Lyons' amateur record stands at Muirfield

KEEPING a close eye on developments at the recent Open Championship at Muirfield was Pat Lyons, the Irish international from Cork Golf Club.

Back in September 1995, Lyons set the amateur record at the famous East Lothian links with a round of 68, a mark that still stands. Pat was competing in the Pringle-Golf World Champion of Champions and his rounds of 68 and 74 saw him emerge a two shot winner from a star-studded field that included current European Tour player, Welshman David Park, who tied for second.

The previous record of 69 had been set by local member Peter Burt.

Lyons's achievement caused a great stir at the time among the denizens of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. He birdied the sixth and eighth holes and parred the remainder with a precision reminiscent of Nick Faldo when he shot 18 successive pars to win the title in the final round of the Open in 1987.

"I came off the course extremely pleased with myself to discover that everybody there was excited by my score," recalls Lyons, nowadays the assistant manager of the Ulster Bank in Cork. "Group Captain John Prideaux, the secretary at Muirfield, brought me to a special room in the clubhouse containing the names of all the course record holders, both amateur and professional, and my name duly went up alongside all the greats and remains there to this day."

He was also presented with commemorative plates of the 250th birthday of the club in 1994 along with a copy of the history of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.

Prideaux recently assured Lyons that his 68 is still Muirfield's best by an amateur even though the British Championship was staged there in 1998 and won by Sergio Garcia.

Lyons's visit to Muirfield derived in from his victory in the Club Championship at Cork Golf Club in 1994. That qualified him for the national final at Mount Juliet which he won with a round of 73.