Pat Malone (Custume) wins the Senior County Strokeplay

 
Pat Malone (Custume) receiving the Westmeath Senior Strokeplay Cup from Westmeath Chairman, James Corcoran.

Pat Malone (Custume) receiving the Westmeath Senior Strokeplay Cup from Westmeath Chairman, James Corcoran.

The Westmeath Senior Strokeplay Championship is one of the few Sunday’s of the calendar that every senior player in Westmeath wants to find his best form and lift the coveted cup. This year was no different!

The opening rounds were all put in the shadow by one score on the score board – an incredible 44 from the local man Liam Buckley. Liam can shoot these scores for fun on a Wednesday night or in practise, but to open up in the County Strokeplay with a 44 shows the measure of the man’s ability. The nearest to him after 18 holes was another local man, John “Dossie” McDonald. Dossie is a man of pure raw talent – when he’s on it then he’s really on it and this 46 came as no great surprise to the Collinstown contingent. Next after that was Collinstown’s Michael Buckley and Custume’s Anthony Browne – both past winners of this famous cup – both men shot 47. A number of other players also broke 50 in the opening round to keep themselves in contention.

Rene Bloem (Collinstown) receives his runners-up prize.

Rene Bloem (Collinstown) receives his runners-up prize.

Liam Buckley continued on where he left off in his second round to record a 47 for a superb 91 total and this total would give him a 5 shot lead over the field going into the final round. Three players tied second place on 12 under par after 36, namely Dessie Baker from Lough Owel, Martin Kenny from Custume and Collinstown’s Larry McGinn. With the cut set at 8 under par though the rest of the field were closely bunched and a big round from anyone still had potential to get a result in the final round. The final ten players that made the cut were:

Liam Buckley (Collinstown) 91
Martin Kenny (Custume) 96
Larry McGinn (Collinstown) 96
Dessie Baker (Lough Owel) 96
John Browne (Collinstown) 98
Rene Bloem (Collinstown) 98
Pat Malone (Custume) 98
Anthony Browne (Custume) 98
John McDonald (Collinstown) 99
Alan Hanlon (Collinstown) 100

Champion Pat Malone knocks in yet another birdie

The final round really showed off the talent that is in Senior Pitch & Putt in Westmeath these days. Defending Champion Pat Malone began by birdying the opening 6 holes to go to 16 under par and suddenly it was game on! Rene Bloem and John Browne were trading birdies also as they both went 4 under for 8 to get to 14 under. Leader Liam Buckley was not getting the rub of the green as a few putts very unluckily horseshoed and he remained on 17 under for the early part of the round. Pat kept tagging on the occasional birdie and eventually signed for a brilliant 44 to take the clubhouse lead 20 under. Rene Bloem was still only 14 under total with 6 to play but astonishingly birdied the final 6 holes to tie the lead on 20 under. All attention went back to the final 2 ball, Liam Buckley and Martin Kenny.

Rene Bloem putting in the play-off

Rene Bloem putting in the play-off

Both men were 18 under with 2 to play but neither managed to make birdie on 17 so the unlikely 9 hole play-off was between defending champion Pat Malone and our own Rene Bloem. Both men had come from 7 behind to shot final round 44s – a brilliant show of Pitch and Putt. Pat began the play-off like a true champion. He birdied the first and third and when Rene made bogie on the 5th the game was up. Pat eventually played the 9 holes in 5 under par to win by 6 shots but credit to both men for excellent over-all performances on the day.

Pat thanked Collinstown and County board in his speech and he was visibly delighted to be bringing home the cup to Athlone for another year.

Click here to view the final 3 holes of the 9 hole play-off.

Westmeath Senior Strokeplay Scoreboard

Westmeath Senior Strokeplay Scoreboard

Back to 2014 News Items