Cutler gets Close exemption after Muirfield exploits

PAUL CUTLER, the Portstewart golfer who reached the British Amateur Championship quarter-finals at Muirfield yesterday before going down to the South Korean, Jin Jeong, won’t need to contest the weekend’s 36-hole qualifying procedure for the Golfsure Irish Close Championship at Royal Dublin.

Realising that the clash of dates could prevent Irishmen from competing in their national championship, the GUI showed commendable foresight by granting any of their players who reached the quarter-finals at Muirfield an automatic place in the match-play stages of the Close, which starts on Monday.

Cutler is worthy of the exemption, not just because of his exploits at Muirfield, but because he has already won the Lytham Trophy this season to prove himself one of the finest amateurs in the game and a powerful contender for a place in the British & Irish Walker Cup team next year.