McLarnon scores a famous double victory at Mullingar
MASSEREENE’S Tiarnan McLarnon became the 17th player to complete a famous double when he played his last 11 holes in seven under par to win the Sherry Fitzgerald Davitt & Davitt Mullingar Scratch Trophy by a stroke.
An international in 2016, McLarnon (26) closed with a six-under 66 to edge out West of Ireland champion Robert Brazill from Naas on nine-under 279 and become the latest in a long line of great champions to win both the AIG Irish Amateur Close and the 72-hole strokeplay title in Mullingar.
When the event was founded in 1963, Joe Carr became the first to win both in the same year, claiming his third Close title at Killarney that season.
McLarnon’s Close victory came in Tramore in 2015, with Carr one of just six players to win both events in the same year, the others being Rory McIlroy (2006), Peter Lawrie (1996), Eddie Power (1993), John McHenry (1986) and Philip Walton (1982),
As for the other players to win both Mullingar and Close, the list is a who’s who of Irish amateur golf over the last 50 years: Shane Lowry, Paul O’Hanlon, Gary Murphy, Pádraig Harrington, Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke, Garth McGimpsey, Mark Gannon, Martin D. O’Brien and Tom Craddock.
The quality of the 17 double winners is a testament to the quality of the 72-hole test at Mullingar’s James Braid layout and the organisational powers of a long line of club stalwarts, currently led by Albert Lee.