Kearney takes Connemara cash pot
30/09/2013
Ulster champion Niall Kearney (above) put in a fighting finish to leapfrog the overnight leaders in the €23,000 PGA Pro-Am tournament, at Connemara. The Royal Dublin attaché posted a second round 68 for a seven-under-par total of 137.
On Saturday night, Kearney, at 69, was one shot behind Brian McElhinney, John Kelly and Damian Mooney but, in the second round, McElhinney and Kelly both carded 71, while Mooney slipped down the leaderboard after a 76.
Birdies three and four, at holes five and seven, gave the winner a two-under-33 for the front nine but he was back to regulation after bogeys at 10 and 13. He then made his drive for victory by highlighting his card with a golden eagle at the long 14th hole and he finished in a blaze with back-to-back birdie fours, for a homeward run of two-under-par 35 and a 36 holes aggregate of 137, one stroke better than McElhinney and Kelly.
Brian McElhinney and his amateur partners led overnight in the team event, after posing 94 points, and they held on to their lofty position as they added another 89 points yesterday to win the team honours on 183.
