Gold and silver for women golfers
McVeigh& carded a four over par 76 to win the top prize by four shots from Diana Cantu of Mexico.
She also takes the honour of being the first Irish athlete to win gold at the World University Games since Sonia O’Sullivan and Niall Bruton on the track back in 1991.
Starting with seven pars in a row McVeigh looked as assured and impressive as she has all week around this course, but her round came a little unstuck with a bogey on the par five eighth and a double bogey on the 308-yard par four ninth.
In characteristic style McVeigh stayed cool, following up the glitch with eight straight pars before bogeying the 18th.
The Kilkeel native won the gold with four shots to spare over her nearest challenger Diana Cantu of Mexico, who played herself into a silver medal position with a one under 71.
“Initially we were fairly disappointed about missing out on the team gold by just one shot after leading this morning — and that was all I could think about. It was only a little later when I had time to reflect that it sank in that I had actually won,” remarked McVeigh.
“It’s a huge achievement for all of us to do what we’ve done here this week. The disappointment we felt about losing gold only reflects our level of ambition, so that’s a good thing. A medal was my goal coming out here so to achieve a gold is fantastic; it means an awful lot to me,” she concluded.
The Irish started the day leading the team competition by eight shots over Great Britain in second but over the course of the 18 holes, the Irish and British dropped shots while the Mexicans, Americans and Japanese all made significant gains.
UL’s Niamh Kitching recorded eight pars and a birdie on the front nine but in the searing heat, coupled with high humidity, her round fell down on the back nine, dropping eight shots.
The Mayo native showed real character however to finish with three pars in a row, in particular the four- foot putt she holed on 18; crucial to keeping the team in contention. Kitching reached the clubhouse in seven over par 79 which saw her 18th overall in the individual.
Gillian O’Leary, a UCC student started her day well with four pars but took two bogies on the fifth and eighth to reach the halfway point in 38. A birdie on the par four 13th was the highlight of her eight over round of 80 which was good enough for 32nd overall.
Although it wasn’t clear at the time, with scoring updates non existent at the Watermills Golf venue, the destination of the team gold went all the way down to the last match with McVeigh and Cantu. Cantu’s birdie on the 18th saw the Mexicans snatch the team lead.
Without knowing, McVeigh needed to hole her par putt to force a playoff. Her effort shot agonisingly over the hole to see her take a bogie six, and the Mexicans took the team gold.
The Irish headed the USA for silver, Ireland scoring 602 with the Americans a further shot back.
* In the women’s soccer bronze medal match at the Royal Thai Army Stadium, Ireland were beaten 2-1 by Brazil. Brazil scored their first goal after 20 minutes and Ireland went close to equalising five minutes later when a Tara McMahon shot hit the crossbar.
Just before the half-time break Brazil scored a second to go 2-0 up.
The Irish women put in a much stronger second-half showing, pressing Brazil and getting their reward with a goal on 70 minutes. Michelle O’Brien was the scorer, the striker’s shot struck low into the left corner.
Donegal’s Nikita Burke came close to equalising with a header late on but Brazil hung on to take the bronze medal and leave the Irish women fourth.
Noel O’Reilly’s men’s soccer team finished their World University Games experience on a high note defeating Kazakhstan 3-1 in the play- off for 13th place.
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