Rory McIlroy showed nerves of steel that belied his tender years when he outgunned Seán McTernan to reach this morning's semi-finals of the Golfsure Irish Amateur Close Championship.
The Holywood teenager dismissed leading qualifier McTernan on the home green to book a date with Banbridge player Connor Doran in an all-Ulster clash.
In the morning's third round, McIlroy also went 18 holes before eliminating Michael Brett of Portmarnock while Doran dismissed Hermitage's Greg Bowden by 2 and 1 and Birr's Michael Horan by 5 and 3.
The other semi-final will feature Portmarnock's Aengus McAllister and Eddie McCormack of Galway, both one-hole winners in their quarter-final tests over, respectively, Mervyn Owens of Mallow and Mark Shanahan of West Waterford.
When lesser players might have wilted, young McIlroy showed no sign of nerves as he saw a four-hole lead with five to play slip in the windy conditions. He had lost the first two holes, but levelled the match in eagle-birdie at the fourth and seventh holes before pressing the power pedal.
He won four holes in five from the 10th in two-under-par to be in sight of victory, but McTernan wasn't going to throw in the towel. He won the short 14th in regulation and rattled off winning birdies at 16 and 17 to take the battle down the last fairway.
McTernan also birdied that hole, to complete a finishing birdie hat-trick, but it wasn't enough as McIlroy matched his four at the last for victory.
Doran celebrated his 23rd birthday yesterday with a much easier day.
The Banbridge player was three up after four holes and two-under-par against Horan before winning pars at the 12th and 13th had him five up with five to play. However, he failed to close the door on his opponent when he three-putted at the short 14th, but it was only brief hope for Horan as Doran ended the one-sided argument with a 20-foot birdie putt at 15.
"A nice way to finish, but I'll keep all the birthday celebrations until I bring the trophy home tomorrow night," quipped Doran. "I owe my good form to an article I read in a paper by Lawrie Sanchez who talked about the psychology of always keeping your mind trained on the next move. This is a really big day for me, as I also got news that I have passed my final business studies exams at Jordanstown."
Shanahan will have nightmares about the 18th hole as he lost it to McCormack to bow out of the race. With the action all square, Shanahan drove into water off the tee, took a drop out and put his third shot into a bunker, from where he failed to get up and down.
In the other quarter-final, McAllister held the edge over Owens but still couldn't shake him off. McAllister was two up after 12 holes, but Owens won the 13th with a birdie. But US-based McAllister held on to clinch victory on the home green.
