Local hero Brady sees ‘West’ bid crushed in the final
DAVID Brady’s journey almost became one of the fairytales of the storied history of the West of Ireland Amateur Open Golf Championship.
The Rosses Point native, who grew up honing his golf skills on the world-famous links of County Sligo Golf Club, was a finalist in the ‘West’ and, but for the skill of fellow finalists Keith Egan, would have become the first local winner since Barry Anderson’s achievement in 2017.
Brady, now playing out of Staffan Golf Club at The K Club, was beaten in Tuesday afternoon’s decider by Keith Egan, who won 3&2 thanks to a par on the 16th.
Backed by a gallery of hundreds, the glorious weather was nearly matched by a glorious result for Sligo golf, as Brady set up his title chance by firstly coming through a gruelling semi-final against Castleknock’s Paul Coughlan, a marathon contest that went to 24 holes.
In the decider Brady, 27, once again showed his mettle – he went 1 up on the third but later suffered setbacks on the fifth, sixth and seventh holes. Egan later took charge and he had a 3up lead on the 12th – an advantage that would prove to be a winning platform.
Brady, who almost finished his latest West of Ireland experience with the trophy, had to first of all come through last Wednesday’s qualifier. He was one of 97 hopefuls and then one of the 19 that survived tough weather conditions.
He was then into the competition proper and was in the field alongside a number of other locals, including David Shiel (Enniscrone), TJ Ford (County Sligo), Aodhagan Brady (County Sligo), Ruairi O’Connor (County Sligo), Thomas Finnegan (County Sligo), Colin Smith (County Sligo) Barry Anderson (County Sligo), Derek Basquill (Enniscrone) and Sean Flanagan (Portmarnock).
After two rounds of strokeplay – on Friday and Saturday – the leading qualifier was Castleknock’s Mark Doogue and, with several locals missing the cut, the home interest for
the matchplay stage focused on David Shiel, TJ Ford, Aodhagan Brady, Ruairi O’Connor and, of course, David Brady.
Brady’s progress through the strokeplay had a second round hiccup – he inadvertently arrived late at the first tee and incurred a two-shot penalty, with the sanction dished out by his dad, Terry, who was the on-tee starter.
Easter Sunday’s matchplay (last 64 and last 32) produced some memorable results, not least Brady’s 3&2 defeat of Royal Dublin’s Hugh Foley, who won the West in 2021. On the same day Aodhagan Brady overcame the aforementioned Mark Doogue.
Bank Holiday Monday offered a unique contest between David Brady, who works for Bank of America in Dublin, and his first cousin, 18-year-old Aodhagan Brady.
It was David who won the Battle of the to Tiarnan McLarnon (Massereene) 2&1.
LAST 32: Aodhagan Brady (County Sligo) beat Mark Doogue (Castleknock) 2&1; David Brady (Straffan) beat Shea Dorman (Bangor) 19 holes.
(Monday, April 1)
LAST 16: David Brady (Staffan) beat Aodhagan Brady (County Sligo) 1 up. QUARTER-FINALS: David Brady (Staffan) beat Matthew McClean (Malone) 19 holes.
(Tuesday, April 2)
SEMI-FINALS: David Brady (Staffan) beat Paul Coughlan (Castleknock) 24 holes. FINAL: David Brady (Staffan) lost to Keith Egan (Carton House) 3 & 2.
Bradys before overcoming Matthew McClean (Malone) thanks to a playoff win in the matchplay quarter-finals. This tit-for-tat encounter went to the 19th where Brady – now with cousin Aodhagan as his caddy – sunk the winning putt from close-range.
There was more drama the following day, Tuesday, but hopes of a Sligo winner were dashed by the excellence Keith Egan, who, it turns out, has links to the north-west.
The West of Ireland winner’s mother is from Strandhill and his cousin, John McHugh, was the men’s captain at County Sligo Golf Club in 2020. Egan, who was the South of Ireland runner-up five years ago, afterwards spoke of what winning the West of Ireland meant to him.
“Everything is worth it – all of the practise, all of the patience, all of the years coming here
KING OF THE WEST: Keith Egan (Carton House), winner of this year’s Connolly Motor Group West of Ireland Amateur Open Golf Championship at County Sligo Golf Club, Rosses Point.
[Rosses Point], all the miserable weather, it’s all worth it for this,” he stated.
“I need to focus on winning – I just need to focus on being as good as I can. I knew I would have to play very, very well to win.
“I also know David [Brady] very, very well - I see him on a regular basis because he practices at Carton House quite a lot. I also enjoy coming to Sligo to play golf.”
The new West of Ireland champion also revealed that his hardest match of the tournament was his matchplay last 16 joust with Paul O’Hanlon, also of Carton House, an encounter on Bank Holiday Monday that Egan won 2&1.
“Every match has its own unique obstacles but, overall, I think I handled everything very well. My golf was good but I also think I was pretty ruthless in my mentality.”
Egan was indeed a worthy winner and he joins an illustrious list of those who have become the best of the best at Rosses Point over Easter.