Irish Amateur Open - Day 3 as it happened

Leader Gary McDermott warms up for the resumption of play at 6.30pm Picture Pat Cashman cashmanphotography.ie

Co Sligo's Gary McDermott battled winds gusting up to 40mph to shoot a two over 74 and take a two shot lead over West of Ireland champion Jack Hume into the final round of the weather-delayed Irish Amateur Open at Royal Dublin.

The 32-year old bank official, now playing out of Carton House, leads on two under 214 from Naas Hume, who fired a third successive 72 on a day that brought a mid-afternoon suspension of nearly two and a half hours because of the threat of lightning.

Irish Close champion Cormac Sharvin from Ardglass is third on one over par alongside Scotland's Jamie Savage (75) after a battling 73.

England's Marco Penge, who does not turn 16 until next week, is tied for fifth on three over after a 71 alongside Robbie van West (72) of the Netherlands and compatriot Ashley Mason.

Irish Amateur Open Championship, Royal Dublin (Par 72)

Tee-times - Rd 4

(7:00) McCarthy
(7:09) Cannon, Lester 
(7:18) Russell, Tomlinson 
(7:27) Arkenau, Holland
(7:36) Cullen, McCullen
(7:45) Smith, Fox
(7:54) Syme, Borrowman
(8:03) Lipold, Gibson
(8:12) McNamara, Choen
(8:21) Shanahan, Campbell
(8:30) Hanna, Greene
(8:39) Best, Allan
(8:48) McLarnon, Knightly
(8:57) Dunton, Lenehan
(9:06) Le Blanc, Coghlan
(9:15) Ruuska, Westdijk
(9:24) Kuronen, Mottershead
(9:33) Lawrence, Fairweather 
(9:42) Dawson, MacAndrew
(9:51) Anderson, Whitson
(10:00) McBride, Grehan
(10:09) McElroy, Bezuidenhout
(10:18) Culverwell, Gandy
(10:27) Hopkins, Mason
(10:36) van West, Penge 
(10:45) Savage, Sharvin
(10:54) Hume, McDermott

After 54 holes

214 Gary McDermott (Carton House) 69 71 74

216 Jack Hume (Naas) 72 72 72

217 Jamie Savage (Scotland) 74 68 75 , Cormac Sharvin (Ardglass) 74 70 73

219 Marco Penge (England) 79 69 71 , Robbie van West (Netherlands) 73 74 72 , Ashley Mason (England) 72 73 74

220 Jeff Hopkins (The Royal Dublin) 74 76 70 , Tom Gandy (Isle of Man) 71 71 78 , Alexander Culverwell (Scotland) 70 73 77

221 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa) 75 71 75

222 Dermot McElroy (Ballymena) 76 74 72 , Stuart Grehan (Tullamore) 72 76 74

223 Reeve Whitson (Mourne) 76 71 76 , Paul Mc Bride (The Island) 76 73 74 , Barry Anderson (The Royal Dublin) 75 76 72 , Nick MacAndrew (Scotland) 75 72 76 , Robin Dawson (Faithlegg) 74 74 75 , Colin Fairweather (Knock) 73 76 74 , Thriston Lawrence (South Africa) 73 70 80

224 Gus Mottershead (England) 76 76 72 , Miki Kuronen (Finland) 75 77 72 , Sem Westdijk (Netherlands) 71 75 78

225 Lauri Ruuska (Finland) 76 75 74 , Darragh Coghlan (Portmarnock) 75 74 76 , Kevin Le Blanc (The Island) 74 72 79 , Geoff Lenehan (Portmarnock) 73 76 76

226 Adam Dunton (Scotland) 78 74 74 , Richard Knightly (The Royal Dublin) 76 77 73 , Tiarnan McLarnon (Massereene) 74 75 77

227 James Allan (England) 77 76 74 , Ben Best (Rathmore) 76 78 73 , John Greene (Portmarnock) 76 73 78 , William Hanna (Kilkeel) 75 77 75 , Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) 73 76 78

228 Mark Shanahan (Castlemartyr) 82 73 73 , Assaf Choen (Israel) 78 75 75 , Rory McNamara (Headfort) 74 80 74 , Scott Gibson (Scotland) 73 75 80

229 Lukas Lipold (Austria) 83 74 72 , Scott Borrowman (Scotland) 80 73 76 , James Fox (Portmarnock) 78 73 78 , Connor Syme (Scotland) 78 76 75 , Eugene Smith (Ardee) 76 80 73 , Haydn McCullen (England) 75 80 74 , Seamus Cullen (Slieve Russell) 75 76 78 , Daniel Holland (Castle) 75 75 79 , Henry Tomlinson (England) 74 76 79 , Hinrich Arkenau (Germany) 74 80 75

