EAST OF IRELAND CHAMPIONSHIP:A NUMBER of months ago when Paul Cutler became another number in the crime statistics, a victim of a street attack in Portstewart which left him with a cracked knuckle, the first thought that came into his head was to run as fast as he could away from his attackers. The second was how it would affect his golf game.
Thankfully for the 20-year-old – the latest in a line of production off a GUI conveyor belt that appears these days to have no end – the medical prognosis was not as bad as it could have been.
His hand was encased in plaster for four weeks before and after the period around Easter; and, yesterday, at a gloriously sunny Co Louth Golf Club, the recuperated Cutler demonstrated just how good a player he is as he produced a final round 71 for 284, four under, to claim the East of Ireland championship title.
For sure, it was an impressive day’s golf from the Ulsterman who retained his composure at a juncture midway through the final round when it seemed as if Luke Lennox, another prodigious talent, was about to make Cutler’s passage to a maiden “major” an even more difficult proposition.
As it transpired, Cutler was able to answer all of the hard questions asked of him, both by the course and his challengers.
With this win, Cutler – a member of Ireland’s European championship-winning team last year – has not only confirmed his well-being but will have made the Walker Cup selectors sit up and take note as they pencil in names on the Britain and Ireland team for the match with the United States at Merion in September.
“I know I will have to do more, but this should help. Hopefully this will get the attention of the selectors because the Walker Cup is a big target,” said Cutler.
A win of this sort was far from Cutler’s thoughts a mere two months ago when he sustained that hand injury. Cutler was out of action for a month – missing the West of Ireland in the process – but since returning has steadily improved, including posting an eighth-place finish in the Irish Amateur Open at Royal Dublin last month.
“I knew I’d a chance (to win), the way I’d been playing,” admitted Cutler, “but this is just great, especially in a Walker Cup year.”
On a day when the bone-hard links forced players to use their imagination in crafting shots, especially on approaches to the greens, Cutler started the morning in a share of the lead with Portmarnock’s James Fox. However, Fox endured a miserable time in the third round – falling off the pace with a 79 – and, at the 54-holes mark, Cutler was joined instead in a share of the lead by Lennox.
Lennox produced a third round 72 to join Cutler on 216 going into the final round and, from an early stage, it became a duel between the two young Ulstermen. Fox, who had started the morning with high hopes, remained in the final group but was reduced to a bit part in the drama as Cutler and Lennox traded shots.
By the turn, it had become Cutler’s to lose, or so it seemed. Lennox bogeyed the ninth, having driven into a fairway bunker, to fall back to two-over on his round (one under for the championship) and trail Cutler, who’d picked up birdies on the third and sixth, by four shots at that stage.
On the 11th, Lennox’s wild tee shot was 20 yards right of the fairway. But he produced an outstanding approach shot from the rough to eight feet and he holed the birdie putt. Then, on the 12th, Cutler’s approach was pushed high in to the dunes and he ran up a double-bogey. Lennox, in contrast, made a great up and down from the greenside rough for par.
So, as they walked to the 13th tee, only one shot separated the pair. On the par-four 13th, Lennox pushed his tee shot into the rough on the way to suffering a bogey five. Cutler made par.
Then, on the 167-yard par-three 15th, Cutler hit a delightful eight-iron in to six feet and holed the birdie putt. Having opened the door on the 12th, he had well and truly slammed it shut again.
Cutler’s advantage was three strokes with three holes to go, and he was not for relinquishing his grasp on the famous trophy. A par on the 18th to Lennox’s birdie meant a two-shot winning margin.
Kelan McDonagh, one of the Paddy Harrington scholarship students at NUI Maynooth, produced a final round 71 for 288 to claim third place on his own. Meanwhile, Cutler, who had been entered into the St Andrews Links Trophy next week, has decided instead to play in the Irish Close at Enniscrone.
Beltray Details
284 – P Cutler (Portstewart) 69 72 72 71.
286 – L Lennox (Moyola Park) 72 70 71 73.
288 – K McDonagh (Athlone) 76 69 72 71.
290 – C Curley (Newlands) 73 72 74 71.
291 – D Morgan (Mullingar) 71 74 71 75.
293 – P Dunne (Greystones) 76 73 72 72, C Doran (Banbridge) 74 71 78 70, S Crowe (Dunmurry) 73 70 75 75, N Grant (Knock) 72 75 69 77.
294 – J Carvill (Warrenpoint) 75 75 73 71, E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 74 69 73 78, J Monaghan (The Island) 72 72 72 78, J Fox (Portmarnock) 69 72 79 74.
295 – A Dunbar (Rathmore) 75 69 75 76.
296 – G O’Flaherty (Cork) 77 73 74 72, D Beattie (Whitehead) 76 72 72 76, R Cannon (Laytown Bettystown) 75 72 75 74, N Kearney (The Royal Dublin) 74 75 72 75, D Crowe (Dunmurry) 71 77 72 76
297 – D Lernihan (Castle) 76 71 75 75, A Morris (Belvoir Park) 70 78 75 74.
298 – G Kelly (Co Louth) 73 74 77 74, D Reilly (Westmanstown) 73 72 76 77.
299 – F Rafferty (Dungannon) 73 76 76 74, J Hopkins (Skerries) 72 74 76 77.
300 – G McGee (Malone) 78 72 71 79, C Hughes (Royal Portrush) 75 75 75 75, A McCormick (Scrabo) 73 73 79 75.
301 – R McConnell (Belvoir Park) 74 73 76 78, S Power (West Waterford) 74 72 74 81, G McGrane (The Royal Dublin) 73 77 79 72, N Beirth (Co Louth) 71 76 79 75.
302 – D Finn (Mallow) 76 74 78 74. 303 – N Goulding (Portmarnock) 75 73 79 76, S Loftus (Lahinch) 74 76 77 76, D Carroll (Grange) 73 75 75 80. 305 – K Egan (Curragh) 74 75 75 81, C Drumm (Rosslare) 73 76 74 82. 306 – C Selfridge (Moyola Park) 74 75 80 77, G Bohill (Co Louth) 73 74 78 81, M Brett (Portmarnock) 72 78 78 78. 307 – J McGinn (Laytown Bettystown) 78 71 79 79, K Canty (Douglas) 74 74 80 79. 308 – K Condren (Greystones) 74 76 79 79. 309 – L Brady (The Royal Dublin) 77 74 76 82, M McAlpin (Royal Portrush) 74 76 81 78. 310 – R Weldon (Luttrellstown Castle) 80 70 78 82, D Leathem (Lisburn) 77 73 78 82, A Smith (The Island) 77 72 77 84. 312 – O’Donovan (Muskerry) 72 76 81 83. RT – Morrison (City of Derry) 74 76 77 RT
