Grehan youths champ

Stuart Grehan is the Irish Youths Amateur Close Champion after he defeated Conor Coyne (Youghal) in a three hole play-off for the title in Loughrea.

The Tullamore man lost a ball off his tee shot on the first hole in the final round, but recovered well and when he birdied the 16th and parred the last two holes, he found himself in a play-off against Coyne, who had a marvellous final day in which he shot rounds of 67 and 70 to surge through the field.

After both finished on one-under 283, the decisive turn in the play-off came at the second (the par-three fourth), where Coyne took five to Grehan’s four (both players having made par-fours at the first).

A solid par at the difficult par-four fifth sealed victory for Grehan after Coyne found trouble in the trees on the right.

Like Coyne, Grehan had earlier made his decisive moves in the third round with a pair of 67s — the former adding a 70 in round 4 while Grehan finished with a 72.