Douglas’ Peter O’Keeffe continued his idyllic return to the amateur fold and closed the gap on his six-time “major”-winning coach Noel Fox when he captured the AIG Irish Amateur Close after three-hole aggregate playoff with Castle’s Robert Moran for his third “major” title at Tullamore.
The 39-year old only returned to the amateur fold in 2016 but he has now added the blue riband title to victories in the Munster Strokeplay and the Irish Amateur Open after a thrilling final day battle.
Douglas’ first Irish Close winner since John McHenry in 1986, he carded a two-under 68 in the third round to go into the afternoon a shot behind 21-year old Moran, who also shot 68 to head the field on five-under par.
He was tied for second with Slieve Russell’s Shane McDermott, Malone’s Matthew McClean and Co Sligo’s TJ Ford, who fired a third round 64. But it was soon a two-horse race and while 21-year old Moran raced through the first 11 holes in five-under par, O’Keeffe matched him with some brilliant golf before bogeys at the 13th and 14th and a missed three footer at the 15th left him three shots behind.
O’Keeffe would not go away, however, and after converting from 15 feet at the 16th to cut the gap to two, he heaped pressure on Moran’s shoulders when he hit a cut iron from 174 yards to 20 feet at the 18th and rolled in the putt for a five-under 65 to set the target at nine-under.
Moran needed a par at the last to win but after playing brilliantly all day, he ended up blocked out by trees on the right and made bogey, missing an eight footer for the title en route to a 66.
That meant a three-hole aggregate playoff over the 15th, 16th and 18th holes and while Moran drew first blood, getting up and down from sand for a birdie four, he racked up a disastrous triple bogey seven at the 16th after pulling his tee shot behind trees and then dumping his third in the stream short of the green.
O’Keeffe then found trouble by driving right under the trees at the 18th but he had only to three putt from 40 feet for a double-bogey six to claim the title after Moran missed the green left, fluffed his third and failed to hole his fourth.
“I am just delighted,” said O’Keeffe, who runs a strength and conditioning business from the gym at Douglas Golf Club, where close friend McHenry is general manager. “I knew this golf course would suit me because I hit a high fade and I had a great ball-striking week even though I missed a lot of short putts.
“I knew where I was all day because I like watching leaderboards. I stayed aggressive and went for the green on 11 and made birdie there, then made a nice save on 12 and then switched off for two holes which I tend to do from time to time and bogeyed the 13th and 14th.
“I missed a three footer for birdie on 15 and said I’d just try to birdie the last three holes and I birdied two of them.
“I thought if I holed the putt on the last, I would have a chance because 18 is a tough hole and it fell in the front door. It was a lovely birdie under a little bit of pressure.
“The playoff was scrappy and he was a bit unfortunate on 16 but coming back to the amateur game in 2016 has been wonderful.
“I’m just really competitive and I love working on my swing the whole time and badgering Noel Fox on a daily basis with videos.
“I love it. It’s my work and it’s everything to me. My wife thinks I have lost the plot completely and I probably have but days like this make it all worth it.”
AIG Irish Men’s Amateur Close, Tullamore GC (Par 70)
271 P O’Keeffe (Douglas) 70 68 68 65, R Moran (Castle) 67 70 68 66;
O’Keeffe won 3-hole aggregate playoff 5-4-6 to Moran’s 4-7-5 over 15th, 16th, 18th)
275 A Hill (Athenry) 69 70 70 66, J McDonnell (Forrest Little) 67 73 67 68;
276 A Marshall (Lisburn) 71 68 68 69, H Foley (Royal Dublin) 69 70 67 70, S Murphy (Portumna) 68 70 72 66, A Ryan (Thurles) 68 68 71 69, P Coughlan (Castleknock) 67 75 70 64;
277 P Keeling (Roganstown) 72 69 66 70, P Conroy (Enniscorthy) 72 65 73 67, S McDermott (Slieve Russell) 68 70 68 71;
278 T Ford (Co. Sligo) 71 71 64 72, C Harkin (Letterkenny) 70 72 69 67, K Egan (Carton House) 67 70 72 69;
279 M Boucher (Carton House) 71 70 67 71, S O’Connell (Athenry) 70 68 70 71;
280 T Dowdall (Woodbrook) 74 69 70 67;
281 M McClean (Malone) 71 69 66 75, A Hickey (Galway Bay) 68 73 68 72;
282 J Blake (The Island) 72 69 66 75, A Fahy (Dun Laoghaire) 71 70 70 71, C Butler (Kinsale) 68 68 78 68;
283 J Fox (Portmarnock) 76 67 72 68, S Cunningham (Esker Hills) 73 70 72 68, B Best (Rathmore) 73 70 70 70;
284 E Griffin (Waterford) 72 71 69 72, D McCormack (Corrstown) 72 70 68 74, D Shiel (Powerscourt) 69 68 72 75;
285 D Kitt (Athenry) 73 70 73 69, G Bohill (Co. Louth) 73 67 73 72, A Smith (Mullingar) 72 69 71 73, R Griffin (Ballybofey & Stranorlar GC) 71 70 74 70, C Rafferty (Dundalk) 70 73 73 69, S Doyle (Athlone) 70 71 70 74;
286 G Dunne (Co. Louth) 72 70 75 69, R Latimer (Knock) 71 72 71 72, L Abom (Edmondstown) 71 70 71 74, R Abernethy (DunLaoghaire) 67 73 74 72;
287 R Cannon (Balbriggan) 69 72 73 73, P O’Hanlon (Carton House) 68 70 76 73;
288 I Lynch (Rosslare) 70 71 74 73;
289 E Murphy (Dundalk) 72 71 74 72, J Law (East Cork) 71 67 77 74, J Egan (Muskerry) 70 71 72 76;
290 S Egan Jr. (Tullamore) 76 67 72 75;
292 K McCarron (North West) 72 70 72 78;
294 D Marshall (Mount Wolseley) 73 70 71 80, R Halpin (Dun Laoghaire) 67 75 72 80;
314 C Rabbette (Esker Hills) 74 68 75 97.
