Mullingar Scratch Cup: As motorbike racers strip off their leathers and look at their scarred bodies, they can identify each mortifying wound from a certain geographical perspective; the hairpin bend where a leg was shattered; a kerb stone that sent the rider tumbling or a pile-up that resulted in a dozen stitches. So too now can Scrabo's Andrew McCormick look back on Mullingar and see the par four 17th hole as, well, quite a nasty gash.
Just as the county Down player seemed certain of carrying off the Mullingar Friends First Scratch Trophy yesterday, his game which was steadily protecting a two-stroke lead and seemingly guiding him to a first victory for 16 final holes, entirely deserted him for one.
Coming down the 17th in the closing stretch McCormick was two shots ahead at eight under par to Eoin O'Sullivan's six under for the tournament.
O'Sullivan, for the previous three holes, had been chasing McCormick's lead but as he attacked the pins, birdie putts were frustratingly slipping past.
On the 14th it was from eight feet and the 15th six feet. And as the holes diminished so was it that McCormick's name seemed destined to follow those of previous winners of the competition: Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley.
But a badly-thinned second shot from the semi-rough to the 417 yard par four left McCormick's approach to the green 30 yards short. His third effort was six feet short, his fourth four feet past the pin and his downhill fifth three feet long for a cruel double bogey.
As McCormick unravelled, O'Sullivan, with an eight iron to 15 feet and his first successful long putt of the afternoon, birdied the hole for a three-shot swing and a one-shot advantatge going down the 18th.
That O'Sullivan followed his morning chip-in on the 18th for eagle with a 70 yard pitch and two inch putt for birdie in the afternoon was just as well, as McCormick finished with a birdie for an overall score of seven-under-par 281 to O'Sullivan's eight-under-par 280.
"I thought I'd lost it on holes 12 to 15," said O'Sullivan. "My expectations were just to play well. I never thought of winning it at all. It's very much a surprise. I've never won anything of this stature before. The last championship I won, I think was the Leinster Boys. I can't remember what age I was. Work it out, I'm 27 now," said The Island player, who will play for the Leinster team in the Interprovincial series next week in Slieve Russell.
"I suppose the 18th was my hole today. I thought it was going in again after I pitched in for eagle earlier. But it's a great competition to win with all the previous winners over the years."
Four players, former winner Johnny Foster (Ballyclare), Ken Kearney (Roscommon), Michael McGeady (City Of Derry) and South of Ireland winner Colm Moriarty all rallied with sub 70 final rounds for 283 and joint third place.
Birr's Justin Kehoe shot a final round of 69 for fourth.
Final totals
280 (8 under) E O'Sullivan (The Island) 68 68 73 71
281 (7 under) A McCormick (Scrabo) 70 69 69 73
283 (5 under) J Foster (Ballyclare) 74 71 70 68 K Kearney (Roscommon) 73 73 69 68 M McGeady (City of Derry) 71 72 71 69 C Moriarty (Athlone) 70 70 75 68
284 (4 under) J Kehoe (Birr) 72 73 70 69
286 (2 under) D Morgan (Mullingar) 74 71 72 69, R Leonard (Banbridge) 73 71 70 72
287 (1 under) S McTernan (Co Sligo) 72 72 76 67, N Fox (Portmarnock) 72 71 72 72, J Morris (Mullingar) 69 72 72 74
288 (level) M Campbell (Stackstown) 73 72 67 76
289 (1 over) H Hanley (Grange) 70 73 72 74, M McDermott (Stackstown) 70 73 71 75
291 (3 over) L Ryan (Stackstown) 74 75 70 72, G McNeill (Waterford) 73 74 72 72
292 - G Wardlow (Shandon Park) 75 74 74 69 A McAllister (Portmarnock) 74 71 76 71; M O'Sullivan (Galway) 72 75 71 74
293 - P Dooley (Cork) 72 68 81 72; D Crowe (Royal Dublin) 70 77 73 73
294 - J McGinn (Greenore) 70 72 78 74
295 - T Rice (Limerick ) 73 77 73 72
296 - M Poucher (Limerick) 73 75 76 72; M Staunton (Ballinasloe) 74 72 73 77; A Dowling (Hermitage) 71 76 76 73
297 - C Cunningham (Mullingar) 76 72 75 74 298 - M Power (Moate) 74 74 73 77.
299 - D Snow (Portmarnock) 76 70 78 75; P Wallace (Mullingar) 73 76 72 78; G Bowden (Hermitage) 71 80 74 74; J Lyons (Birr) 69 76 76 78 301 - D Kelleher (Portmarnock) 77 75 76 73; E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 77 71 79 74; D Carroll (Grange) 74 75 77 75; G Massey (Hermitage) 72 75 85 69
302 - B Trainor (Warrenpoint) 77 73 79 73; D Moran (The Island) 74 76 77 75; C Doran (Banbridge) 71 73 78 80
303 - D Coyne (Tuam) 72 78 77 76
305 - G Bohill (Co Louth) 77 74 78 76; P O'Hara (Kilkenny) 69 74 81 81 306 - P Higgins (Mullingar) 75 74 80 77; D O'Donovan (Muskerry) 69 79 78 80 307 - G Nugent (Kilkenny) 82 67 80 78; R Maher (Mullingar) 71 80 75 81;
309 - N Turner (Muskerry) 79 73 76 81;
313 - P Collier (Lahinch) 74 77 82 80.
