Murray’s reign comes to end as big names fall at the South
Murray always had his hands full against a resourceful opponent in Bryan McSweeney of Royal Dublin and after battling back to level terms late on in a very tight fourth round encounter, eventually succumbed at the first tie hole of an absorbing contest.
Grehan, the star man in last week’s Interprovincial Championships during which he dropped only a half point in six outings, lived dangerously before getting home at the 19th in the third round against John Conroy of Bray but he had no answer to the steady play of Royal Dublin’s Sean Ryan in the afternoon and bowed out at the 15th.
And Cannon, champion at Lahinch in 2009 and this year’s Irish Amateur Open winner, was beaten in the third round 4 and 3 by Mallow’s Paul McCarthy who himself had little time to savour his achievement when well beaten by Kilkenny’s Paul O’Hara.
As always, the championship provided an attractive little piece of nostalgia and it was provided on this occasion by Arthur Pierse, the former Walker Cup star from Tipperary and now 62 years of age. Still a delightful striker of the ball, he looked well capable of turning back the clock when he produced a magnificent array of shots in defeating the young West Waterford golfer, Philip Spratt in the third round. Admittedly, his task was made a whole lot easier when Spratt discovered a 15th club in his bag after he had played the first and with the imposition of the automatic two-hole penalty, already had a mountain to climb. Pierse went on to coast home at the 12th and set himself up for a clash with 26-year-old Nicky Grant, a member of the successful Ulster team in last week’s Inteprovincial Championship and a quarter-finalist in 2010 and 2011.
Pierse got off to a slow start and found himself two down after four. However, he looked sure to narrow the gap at the 5th — the famous par 3 Dell — when Grant had already played three shots before he tackled his second from a hanging lie in a little hollow to the back of the green. But the ball moved at address, he had to call a penalty on himself and after chipping on to the green, took three putts to lose the hole to a double bogey five.
Even then, the Tipperary man, who never captured the title in his illustrious career though he reached the semi-finals on five occasions, kept in touch by winning each of the next three to level matters. However, Grant was back in front when Pierse misjudged his approach to the 9th and after that he gradually pulled away to finish the affair at the 15th.
“It was a very good and enjoyable match and I could see just what a class act Arthur must have been in his heyday”, acknowledged Grant. “It was obvious I could have taken a hiding if I wasn’t on my game.”
For his part, Pierse had no regrets: “I have played very little links golf in recent times and that’s why I came back, with my appearance in the British Seniors Championship at Royal Aberdeen next week in mind, an event I won at Nairn in 2007 while I was runner-up at Portrush in 2011. The plan worked nicely and my chances will be all the better for the three matches here. My one regret is that the South just doesn’t appear to be the same event I enjoyed here for so many years. And I totally disagree with the decision to name the Irish team before this Championship had even begun.
“There was a time not so long ago that a player winning the South was more or less guaranteed his place and now the guys don’t see any need to come to Lahinch.”
Last year’s runner-up Stephen Healy (Claremorris) emerged as the new favourite for the coveted title but also in the same half of the draw is 2006 champion Simon Ward (Co Louth) while Grant and Eugene Smith (Ardee), a semi-finalist 12 months ago, will be fancied at the other end.
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