Leonard keeps cool to rule the wild West

AFTER finishing runner-up in four previous championships, Rory Leonard finally won the big one when he lifted the Radisson-Blu West of Ireland trophy at Rosses Point yesterday.

The Banbridge man displayed nerves of steel to beat Galway’s Eddie McCormack in a tense final on the Sligo links, taking the lead at the fifth, doubling it at the ninth, and halving every hole thereafter to capture his first Irish championship win after finishing runner-up on four previous occasions.

“It’s hard to put into words at the moment. It hasn’t sunk in,” he said after his 2&1 victory over McCormack in the final.