very light on them this year.
“I saw some positives there on the back nine coming in and hopefully I can take them to the Travelers (Championship) next week. I’m excited to get on a run of golf and get going.”
McIlroy worked with his coach Michael Bannon on making a smoother transition from the top of his backswing and, although he was three over par after 12 holes, birdies on the fourth, fifth, seventh and ninth ended the week on a high. Paul Casey produced a brilliant fightback to remain in contention for a first major title at the US Open in Wisconsin yesterday.
Casey recovered from a triple-bogey on his fifth hole of the day to add a 71 to his opening 66 at Erin Hills and set the clubhouse target on seven-under-par 137.
Casey’s opening 66 had left him a shot off the pace and he swiftly joined Rickie Fowler in the lead with a birdie from close range on the 11th, his second hole of the day, only to bogey the next and run up a triple-bogey on the 14th.
The 39-year-old was only able to move his fourth shot a matter of inches in heavy rough over the back of the green on the par 5, before hacking out sideways and taking three putts from just off the green.
However, after dropping another shot on the 15th, Casey regained his composure superbly to birdie the 17th and 18th, the latter being the second longest hole in major history at 676 yards.
The former Ryder Cup player then made it five birdies in succession – just one short of the US Open record equalled by Adam Hadwin on Thursday – by picking up shots on the first, second and third.
“I lost a bit of skin out there,” Casey said of the triple bogey 8. “I got out of position but it’s the attitude, it’s the grit that matters at the end of the week.”
At five-over 149, Rory McIlroy was four shots outside the projected cut mark.
He shot a 71 yesterday, while playing partner and former world number one Jason Day finished nine over following a 75.
Casey has recorded three consecutive top-six finishes in the Masters but has just one top-10 in the US Open in 13 attempts, which came a decade ago at Oakmont.
“It feels good,” he said. “Not every day you enjoy a round of golf with an eight on the card, but I’m a pretty happy man.
“It was a good display, all my own fault, but a good display of what can happen if you get out of position on this golf course. Even just trying to take my medicine is very, very difficult. It’s a good eight in the end.
“I had been swinging it well and it felt really, really good a couple holes later to be picking the ball out of the hole for a birdie. Then clawed all the way back and actually picked up one more to the good by the time we were finished.”
Asked if he would have been able to recover from such a mistake earlier in his career, Casey added: “In my good seasons, yes, but there have been times when I struggled, so probably not.
“I was upset with the score I had made, but it did not have any effect on my attitude or how I was going to then approach the rest of the round or the next shot.
“Part of that is just age and part I’ll give credit to Johnny McLaren (his caddie), credit to my wife and my little boy.”