Cutler boosts Walker Cup hopes

Portstewart's Paul Cutler gave his Walker Cup hopes a boost when he captured the East of Ireland Amateur Championship at Baltray.

Mon, 01 Jun, 2009 - 19:22

Portstewart's Paul Cutler gave his Walker Cup hopes a boost when he captured the East of Ireland Amateur Championship at Baltray.

The 20-year-old senior international carded rounds of 72 and 71 on the final day to finish two strokes clear of Moyola Park's Luke Lennox on four-under par 288.

Bidding to make the Great Britain and Ireland side to face the USA in Pennsylvania in September, the Antrim youngster hopes his first major victory will be a springboard to even greater success.

He said: “I know I will have to do more but this should help. Hopefully this will get the attention of the selectors because the Walker Cup is a big target for me.”

Cutler and Portmarnock's James Fox led by a shot overnight but the Dubliner crashed to a third round 79 and finished ten shots adrift in tenth place on six over.

Lennox fired a third round 71 to top the leaderboard with Cutler on three under par - three shots ahead of defending champion Eoin Arthurs, Nicky Grant, James Monaghan and Dessie Morgan - with a round to play.

The Portstewart man played the front nine in two under par to two over by Lennox to lead by four shots on five under with nine holes to play.

But Lennox cut the gap to a shot with six to play when he birdied the 11th and then saved par at the 12th as Cutler ran up a double bogey six.

However, a bogey by Lennox on the 13th gave Cutler a two shot cushion and the Irish international extended his lead to three with a birdie at the par-three 15th.

Lennox holed a 40 foot birdie putt from just off the green at the 18th for a 73 but Cutler two-putted from 60 feet for a winning par five.

East of Ireland Amateur Open Championship, Co. Louth GC

FINAL

284 P Cutler (Portstewart) 69 72 72 71

286 L Lennox (Moyola Park) 72 70 71 73

288 K McDonagh (Athlone) 76 69 72 71

290 C Curley (Newlands) 73 72 74 71

291 D Morgan (Mullingar) 71 74 71 75

293 P Dunne (Greystones) 76 73 72 72, C Doran (Banbridge) 74 71 78 70, S Crowe (Dunmurry) 73 70 75 75, N Grant (Knock) 72 75 69 77

294 J Carvill (Warrenpoint) 75 75 73 71, E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 74

69 73 78, J Monaghan (The Island) 72 72 72 78, J Fox (Portmarnock) 69

72 79 74

295 A Dunbar (Rathmore) 75 69 75 76

296 G O'Flaherty (Cork) 77 73 74 72, D Beattie (Whitehead) 76 72 72 76, R Cannon (Laytown & Bettystown) 75 72 75 74, N Kearney (The Royal

Dublin) 74 75 72 75, D Crowe (Dunmurry) 71 77 72 76

297 D Lernihan (Castle) 76 71 75 75, A Morris (Belvoir Park) 70 78 75 74

298 G Kelly (Co. Louth) 73 74 77 74, D Reilly (Westmanstown) 73 72 76 77

299 F Rafferty (Dungannon) 73 76 76 74, J Hopkins (Skerries) 72 74 76 77 300 G McGee (Malone) 78 72 71 79, C Hughes (Royal Portrush) 75 75 75 75, A McCormick (Scrabo) 73 73 79 75

301 R McConnell (Belvoir Park) 74 73 76 78, S Power (West Waterford)

74 72 74 81, G McGrane (The Royal Dublin) 73 77 79 72, N Beirth (Co.

Louth) 71 76 79 75

302 D Finn (Mallow) 76 74 78 74

303 N Goulding (Portmarnock) 75 73 79 76, S Loftus (Lahinch) 74 76 77 76, D Carroll (Grange) 73 75 75 80

305 K Egan (Curragh) 74 75 75 81, C Drumm (Rosslare) 73 76 74 82

306 C Selfridge (Moyola Park) 74 75 80 77, G Bohill (Co. Louth) 73 74

78 81, M Brett (Portmarnock) 72 78 78 78

307 J McGinn (Laytown & Bettystown) 78 71 79 79, K Canty (Douglas) 74

74 80 79

308 K Condren (Greystones) 74 76 79 79

309 L Brady (The Royal Dublin) 77 74 76 82, M McAlpin (Royal Portrush)