Hepworth Wins Galgorm Castle

James Hepworth held his nerve to claim his first ever victory on the PGA EuroPro Tour at Galgorm Castle.

Hepworth, 35, edged out Daniel Gaunt in the first play-off hole to claim £10,000 and win the Galgorm Castle Northern Ireland PGA EuroPro Tour Open. More than 1,000 spectators watched the last round and they were treated to great entertainment as it was a tight ending between Gaunt and overnight leader Hepworth.

Hepworth had been in front since the end of the opening day but came up with his worst round of the competition on Friday. A dropped shot at the sixth looked to have proved costly, but there was late drama as Hepworth birdied the last to force a play-off. He then fired a birdie four at the first extra hole, while Australian Gaunt, the Order of Merit leader, could only claim a five.

 “I was quite focused and did the business. I really enjoyed it,” said 35-year-old Hepworth. “I was a bit relieved to actually be in the play-off and at the start of the day all of the eyes were on me as everybody wanted me to slip up but it was alright in the end.

“It has brought my own self-belief back as in the last few years I had a lost a bit of interest but I’ve worked hard and it’s paid off.

“The goal at the start of the season was to get on to the Challenge Tour and this victory means I’ve now got a chance of doing that.”

Gaunt had been three shots behind at the start of the day but his second place finish means he collects £5,000 and extends his lead at the top of the Order of Merit.

Matt Allen claimed his third top ten finish of the month as he produced his best round of the tournament on Friday.

His last day score of 66 left him in tied third on -11 and comes after finishes of tied second at Longhirst Hall and tied ninth last week at Bovey Castle.

He was joined in third place by England’s Gareth Shaw, competing in his first EuroPro Tour event of the season, as an eagle on the par-five third helped him to -11.

Ian Keenan continued his fine start to the campaign by ending in tied third for his fourth top 12 finish of 2010.

Jonathan Caldwell (Clandeyboye) was an early leader on day one but a poor second round saw his title hopes evaporate.

However, he ended the tournament well with a score of five-under on day three, aided by an eagle on the third to end in tied sixth.

Caldwell was joined in tied sixth by last week’s winner Craig Lee, England pair Gary Wolstenholme and James Webber and Michael Collins of FORE Ireland – who carded  a final round of 70.

Mark Staunton finished on -1 after a final round of 72.

Michael Collins said afterwards:

"Yesterday was a day that promised a lot. I knew from 5 back I needed to get under early and 3 birdies straight out of the gates got me to 11 under and just 2 off the lead."

"Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to keep the momentum going. 5 iron to the par three 5^th finished a foot off the back right corner of the green. However, with the flag back right I had no shot as the fringe cut in between me and the flag and I made a disappointing bogey. From there on I struggled to get the momentum back and finished 2 under for the day, 10 under for the tournament and joint 6^th position."

"I didn’t hit the ball well off the tee all week but on the 5 hour drive home, something crossed my mind in relation to my hip movement in my backswing and a few shots this morning confirmed what I thought which I will be able to take into next week."

"I would like to congratulate and thank all the crew at Galgorm Castle for organising and laying on a wonderful tournament. From the course to the tented village to the parking and stewarding and even the crowds that turned up to watch the event, it was really enjoyable to compete in and shows what can be done with good planning. Well done lads!"

EURO Pro at Galgorm Castle

The Galgorm Castle Northern Ireland PGA EuroPro Open takes place between Juine 23-25th 2010 with former British Amateur champion Gary Wolstenholme and the Saltman brothers, Lloyd, Elliot and Zack, confirmed for the event at the Ballymena venue.

Wolstenholme was one of the game’s leading amateurs for well over a decade before joining the paid ranks as a 48-year-old in September 2008. The English golfer won the British Amateur twice (1991 and 2003) and played in the Walker Cup on no less that five occasions. He remains the leading all-time points scorer for the Britain and Ireland side. The Surrey golfer famously defeated world number one Tiger Woods in the 1995 Walker Cup at Royal Porthcawl in Wales as Britain and Ireland won the biennial team event against the Americans.

