Youngster David Kitt has chance to emulate Rory McIlroy’s heroics

Athenry schoolboy David Kitt could become the youngest winner of the AIG Irish Amateur Close since Rory McIlroy in 2006 after cruising into the semi-finals in impressive style on a day of shocks at Galway Golf Club.

The slightly built 17-year old is still days away from starting his fifth-year studies at Holy Rosary College in Mountbellew, But he played with the intelligence and tactical nous of a veteran yesterday, beating Belvoir Park’s Patrick Brennan by two holes and Cairndhu’s Ryan McKinstry 5 and 4.

Tramore’s Robin Dawson fell to another surprise package in Castleknock’s Paul Coughlan by one hole in the quarter-finals as fellow internationals Sean Flanagan and Caolan Rafferty also bowed out.