Offaly man gets ticket to golf's biggest events after sensational British Amateur win
Tullamore man has earned ticket to three of golf’s majors
A HUGE window of opportunity has opened up in front of an Offaly golfer after he sensationally won the British Amateur Championship in Royal Liverpool Golf Club on Saturday.
Stuart Grehan had a remarkable win over American, Matt Moloney as he continued his stunning run of form since giving up on his professional dream and returning to amateur ranks last year. He did it the hard way as he almost floundered with the winning post in sight. Three up with three to play, he lost 16 and 17 and the tension was mounting to unbearable levels before he halved the 18th for an absolutely huge win.
It has been a remarkable journey for the former Tullamore Golf Club member, who was an outstanding amateur in his youth, turned professional after a couple of big wins on the Irish amateur circuit and gave it a real go for a few years.
The career transforming breakthrough eluded him, however, and he made the difficult decision to return to amateur golf last year, settling in Louth, where he is now married with a young child.He has been sensational since returning to the non paid ranks, winning the Irish Open and Closed amateur championships last year and taking the East of Ireland on his home course at County Louth Golf Club in Baltray a few weeks ago.
He travelled to Liverpool confident of competing well but surpassed his wildest dreams as he reached the final, coming through two strokeplay rounds and then a testing matchplay format. Displaying terrific nerves and keeping his composure as the pressure mounted, Grehan and Moloney had to play two 18 hole rounds on Saturday.
He was in bother heading down the back nine in the first 18 as he trailed by three holes but he turned it around spectacularly, getting it back to all square almost in the brink of an eye. Moloney birdied the 18th to take a one hole lead into the second 18 just over an hour later but it was clear that the tide had turned for the Tullamore man and he now had a great chance of a magnificent win.
The golfing rewards are huge for Grehan, who will now compete in the professional British Open and US Open, and also the US Masters, assuming tradition is upheld, as a result of his triumph – the only caveat is that he must remain an amateur to get those privileges and that is something that he will surely do.
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The pressure on Grehan and Moloney was enormous for the final 18 on Saturday afternoon and there was little separating them.
Grehan won the second to go 1 up but Moloney won the third and fourth to go one up. The Tullamore man made it all square again with a win on the 5th, another win on eight put him one up again and he turned at nine one hole ahead.
He went two up when Moloney had a six on the 10th and suddenly Grehan was within reach of a remarkable win. A sequence of halved holes saw Grehan still two up through thirteen and with five to play, holes were running out for the American. Grehan won the 15th with a three to go three up and this left him needing just one more par for a sensational win.
Moloney won the 16th to keep the tie alive and then won the 17th to bring it up the 18th where Grehan finally got the half he needed to win.