"That win certainly gave me a new status in the game," said Wolstenholme at the time.

These days Wolstenholme is cutting his teeth on the EuroPro circuit with one eye on joining the European Seniors Tour when he turns 50. With countless wins worldwide as an amateur, he will be one to look out for during next week’s event at Galgorm Castle Golf Club.

The field is further enhanced with news that the Saltman brothers will all tee it up at Galgorm.

Regarded as Scotland’s great hope of the fairways, this golfing dynasty bring plenty of excitement to the Ballymena event. Lloyd came to prominence in these parts when playing in the 2007 Walker Cup at Royal County Down alongside the likes of Rory McIlroy before turning professional. Lloyd, along with his brothers, holds ambitions of joining the main European Tour and are currently learning their trade on the PGA EuroPro Tour. Also included in the field is Ian Keenan, who won the Irish Masters EuroPro event at Castle Dargan at the start of June.

This year the George Best Invitational Event will take place within the EuroPro Tour Event.

The Club has held the George Best Celebrity Golf Invitational with great success for the past two years, in the form of a Pro-Am and it has involved celebrities such as Alex Stepney, Dennis Taylor and Mike England to name a few and various Professional Golfers including 1995 Ryder Cup Hero, Philip Walton of FORE Ireland.

FORE Ireland fields two players in the EURO Pro Tour event Mark Staunton and Michael Collins.

Michael Collins said: "With the new order of merit system this year in the Irish Region, joined with the fact I am only playing around 12 events in the region this year, it is important that I make the best of the tournaments I do play. Therefore, 3rd in Belmullet was a welcome result which will help me up the order a bit. The only disappointing thing was a lost ball on my 17th hole (8th hole) in an area where it was almost unloseable. I have my suspicions that another player must have either played it or picked it up but that the way it goes and the resulting double bogey left me in a tie for third instead of joint 2nd." "Sunday night was spent relaxing watching the amazing performance of Graeme Mc Dowell and watching it it was obvious that he was the one that believed in himself the most when the going got tough. Already ultra confident, his self belief will go through the roof and we can now expect him to be up there contending in the majors on a permanent basis." "Monday consisted of a 5 hour drive from Belmullet to Ballymena and a practice round at Galgorm Castle before the Europro event starting tomorrow. I played in the pro am today and a poor day on the greens meant I finished on 75. Despite this I am looking forward to tomorrow and the 3 hours of short game practice this evening has given me a bit of feel back which was lacking today."

Castle Dargan - Round 2

FORE Ireland Team

Brendan McCarroll is the leading Irish player at the EURO Pro Tour events at Castle Dargan Golf Hotel carding a 4 under par round of 67 - which included two eagles - to remain two shots behind the leader, Ian Keenan of England, who carded a round of 65 picking up 7 birdies on the way and dropping just one shot at the 17th hole to end on 6 under.

Andrew Thorpe struck a six under par 65 to lead the Castle Dargan PGA EuroPro Tour event by one stroke at eight under par ahead of Friday’s final round in Ireland.

Overnight leader Keenan (Royal Liverpool) was unable to match his opening round 65 in his second round, carding three birdies and two bogeys in his 70 to sit in a tie for second.

Joining Keenan one stroke behind Thorpe is Justin Evans, who carded a fine 66. Beginning at the first, Evans (Wentworth Club) was level through the first four holes before picking up six birdies in eight holes to move to six under – with a bogey at 17 foiling his chances of joining Thorpe at eight under.

Zack Saltman (Aegon) matched Evans’ round to climb into contention at six under par – alongside his older brother Elliot.

Five players are at five under – Irish pair Brian McElhinney (Team Ireland) and Paul O’Hanlon (Curragh), English duo James Busby (The Shropshire) and Nicky Harris (Whitefield GC) and Scotsman Scott Henry (The Carrick on Loch Lomond).

