Ryan takes the West in Dowling shoot-out

ANYBODY who gives up a promising job with a leading stockbroking firm to play amateur golf full-time deserves some reward. That’s just what happened yesterday to 23 year-old Mark Ryan from the Grange club in Dublin when he captured the Standard Life sponsored West of Ireland Championship at Rosses Point with a 3 and 1 victory over Alan Dowling of Hermitage.

It was a big day for the Ryan family. Mark’s caddy was his younger brother David (an Irish junior international) while he dedicated the triumph to his father Michael who is unwell at the moment. Indeed, it was his dad who introduced him to the game at the age of seven at Lahinch, where they have a family home.

A graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ryan worked with Goodbodys from December until last month when he decided golf rather than the office was what he wanted from life. He had won the Irish Youths Championship in 2001 and reached the semi-finals of the South of Ireland last year but he still has to represent Ireland at any level.