Doherty’s golden shot

OLIVER DOHERTY, aged 27, from Buncrana, Co Donegal, is poised to become Ireland’s first golf gold medallist in level 1 of the Special Olympics.

On another sunny but extremely windy day at Portmarnock links yesterday, Oliver defied the testing conditions to add a round of 84 to his earlier scores of 86 and 78, to posting a total of 248. He stands nine strokes ahead of his nearest rival, Mark Merrett of Britain with Icelander Ragnar Olafson back in third spot but effectively out of contention for gold.

The Bernhard Langer designed links is a handful at the best of times, containing as it does some of the deepest and most difficult bunkers in all of golf. When it has been burned a typically 'linksy' brown by the wind and is bouncy and hard, sticking close to par is anything but an easy task. However, Oliver Doherty has proved more than equal to the task which, perhaps, is not all that surprising given that he now plays off a handicap of seven.