Fifty-eight players made the cut at three-over par for the final round in Castle Dargan.

Mark Staunton was the best of the three FORE Ireland on 1 under.

David Mortimer and Michael Collins finished on 2 over.

Castle Dargan - Round 1

Ian Keenan

Brendan McCarroll is the leading Irish player at the EURO Pro Tour events at Castle Dargan Golf Hotel carding a 4 under par round of 67 - which included two eagles - to remain two shots behind the leader, Ian Keenan of England, who carded a round of 65 picking up 7 birdies on the way and dropping just one shot at the 17th hole to end on 6 under.

Kevin McAlpine of Scotland and James Freeman of England are in a tie for second place at five under par.

McCarroll shares fourth place with a group that includes two other Irish players, Tim Rice (67) of Limerick and Brian McElhinney (67) of Team Ireland.

Mark Staunton was the best of the three FORE Ireland players on 2 under with an eagle on the par five 6th hole and two birdies. But two dropped shots pushed him back to don the field in share of 15th place.

David Mortimer had a mixed day carding a bogey on the fourth hole, followed by an eagle on the fifth, then a birdie on the 6th, followed by a bogey on the 7th - which summarised his round. The major problem was a quadruple bogey on the par four 18th to leave him level par at the end of day one.

Michael Collins finished the opening day one over par with two double bogey on his card – the first on the 4th and the second on the 16th hole. Three birdies on 12, 14 and 15 started a late recovery that left him signing for a 71 total.

Michael Collins said afterwards:
“Round one in Castle Dargan felt like the last round in Burhill last week. I hit the ball a bit better in the Pro-am yesterday for level par and was happy enough as I felt reasonably comfortable. I hit the ball well in places as well today but 2 shots in particular were brutal and destructive as well,” Collins explained.

“On the 4th hole, I pushed my tee shot into the tree on the right off the tee. Luckily, the ball got through but I was left with 200 yards out of the rough. Feeling happy after my good break, I then snap hooked my rescue into the hazard way left of the green. A double bogey was the outcome and 2 bogeys on 7 an 8 were cancelled out with 2 birdies on 6 and 9 leaving me 3 over for 9.”

“As usual, I kept the shoulder to the wheel and got back to level with three good birdies on 12, 14 and 15. Cue bad shot. 16 was playing straight down wind and a good tee shot was going to set up a good chance. However, a terrible snap hook resulted in a lost ball and another double. Birdie on the tough 17th was cancelled out by bogey on the even tougher 18th.”

“My game is usually all about pars and not dropping shots so its frustrating to be making so many birdies and then throwing away so many shots in the same round. Hopefully tomorrow I can keep the birdies and get rid of the bogeys,” concluded the Mallow man.

FORE Ireland Trio at Castle Dargan

Castle Dargan June 2nd -4th, 2010

Castle Dargan Golf Hotel Resort together with the PGA EuroPro Tour will host a round in the tournament scheduled from June 2nd – 4th June. The Darren Clarke-designed course is a new venue on the 2010 EuroPro Tour calendar which will tee off on Wednesday.

Over thirty Irish golfers will take part in Castle Dargan in a large field all chasing a share of the forty thousand pounds sterling total prize money.

Amongst the competitors will be three members of the FORE Ireland team with Michael Collins and Mark Staunton just back from playing Burhill Golf Club last week on the EURO Pro Tour circuit in Walton on Thames. Although Collins made the cut he finished in a tie for 16th after a bogey on the eighteenth hole with Paul O’Hanlon the best Irish player in 9th place.

Mark Staunton missed the cut last week but then played over the weekend in the Foxrock Pro Am breaking the 16 year old course record by two shots, held by Headfort Golf Club professional Brendan McGovern, when he posted a round of 63.

David Mortimer enters his first EURO Pro Tour event of this season having played a number of Irish PGA events where he has bagged enough top five finishes to currently hold second place in the Lexus Race to Mount Juliet - Irish order of Merit.
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