Sport

Greene the putting machine captures first senior title

SOUTH OF IRELAND AMATEUR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP: IT BECAME a familiar sight as the afternoon wore on

BRIAN KEOGH at Lahinch
Thu Jul 29 2010 - 01:00

SOUTH OF IRELAND AMATEUR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP:IT BECAME a familiar sight as the afternoon wore on. John Greene, his unruly black locks blowing in the wind, marching triumphantly forward from long range to pick the ball out of the cup.

The South of Ireland title is often won with a combination of imperious ball-striking and short-game wizardry, but 24-year-old Greene did all the damage on the putting surfaces as he defeated Athlone’s Kelan McDonagh by 2 and 1.

It was a masterclass in how to completely demoralise your opponent with devastating putting, and one which gave Greene – who is about to complete his Masters degree on a golf scholarship at UCD – the distinction of becoming the first man from Carlow Golf Club to capture a senior provincial title.

“They call me Greener but the putter is now the Green Machine,” said the new champion, who, cruelly, handed Pat Murray his seventh semi-final reverse by 5 and 4.

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“I holed everything I looked at. It’s a massive win for me.”

Introduced to esteemed local journalist Arthur Quinlan, who was covering his 75th South at the age of 89, Greene remembered that it was only his second visit to the Co Clare for this classic championship.

“Kelan beat me 4 and 3 in the second round last year and I felt he had all the luck on his side that time,” Greene said. “Today it all went my way.”

If an out-of-sorts Murray was bitterly disappointed to head for Killarney for the Irish Open with yet another semi-final defeat to contemplate, McDonagh was even more disconsolate.

The 20-year-old international showed his fighting qualities when he came back from three down after 11 holes to beat Castletroy’s Cian Daly on the 20th in the other semi-final.

Putting was the key there too, with Daly lipping out with a two-and-a-half-footer for the match on the 18th before eventually falling to a McDonagh birdie four at the 20th.

McDonagh had nonchalantly holed an eight-foot birdie putt at the 18th to put Daly under immense pressure. But McDonagh simply couldn’t buy a putt in a final that saw Greene play the 17 holes in an estimated one over par to the Athlone man’s four over.

A Paddy Harrington Golf Scholarship student at NUI Maynooth, McDonagh was ahead just once in the match when he won the first with a par four. But he lost the second and third to fours to go behind, and watched Greene salvage a half in par with a 15-footer at The Dell.

He got back on terms with a winning par at the sixth, but the “Greene Machine” started to motor from that point on.

The champion began his victory run by holing an 15-footer for a half at the seventh, an eight-footer for a winning two at the eighth and a 10-footer for another birdie at the 10th to go two up.

McDonagh took the 11th in par, but took six at the 12th to go two down and then crucially lost the 15th to an outrageous par, taking three from the front edge as Greene laid up from thick rough on the left and eventually rolled in a 25-footer for his four.

Three down with three to go, McDonagh cut the gap with a winning par three at the 16th, where Greene was bunkered. But he overshot the 17th, failed to save par and looked on as Greene had the luxury of taking two putts from 10 feet for the title.