Limerick golfer Cian McNamara won the Junior Open Championship at Royal Musselburgh Golf Club near Edinburgh today on the eve of the Open Championship which gets under way several miles away at Muirfield tomorrow.
While the top stars, like Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington, were making final preparations ahead of the third major of the season, McNamara was busy impressing in typical murky Scottish conditions 15 miles away.
The 16-year-old won with a nine-under 207 total producing some dazzling golf during rounds of 71, 65, 71.
McNamara will hope his performance this week in the under-16 event will be good enough to earn him his first Ireland Boys (U-18) cap in time for the Home Internationals which start at Blairgowrie Golf Club in Perthshire next month.
The young Munster star was congratulated by fellow Limerick member and Golfing Union of Ireland President Jack Lynch who watched McNamara compete in the bi-annual event which boasted a truly international field representing 54 countries in all.
McNamara now has the luxury of driving down the road to follow his idols and role models at Muirfield for the rest of the week.