All to play for as season comes to end with AIG Men’s Close
DUBAI Duty Irish Open heroes James Sugrue and Mark Power are notable absentees but a top quality field will still gather for the season-ending AIG Irish Amateur Close Championship at Rosapenna’s stunning Sandy Hills Links.
The championship is a 54-hole strokeplay affair this year due to the coronavirus with the top-39 plus ties after Saturday’s second round making the cut for the final round on Sunday.
Carton House’s Marc Boucher is the leading entrant off plus 4.6 ahead of Hermitage’s Rowan Lester (+4.2), Royal Dublin’s Hugh Foley (+3.6) and Carton House’s Keith Egan (+3.5).
Joining Major champions Rory McIlroy, Pádraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell and Shane Lowry on the list of champions is motivation enough.
But the event will also decide the Bridgestone Order of Merit, headed by long-time
race leader, Alan Fahy.
The Dun Laoghaire star holds a significant 60 point advantage over Galway’s Liam Nolan but with 130 points awarded to this week’s champion, much can change.
Boucher and Egan will hope to get their hands on a national title from fourth and tied-fifth in the rankings respectively while Thurles’ Aaron Ryan will look to go one place better than the tied-second result he enjoyed at the Munster Stroke Play.
Newlands’ Jake Whelan, who showed winning form when skating to a resounding five-shot success at the
Dundalk Scratch Cup last month, is the last man in the running to claim this year’s Bridgestone Order of Merit crown.
As an added incentive, the top three players in the Order of Merit standings after Sunday’s final round will be automatically included in the first Golf Ireland High Performance Panel for 2021.
Measuring a hefty 7,255 yards from the tips, the celebrated Sandy Hills links is sure to produce a worthy winner though no spectators will get to see the new champion crowned due to Covid-19 restrictions.