Power aiming for title treble at Lisburn

SEAMUS POWER (West Waterford) defends his Irish Youths Amateur Open Championship title at Lisburn on Thursday and Friday and, if successful, will become only the second player in the history of the event to win the title on three separate occasions, following John McHenry’s wins in 1980, 1981 and 1985.

The cut for this year’s championship fell at 1.3 and the field includes six Irish Internationals — Niall Kearney (Royal Dublin), Paul O’Kane (Moyola Park), Paul Cutler (Portstewart), Dara Lernihan (Castle), Fergal Rafferty (Dungannon) and defending champion Power.

Included in the field is Irish Boys Close champion Gary McGrane (Royal Dublin) alongside entries from 28 overseas players from England, Scotland, Austria, Finland, Germany, USA and France.

Lisburn Golf Club moved to its current location in June 1973 and was designed by Fred Hawtree. The course record at Lisburn is held by David Feherty who shot 64 in the second round of the Ulster Professionals Championship in 1989, while more recently, Lisburn has successfully hosted the Cups and Shields National Finals in 2003 and will host the Irish Senior Ladies Amateur Open Championship in September of this year.

The Irish Youths Amateur Open Championship was introduced in 1969 and past winners include John McHenry, Paul McGinley (1988), Graeme McDowell (1999, 2000), Rory McIlroy (2004) and Seamus Power (2005, 2007).