Scotland's Dear Takes the Irish Open Am

DUBLIN, Ireland (May 10, 2009)--Scotland’s Gavin Dear carded a final round 71 to clinch the AIB sponsored Irish Amateur Open at the Royal Dublin Golf Club and in doing so gave his hopes of earning a Walker Cup assignment a serious boost.

Dear, who held the overnight lead, covered the closing nine holes in a remarkable four-under-par 33 for a 72 hole total of 289 to finish two strokes clear of his Eisenhower Trophy winning teammate, Scottish Stroke Play champion from Comrie, Wallace Booth.

Knock’s Nicky Grant was the leading Irish player finishing four strokes adrift of Booth and one ahead of Walker Cup hopeful Dale Whitnell (England).

Shane Lowry (Esker Hills), who is also aiming for a spot in the GB&I team for the biennial cup clash with the USA in September, finished in sixth place, covering the closing 36 holes in one-under-par after struggling to hit top form in testing conditions over the opening two days.

The win moves Dear up to 14th in the Golfweek/amateurgolf.com Amateur Golf World Rankings. Sam Hutsby of England finished tied for 16th, good enough to propel himself to the #1 spot in the rankings, narrowly ahead of Rickie Fowler of the USA.

Final results of the Irish Open Amateur Championship, played May 8-10, 2009 at Royal Dublin Golf Club:

289: G Dear (Scotland) 77 69 72 71

291: W Booth (Scotland) 76 73 70 72

295: N Grant (Knock) 78 69 72 76

296: D Whitnell (England) 78 75 70 73

298: L Goddard (England) 81 73 69 75, S Lowry (Esker Hills) 79 76 71 72

299: P Westermann (Germany) 78 70 78 73

300: S Einhaus (Germany) 82 74 74 70, P Cutler (Portstewart) 78 74 74 74

302: J Ross (Scotland) 80 78 71 73, R Kellett (Scotland) 80 75 71 76, R Prophet (England) 79 78 73 72, D Lernihan (Castle) 78 75 75 74, R McCarthy (The Island) 77 74 72 79, N Kearney (The Royal Dublin) 75 74 78 75

303: S Hodgson (England) 80 76 74 73, M Thistleton (England) 79 73 73 78, S Hutsby (England) 78 75 75 75, T Hakula (Finland) 77 74 77 75

304: M Glauert (Germany) 82 76 74 72, A Hogan (Newlands) 80 78 74 72, J Fox (Portmarnock) 75 81 69 79, F Keenan (England) 74 77 77 76

306: L Lennox (Moyola Park) 82 76 75 73, S Borrowman (Scotland) 80 75 76 75

307: D Coyle (Co. Louth) 83 74 76 74, G McGrane (The Royal Dublin) 82 76 72 77, A Dunbar (Rathmore) 80 77 71 79

308: C Curley (Newlands) 81 74 79 74, H Satama (Finland) 80 76 74 78

310: G McDermott (Co. Sligo) 82 75 77 76 311: M Durcan (Co. Sligo) 80 76 77 78, A Runcie (Wales) 78 76 79 78

312: P Purdy (Shandon Park) 79 75 79 79, J Monaghan (The Island) 78 79 77 78, P Betty (Scotland) 76 79 73 84

313: B Walton (The Island) 79 78 76 80

316: E Arthurs (Forrest Little) 81 74 82 79

318: R Leonard (Banbridge) 77 75 84 82