DARRAGH DOES IT IN STYLE
The best young golfers in County Monaghan teed it up last Friday in The Northern Standard Boys Under-18 Golf Championship at Rossmore Golf Club. by COLM SHALVEY
Please view the winners and runners-up from last Friday’s inaugural Northern Standard Boys U18 Golf Championship. Neatly cut out and fold the list and put it in the bottom drawer of the chest of drawers in your living room and then let it hibernate for ten years.
You see the chances are that by 2022, the name of at least one of the starlets who showcased their golfing skills last weekend will be tripping off the tongues of golfing enthusiasts nationwide.
The creme de la creme of county Monaghan’s teenage golfers featured among the 30-plus players who teed off last Friday at glorious Rossmore.
Before the competition got underway, shrew pundits fingered Ryan O’Doherty – who plays off a handicap of 3 at Rossmore – as the likely winner. Those pundits had the proverbial hole in one, as things transpired.
St. Macartan’s College student Ryan won’t be 18 ’till next December but last weekend some of his play was Christy O’Connor-esque.
The son of Clontibret residents Eugene and Cathy O’Doherty, young Ryan – a Rossmore club stalwart just like his parents – was an old head on young shoulders. Those who know the O’Doherty clan ain’t so sure about bestowing comparisons between Ryan and biblical Solomon but they quip that “he gets the talent from his mother and the cuteness from his father!”
In fairness to last Friday’s newly crowned best young golfer in Monaghan (2012), he is quick to cast aside the raft of bouquets cast his direction. He’s not only a talented golfer. He’s modest and level-headed into the bargain.
“It’s great to win the competition especially because it’s the inaugural one and my name will be the first one on the trophy.”
Ryan – a particular fan of Irish pro Graeme McDowell – says that while his form in the run into the competition was good, he didn’t enjoy the greatest of starts.
“I made some stupid mistakes early on and was six over par for the first nine holes which wasn’t what I had planned.
“I was hitting the trees instead of hitting the fairways.” Nerves perhaps? “No, I don’t think it was nerves, more like a bad swing.
“Luckily enough, I was able to fix it (swing) pretty quickly and began to hit the fairways with some consistency and I ended up being five over for the 18.”
Was he happy with his overall score then?
“Being one under for the second nine pulled me right back into the mix which was good ’cause it …
