Kearney sweeps past Mooney to seal K Club Pro-Am

Niall Kearney (Royal Dublin GC) produced a flawless round of golf, sweeping past overnight leader Damien Mooney (Ballyliffin) to win the Newbridge Silverware sponsored Pro-Am at the K Club.

Challenge Tour regular Kearney started the day trailing Mooney by two shots but while the leader stumbled on his back nine, Kearney was piecing together a superb round, eventually signing for a five-under-par 67 that secured a two-shot victory.

With a prize pot of €33,000 on offer, the K Club Pro-Am attracted a high calibre field with 44 professionals and their amateur partners playing a round on both the Smurfit Course and the Palmer Ryder Cup Course, venue for the 2006 biennial show piece against the USA, which was won by Europe.

Playing the Smurfit course, the 26-year-old made a solid start with pars at the opening two holes before his round caught fire with a trio of birdies at the third, fourth and fifth. Out in three-under 33, the Royal Dublin golfer added two further birdies on the back nine at the par five 10th and par four 14^th for his 67, a score matched on the day by Colm Moriarty (Glasson Hotel & GC).

Mooney, playing the Ryder Cup course made an excellent start to his round with a birdie at the par three third, but a bogey at the sixth saw him go to the turn in level par. His problems began on the back nine with a dropped shot at the 10^th followed by further bogeys at the 14^th and 17^th before closing out his round with a birdie at the 18^th.

Colm Moriarty's round of 67 guaranteed him joint third alongside Irish champion Michael McGeady on four-under for the two days with Ryder Cup hero Philip Walton a shot further back after rounds of 70/71.

Kearney made it a clean sweep by guiding his team to the pro-am title, ending the two days with a total of 188 points a full 12 points ahead of nearest challenger Colm Moriarty.