There was a nice little bit of symmetry to the timing of two old college pals winning on either side of the Atlantic in recent days.
Paul McBride and Cameron Young were room-mates and team-mates back in the day at Wake Forest in North Carolina, even if their respective professional careers since then have taken divergent routes.
These days, McBride is playing on the Clutch Pro Tour – a pathway to the DP World Tour’s Hotel Planner Tour, with three places off the season’s final order of merit available – and the Dubliner’s win in the Rapsodo Series tournament in Ashburnham in Wales moved the former Walker Cup player (2017) up to second in the early-season standings, behind England’s OJ Farrell.
The rewards for McBride were a pay-day of £8,000 (€9,250) and a brand-new MLM2PRO launch monitor compared to Young’s $3.6 million/€3.07 million pay-day from the Cadillac Championship, although such matters are relative, with each able to savour their successes.
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In McBride’s case, it moved him into a strong position on the Clutch Tour and provided momentum headed into this week’s Caddy Comps Championship at Seacroft Golf Club at Skegness on England’s east coast. McBride is one of no fewer than 11 Irish players competing, including Alex Maguire (fifth on the order of merit) and Tyler Hogarty (who is eighth).
Incidentally, McBride’s win also moved him from 1,165th on the world rankings to a career-best ranking of 896th.
Impressive line-up for Flogas Irish Amateur Open
Walker Cup player Stuart Grehan will be the headline act in defence of his Flogas Irish Amateur Open championship title when the event takes place at Seapoint Golf Club in Termonfeckin, Co Louth, from May 7th-10th.
Grehan – a member of neighbouring Co Louth Golf Club – has been grouped with Cork teenager John Doyle and English international Dylan Shaw-Radford for the opening two rounds, while recent West of Ireland champion Mark Cadden from Roganstown is in a group with Lahinch’s Jonathan Keane, last year’s South of Ireland champion, and Alex Kerins of Carton House.
The Abom brothers, Thomas and Liam, from Edmondstown Golf Club, are also in the field and looking to follow on from the impressive win by their sister Anna in the recent inaugural South of Ireland Women’s Championship.
Word of Mouth
“I’m just honoured that he thinks enough of my presence in the team room to tag me as a vice-captain. I’m going to do everything I can for our team to win.” – Stewart Cink on getting the call from USA captain Jim Furyk to be a vice-captain for the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor next year. Cink continued his impressive start to the Champions Tour season by winning the Regions Tradition, the second senior Major of the season, to go with his recent US Seniors PGA Championship success.
By the Numbers: 2-2-2
That’s the streak of runners-up finishes which Scottie Scheffler has had in his last three appearances, his second-place finish to Cameron Young in the Cadillac Championship coming on the back of his second-place finish to Matt Fitzpatrick at the RBC Heritage and to Rory McIlroy in the Masters. “When you’re hitting really good shots and holing a lot of putts, that’s a recipe to run away with a golf tournament,” said Scheffler of Young’s dominant six-stroke winning margin at the Blue Monster.
On this day: May 5th, 1991
One of the more colourful characters on the European Tour before he moved post-playing career to become an accomplished television analyst for a number of different media platforms in the USA – including CBS, NBC and more recently with LIV – David Feherty’s win in the Credit Lyonnais Cannes Open was achieved with a degree of ease.
The Northern Irish man’s first two wins on the circuit had come via playoffs (in the Italian Open and the Scottish Open, both in 1986), but his BMW International Open win in 1989 was by five strokes over Fred Couples and his fourth of five career wins on the European Tour came by three strokes in Lyon.
Feherty put together rounds of 69-68-69-69 for a total of 13-under-par 275 at Cannes-Mougins Golf Club, for a three-stroke winning margin over Australian Craig Parry, with Mark McNulty a shot further back in third.
Social Swing
Calm. Cool. Collecting Ws. Cameron Young claims @Cadillac_Champ in wire-to-wire fashion! – the PGA Tour’s social media platforms hail Young’s dominance at the Cadillac, his second win of the season following his success at The Players.
Vamos, @NellyKorda! Nelly dominates again to go back-to-back and win the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba by FOUR SHOTS. She is the youngest to reach 18 victories on the LPGA Tour since 1980! #Qi4D #TeamTaylorMade – yet another opportunity for TaylorMade to tip the cap to Korda.
Happy birthday to the one and only @McIlroyRory – Ryder Cup Europe’s shout out to Rory McIlroy on celebrating his 37th birthday.
Know the Rules
Q: In a match between players A and B, A has played three strokes and B has holed out for four. Player A putts and their ball apparently comes to rest, but is overhanging the hole. After only five seconds, player B picks up A’s ball to return it to them. What is the ruling?
A: As player B moved player A’s ball before the 10-second waiting time ended, A’s ball is treated as holed with the previous stroke. Player B does not get a penalty for lifting the ball. Such a situation is covered under Rule 13.3b
In the Bag: Mikael Lindberg (Turkish Airlines Open)
Driver: Callaway Quantum TD (8.5°)
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max (15°)
Irons: Callaway Apex Ti Fusion (3), Callaway Apex TCB 24 (4), Callaway Apex MB Proto (5-9)
Wedges: Callaway Apex MB Proto (50°), Callaway Opus SP (52° and 56°), Callaway Opus (60°)
Putter: Odyssey Ai-ONE Jailbird Mini S
Ball: Titleist Pro V1 X (25)
