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.

“I’ve worked very hard on my game all winter with Richard Kilpatrick, a friend of mine. It has made a difference, and it’s been great to put together the results over the last couple of weeks.”

McCormack drew a huge support, many of whom travelled from Galway to cheer him on, and in the early stages it looked to be his day when he birdied the long third. He had erred right off the tee while Leonard had played the hole in textbook fashion.

While McCormack got up and down from 130 yards, Leonard took three from just right of the green.

The Galway player’s advantage didn’t last long, however – he three-putted the fourth for a bogey and the long fifth for a par, mistakes which Leonard capitalised on to go one up.

A brave par putt from 10 feet at the sixth steadied McCormack, but Leonard doubled his lead with a birdie two at the ninth.

From then on, Leonard played the perfect containing match, sharing the 10th with McCormack in par-fours, the 11th in bogey fives, and then the next five holes in par figures.

The long par-four 17th seemed to offer McCormack his chance to erode the deficit. Leonard missed the fairway to the left, and from a poor lie could not reach the green. McCormack did, however, finding himself below the hole some 20 feet away. However, his first putt came up five feet short, and he could not convert his par effort after Leonard had made five.

“I thought I was going up the 18th,” Leonard reflected.

“I can feel for Eddie as I’ve been in this position several times. I knew I was going to get a hard match today though – I’m just delighted to have played so steady. There wasn’t a vital turning point in the match, but Eddie had a chance at the 14th for birdie. When he missed that and I got my par putt, that was probably a crucial point for me.

“On 16 I was sure I had that putt – I only realised as it came up to the hole that it wasn’t going to get there.

“I hit a poor shot into 17 but in my defence I was in a divot. I was just happy to get a five from that position.”

“My driving has really come on so much,” Leonard continued, when asked what had helped him make his final breakthrough.

“I hit driver everywhere this week, and in the past I might have been known as not a very good driver.

“It’s special to win at Rosses Point – I’ve been coming here a good few years now. I know a lot of the guys here as well – we’ve played Co Sligo in the Senior Cup on several occasions, and I went to college with (Co Sligo member) David Dunne.”

Leonard and McCormack had both impressed in their respective semi-final wins over Headfort’s Rory McNamara and Knock’s Michael Sinclair.

Leonard surged in front with two birdies and an eagle in the first five holes against McNamara, moving three up after five, and although his resilient opponent came back at him with a birdie-two at the short ninth, Leonard replied immediately with a birdie at the par-four 10th.

McNamara birdied the 13th to once again reduce the gap to two, but when handed another opportunity after Leonard missed the green at the par-four 15th, he failed to two-putt from 25 feet.

When the players shared the 16th in pars, and Leonard successfully negotiated the 17th in par, it was all over.

McCormack, meanwhile, found himself two down after 11 against Sinclair, before three birdies in a row from the 12th turned the tables and left him one up.

A par was good enough at the 16th to double his lead, and a tremendous up-and-down for par from the left of the 17th sealed his place in the final.

Radisson-Blu West of Ireland Championship semi-finals: R Leonard (Banbridge) bt R McNamara (Headfort) 3/1, E McCormack (Galway) bt M Sinclair (Knock) 2/1. Final: Leonard bt McCormack 2/1.