The County Sligo Golf Club
(Photo Courtesy of The County Sligo Golf Club)
COUNTY SLIGO, IRELAND (March 27, 2016)--The
match play portion of the West of Ireland got underway
today at The County Sligo Golf Club and field has been
cut from 64 to 16 after 36-holes of golf. Play will
continue tomorrow with the round of 16 and the
quarterfinals.
ROUND OF SIXTEEN DRAW
Sean Flanagan vs. Richard Knightly
Colm Campbell vs. Des Morgan
Theo Coffey vs. Gavin Fitzmaurice
Daniel Holland vs. Aaron Grant
Kevin Le Blanc vs. Stephen Brady
Dermot McElroy vs. Cathal Butler
Jonathan Yates vs. Harry Duggan
Caolan Rafferty vs. Matthew Kane
Following the completion of play tomorrow the field
will be whittled down to four. The final day of
competition will be another 36-holes with the
semifinals in the morning and championship match in
the afternoon.
STROKE PLAY RECAP
It has been a difficult two days at the West of
Ireland Open with the wind recking havoc on the
competition. After the winds of yesterday carried over
to today the Championship Committee has decided to
reduce qualifying to just 18-holes.
Late in the second day of qualifying it finally
reached a point where the wind gusts of 50 MPH were
simply to much to allow play to continue at The County
Sligo Golf Club. As a result, despite a large majority of
the field completing the second round those scores will
wiped away and just the opening 18-holes will be
counted as qualifying scores for the match play portion
of the event.
With scores reduced to 18-holes of play Sean
Flanagan playing on his home course will be the top
seed. He shot an opening day 2-over par 73.
The West of Ireland Open is the first major
amateur event of the year in Ireland. In the past it has
seen many winners become world stars in the game of
golf. Most notably are Rory McIlroy (2005, 2006),
Padraig Harrington (1994) and Shane Lowry (2008).
ABOUT THE West of Ireland Open Amateur
From 1923 through 2018, the West of Ireland was a
match play tournament but the format was switched
to 72 holes of stroke play in 2019 before reverting to
match play in 2022. Originally held in
July, it was moved to coincide with Easter but now it is
played in April to open the Irish
competitive calendar each year.
View Complete Tournament Information