Moriarty lights up Hilton Templepatrick
26/09/2014
Colm Moriarty cruised to a seven-shot victory in the HBE Risk Management PGA Ulster Championship at the Hilton Templepatrick.
The Glasson PGA Professional carded a final round two-under 70 to finish on nine-under-par at the Co Antrim venue, some distance ahead of nearest rivals Ciaran Molloy (Blackwood GC), Dara Lernihan (Elm Park) and Neil O'Briain (Old Conna GC).
Moriarty started the day with a three-shot lead over Mark O'Sullivan (Piltown Driving Range) and Niall Kearney (Royal Dublin), who was bidding for a hat-trick of Ulster Championship titles.
O'Sullivan's challenge faded early as he dropped three shots in his opening three holes while Kearney started strongly with a birdie at the first but Moriarty hit back immediately with a birdie of his own at the second and never looked back.
The 35-year-old had a four shot lead heading into the back nine and when Kearney dropped four shots at the 11th, 12th and 13th, Moriarty knew that the tournament was in his hands, finishing off his round in style by chipping in for an eagle on the 18th.
“It was trickier today with the gusting wind. I still played quite nicely but didn't do much wrong and gave myself a few chances here and there. It was nice to chip in for an eagle at the last,” said Colm.
“Mark didn't start well and Niall was hanging in there but he never really got that close and had a bad run on the back nine and I was able to pull clear.
“You never know what is going on in front but I thought if I could stay ahead of the two boys I would have a good chance because in those conditions I knew it was going to be hard for someone to shoot five or six-under.
“I'm delighted to win, just looking at some of the names on the trophy, it's lovely to join that list of champions.”
The next event on the PGA in Ireland circuit is the Irish PGA Championship, in association with the Down Syndrome Centre at Adare Manor GC, in Co Limerick on October 2-5. Based on his recent form, Moriarty will surely enter the tournament as one of the pre-event favourites.
