England’s John Gough says he is delighted to bring home the silverware in front of friends and family as he won the 2023 Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open Championship at The Island.
The Berkshire golfer shot a cool final round of 67 to finish on -8 and one shot clear of the field, with fellow Englishman Dylan Shaw-Radford in second and yesterday’s course record holder Tomi Bowen falling back to -6 in third.
But it was Gough who notched up seven birdies on his way to victory. A hat-trick of birdies on 8, 9 and 10 brought him into contention before he repeated the feat on 14, 15 and 16 to seal a famous win.
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“It’s so good to win the Irish amateur, especially with family relations in Ireland,” said Gough.
“It’s class winning in front of a lot of the family, I have a very big family. My dad is from Meath, he has eight sisters and two brothers, and then my mum is from County Down, in Newry.
“I have so many cousins all over the place, aunts and uncles, you’d struggle to remember the names that many of them, but seeing them here, it’s unbelievable, because they don’t get to see me play golf a lot.
“And then having them here and to pull through and get the trophy, definitely felt like a home event with the support I had. It’s a special place to do it for me.”
Best of the Irish was Laytown and Bettystown’s Alex Maguire, who shot a 71 to end the day on -5, giving him a solo fourth-placed finish. Maguire held the lead around the halfway point but failed to make any birdies on the back nine which halted his progress.
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