I’d play again tomorrow - if I didn’t have the Junior Cert, says Senior Scratch Cup champ

FIFTEEN-year-old Fionn Hickey put the Junior Cert to the back of his mind to shoot a two under 69 and claim his maiden Senior Scratch Cup on Saturday at Muskerry Golf Club in Cork.

The local member birdied two of his last four holes to win by a single shot.

With the course playing tricky, the first round leader on 69 was Tralee’s Eoin Goggin but Hickey and fellow Muskerry man Jack Egan were hot on his heels, both shooting level par.

Hickey had a dream start to the second round with birdies on the 2nd and 3rd, and Egan also began to mount a charge, reaching the turn at -2 for his round and the tournament.

As Goggin faded, it looked a two-horse race between juveniles Egan and Hickey. After a miraculous par from behind a tree on the par five 14th, Hickey went into Muskerry’s famous last four holes level par for the tournament, trailing Egan by two.

But he holed two clutch 15-foot birdie putts on 15 and 16 to reclaim the lead at two under, while Egan bogeyed 15.

Hickey needed two pars on Muskerry’s treacherous 17th and 18th to claim his maiden Senior Scratch victory and did the needful without stress.

As events transpired, Egan double-bogeyed 16 after a wayward tee-shot.

“I’m delighted, I’d play again tomorrow if I didn’t have the Junior Cert,” he said.

Muskerry Senior Scratch Cup: 140 Fionn Hickey (Muskerry); 141 Ian Bohane (Lee Valley), Greg O’Mahony (Fota); 142 David Ronayne (Thurles); 143 Gary O’Flaherty (Cork).