MICHAEL HOEY yesterday wrote another glorious chapter in the remarkable story of Irish golf after holding off illustrious compatriots Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell to win the Dunhill Links Championship.
Hoey, who began the week ranked 271st in the world, carded a final round of 68 at St Andrews for a 22-under-par total of 266 to claim his second European Tour title of the season and the first prize of €588,000.
McIlroy finished two shots behind after a closing 65, with the man he succeeded as US Open champion, Graeme McDowell, sharing third alongside Scotland’s George Murray a further two strokes back.
The only famous Ulsterman absent from the final day was Open champion Darren Clarke, who missed the cut on Saturday.
Pádraig Harrington wasn’t too far away either, after a final round 69 left him on 16 under par. Shane Lowry’s 71 yesterday left him on eight under.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet and it won’t for a while,” Hoey admitted. “It’s taken a long time but I supposed in a weird way you enjoy it more because you have struggled through six goes at the qualifying school.
“It’s not nice running out of money, being away from home, questioning your swing, and there are points where you wonder ‘Do I want to continue with this?’.”
Hoey (32) began the final round three ahead of McDowell and five clear of McIlroy, only for McIlroy to card four birdies and an eagle in a brilliant front nine of 30 to move into the lead.
The US Open champion birdied the second and then holed his second shot to the par-four third for an eagle two, his approach pitching past the flag but spinning back into the hole.
Further birdies at the sixth, seventh and ninth took McIlroy top of the leaderboard before Hoey hit back from his second bogey of the day on the seventh with birdies at the eighth and ninth to draw level.
McIlroy pulled ahead again after a superb tee-shot on the par-three 11th finished just two feet from the hole, but that surprisingly proved to be the 22-year-old’s last birdie of the day.
Hoey missed from four feet for birdie on the 14th after hitting two drivers to the front of the green –
“I felt I was throwing this away at that stage,” he admitted – but quickly put that disappointment behind him with birdies on the next two holes from close range to take a lead he would not relinquish.
“Playing with Graeme (McDowell), he’s such a battler and wanted to win himself, but he said to me a couple of times on the green ‘Knock it in’ and fortunately at the end I was able to put a bit of fight in myself,” Hoey added.
“I knew I had to hit two of the best shots of my life into 16 and 17 and I was really pleased I was able to produce those.”
McIlroy was delighted about the 1-2-3 Northern Irish finish. “It’s good to see all of us boys up there,” said McIlroy. “Just obviously disappointed it wasn’t me that’s lifting the trophy.
“It was still a very good round of golf and considering that I was three-over-par after 11 holes in this tournament, I’ve come back and played some really good golf.”
