Golden future ahead for Dunne

A Silver Medal may have eluded Irish amateur Paul Dunne at The 143rd Open Championship but the 21-year-old student left Hoylake at the weekend with a clearer picture of his bright future.

Irish international Dunne, a golf scholar at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, showed enough about his game — particularly during a brilliant run of four birdies in a row on the back nine on Friday — that there is much to look forward to in a career destined for the professional ranks.

And while the effects of his first Major appearance may take a while to sink in, his two rounds with the big boys, while not reaping the prize for low amateur, had plenty of other compensations.