Golfer John Doyle takes Lee Valley crown in style

John Doyle claimed his first win of the season in fine style when he won the Boylesports Scratch Cup by five strokes. 

The Mitchelstown man was two ahead going into the final round and, while his lead narrowed to one shot early on, his steady approach allowed him to kick on and take control on the back nine.

John started the final round on -10, two ahead of his Fota Island team-mate and first-round leader, David Howard, who was keen to retake the lead. 

The pair traded pars for the opening few holes, and it looked like Doyle would extend his lead when Howard had to pitch out from the trees on the 7th. Howard bounced back with a great approach from 160 yards, and put it to two feet for a tap-in par.

Doyle misjudged his approach and found the bunker to the right of the green. He played a nice sand shot but missed the putt, and his lead was down to one. 

A chip-in eagle on the 8th restored the lead to two, and a great uphill putt on the tricky ninth looked like it would extend the lead to three shots.

Howard countered with his own birdie: a 15-foot putt with a big left-to-right break dropped in to keep Doyle’s lead to two. 

The large crowd were treated to some great golf as a pair of pars on 10 were followed by a pair of birdies on 11.

A bogey by Howard on the par-three 12th pushed the lead out to three and, although Doyle dropped a shot on 13, he made it back with another excellent long-range putt on the 14th. 

Doyle narrowly missed his birdie putt on the par-five 15th, but Howard couldn’t do better after finding the rough to the right of the green.

From there, Doyle parred his way home, finishing with a 10-foot par putt on the last to sign for his third round in the 60s. 

His winning total of -13 is the lowest ever and, while conditions were benign on Saturday, he executed the task professionally with a great tee-to-green game and a good eye with the putter. Howard was second on -8 and Cork’s Joe O’Sullivan, who was the third player in the final group, finished alongside Mark Shanahan and Jordan Boles on -4. 

Muskerry’s John Waldron finished on -1, while Ben Murray was the best from the home club.

While Doyle has played plenty of golf so far this year, this was his first win of the season and should give him confidence as he heads to Liverpool for the Lytham Trophy this weekend. Doyle was delighted that he was able to perform in a competitive field at Lee Valley.

“Going into this week it was better than my results; I was going straight from school to playing very tough golf courses and I thought I was having trouble trusting and committing to difficult shots. I was hitting it a lot better on the range than I was on the course.”

The solid performance and the low score meant John was able to take away some positive vibes from the weekend.

“Four under in the first round was good. I hit it unbelievably off the tee; it could have been seven or eight under, only for some poor approach play. 

"My approaches were a bit better in the afternoon so it was nice to get to double digits. That was my goal at the start of the day.

“The strategy today was not to make as many bogeys as I did yesterday. I thought I managed it very well considering everything. 

"I hadn’t seen a crowd like that in a while and I hadn’t been in contention either, which was one of the main things about this weekend.

“On 17 today I had a three-shot lead and could have hit a four-iron. But I said, ‘I’m going to hit driver here and see if I can commit to this under a bit of pressure.’ And I thought I hit a really good shot.”

Doyle will sit the Leaving Cert in June and that will mean he’ll miss the Amateur Championship and the St Andrews Links Trophy, where he was runner-up last year. 

While a Walker Cup appearance at Lahinch in September might seem far away at present, if Doyle kicks on from his Lee Valley win he could force his way into contention. 

He will head to the US in mid-August to join Louisiana State University on a golf scholarship.