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.

“My ambition from the start of the year has been to make the Irish team for the Home Internationals at Ballybunion in September,” he said. “It’s a great course and I know there will be big crowds and a great atmosphere.”

This victory, however, puts him very much in the running for a place in the six man Irish side for the European Championship at The Hague, Holland, in July.

Dowling looked by far the more composed golfer through the outward journey after which he stood 3 up thanks to wins at the 2nd, 6th and 9th. It might have been even worse for Ryan had he not produced recovery shots of the highest quality at the 7th and 8th to share a couple of holes he looked certain to lose.

“It would have been curtains for me had I not made those saves,” he said. My confidence has been high since the national panel session in Portugal in March when I did a lot of work with coach Howard Bennett.

Nevertheless, he looked in dire straits at three down against an opponent who was hitting all the fairways and the greens in better than regulation.

“I told myself that if I hit the fairways and greens and got my pars that I could crawl back into the match,” he explained. “That’s more or less what happened. I won back the 10th and 11th with a couple of pars and then knocked in a seven footer for a two at the 13th to draw level.”

By then, the fluency had disappeared from Dowling’s game. He lost the 14th, 16th and 17th to regulation figures.

In the semi-finals Ryan defeated Brian McElhinney of North West by one hole while Dowling also got home on the 18th against Darren Crowe having been four down after nine.

Semi-finals, M. Ryan (Grange) bt B. McElhinney (North West) 1 hole; A. Dowling (Hermitage) bt D. Crowe (Hermitage) 1 hole.

Final: Ryan bt Dowling 1 hole.