GOLF/Irish Amateur Close Championship: Not even Nostradamus could have predicted the four semi-finalists who would emerge in the Golfsure Irish Amateur Close Championship in Tramore yesterday.
Des Morgan, Mark O'Sullivan, Michael Brett and David Carroll made it through but with respect, no one expected the championship would be bereft of Walker Cup aspirants by the semi-final stages.
Athlone's Colm Moriarty, Justin Kehoe of Birr and Ballyclare's Gareth Maybin all bowed out of the championship yesterday as some new faces emerged from the shadows.
Morgan, from Mullingar, showed sparks of brilliance with clear-cut wins over Richard Kilpatrick of Banbridge and big Peter O'Keeffe of Douglas.
And Carroll, a 24-year-old Senior Cup golfer with The Grange, won two tremendous matches against Aaron O'Callaghan and Kehoe to clinch a last-four appointment with Michael Brett of Portmarnock.
Brett's presence in the semi-finals owes as much to his endurance as to his skill. First he overcame one of the championship favourites, Moriarty, by 4 and 3 and then he came out on top in a marathon 24-hole quarter-final to beat youths international Greg Bowden of Hermitage.
It took over five and a quarter fours before Brett two-putted for a winning par three at the sixth tie hole as Bowden found sand off the tee and failed to save par from eight feet.
Morgan has ambitions of an Irish cap, but he may need to win the title tomorrow if he is to jump from relative obscurity and into an Irish blazer.
He said: "If you are going to have ambitions in life you might as well aim high. There is no point in aiming for second best and I want that green blazer. I only missed two fairways this afternoon, I hit a lot of good iron shots and my putting has been excellent. I'm going for it."
He wasn't exaggerating about his form, but he will have to be on guard today against O'Sullivan of Galway, who beat Maybin in the other semi-final with a display of accuracy and concentration.
Twice a beaten semi-finalist in the North of Ireland, 22-year-old O'Sullivan had earlier beaten Darren Crowe at the 19th before seeing off Walker Cup-aspirant Maybin after lunch.
He birdied the first, second, sixth and seventh to go four up, lost the eighth to a birdie but replied with his fourth of the day at the par-five ninth to take a four-hole lead.
Maybin showed his class by winning the 14th and 15th with a bogey and a birdie to get back to two down but missed an eight-footer at the 16th, and a wayward tee-shot on the 17th ended his hopes.
THIRD ROUND: J Kehoe (Birr) bt C Doran (Banbridge) 19th; D Carroll (Grange) bt A O'Callaghan (Douglas) 1 hole; G Bowden (Hermitage) bt M McGeady (City of Derry) 3/1; M Brett (Portmarnock) bt C Moriarty (Athlone) 4/3; D Morgan (Mullingar) bt R Kilpatrick (Banbridge) 2/1; P O'Keeffe (Douglas) bt M Murphy (Waterville) 2/1; M O'Sullivan (Galway) bt D Crowe (Dunmurry) 19th; G Maybin (Ballyclare) bt M Owens (Mallow) 3/2.
QUARTER-FINALS: D Carroll bt J Kehoe 2/1; M Brett bt G Bowden 24th; D Morgan bt P O'Keeffe 5/4; M O'Sullivan bt G Maybin 3/1.
TODAY: Semi-finals: 9.0: Carroll v Brett; 9.15 Morgan v O'Sullivan.
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