230 William Russell (Clandeboye) 83 77 70 , Kieran McCarthy (Castlemartyr) 78 73 79 , Robert Cannon (Balbriggan) 78 77 75 , Rowan Lester (Hermitage) 78 77 75

CUT

231 Shaun O'Connor (Luttrellstown Castle) 81 78 72 , Eoin Arthurs (Forrest Little.) 80 78 73 , Bradley Neil (Scotland) 79 75 77 , Sean Ryan (The Royal Dublin) 79 78 74 , Joao Magalhaes (Portugal) 79 78 74 , Eddie McCormack (Galway) 79 75 77 , Kristian Kulokorpi (Finland) 78 81 72 , Jack Bush (Wales) 78 73 80

232 Gordon Stevenson (Scotland) 79 78 75 , John Duff (Scotland) 79 74 79 , Conor O'Rourke (Naas) 79 78 75 , Paul Coughlan (Moate) 78 80 74 , Stephen Healy (Claremorris) 74 77 81

233 Steffan O'Hara (Co. Sligo) 83 74 76 , James Yeomans (England) 80 77 76 , Vitor Lopes (Portugal) 80 77 76 , Declan Reidy (Co. Sligo) 80 77 76 , Sigot Lopez (Spain) 77 79 77 , Liam Hutchinson (The Royal Dublin) 77 81 75 , Ian O'Rourke (The Royal Dublin) 75 75 83

234 Gary Collins (Rosslare) 81 76 77 , Stephen McCarthy (Black Bush) 80 79 75 , John-Ross Galbraith (Whitehead) 77 78 79 , Craig Howie (Scotland) 76 79 79 , Kelan McDonagh (The Royal Dublin) 76 82 76 , Dylan Boshart (Netherlands) 76 78 80

235 David Brady (Co. Sligo) 82 76 77 , Andre Tourinho (Brazil) 82 75 78 , Matt Kippen (England) 73 81 81 , Janes Lombardo (Germany) 73 78 84

236 Daniel Kay (Scotland) 83 75 78 , Richard O'Donovan (Lucan) 82 76 78 , Richard Bridges (Stackstown) 78 82 76

237 Ryan Symington (Lisburn) 80 77 80 , Daniel Young (Scotland) 80 75 82

238 Daniel Brennan (Shannon) 85 73 80 , Eddy Holland (England) 79 75 84 , Anthony Blaney (Scotland) 78 82 78

239 Louis Leysen (Belgium) 83 79 77 , Alan Sutherland (Scotland) 82 82 75 , Paul Reilly (Scotland) 81 78 80 , Adam Wilson (Wales) 78 76 85 , Simon Bryan (Delgany) 76 80 83 , Eanna Griffin (Waterford) 75 76 88

240 Sean Moran (Carton House) 80 78 82 , Ross Hopwood (England) 77 79 84

241 NJ Arnoldi (South Africa) 86 79 76 , Gaetan Van Baarle (Belgium) 84 81 76 , Cameron Mills (Shandon Park) 84 78 79 , Laurens Jansen (Netherlands) 83 78 80

242 David Carey (Carton House) 86 80 76 , Roy Connolly (Palmerstown Stud) 84 79 79

243 John McGinn (Laytown & Bettystown) 83 82 78 , Alexander Verschaeren (Luxembourg) 81 80 82 , Chris Carroll (Shandon Park) 77 83 83

244 Goncalo Costa (Portugal) 84 81 79

246 Adrien Michellod (Switzerland) 85 85 76

247 Simon Zach (Czech Republic) 85 81 81 , David Deschler (USA) 79 85 83

251 Michael Harradine (Switzerland) 80 85 86

253 Petr Dedek (Czech Republic) 92 82 79

255 Shane McGlynn (Carton House) 91 84 80 , Yair Taler (Israel) 88 85 82

257 Luis Thiele (Brazil) 91 82 84

_____

2031 — Royal Dublin's Jeff Hopkins dropped just one stroke in a two under 70 to set the clubhouse target at four over par, two better than Ballymena's Dermot McElroy, who posted a level par 72.

Live scoring

Jeff Hopkins tees off on the third. Picture: Thos Caffrey / www.golffile.ie

The 22-year old Dubliner said: "It's not far away and the back nine is playing extremely tough. It's not about pretty golf it's just about making as many pars as you can.

"I dropped one shot all day on the 10th and had three birdies. I had a lot of chances all day but didn't take them. I made a good birdie on 16 and a good par on 17. 

"The 18th is very tough. The wind is down off the right and it's hard to judge how far to hit it. It's nearly impossible to hold the green coming in so you just have to take your chances on getting up and down from the left, which I did. I hit four-iron off the tee and four iron for my second."

Overnight leader Gary McDermot racked up a triple bogey eight after finding two bunkers at the 14th and leads by one shot on three under par  from Cormac Sharvin and Jack Hume, who have also played 14 holes.

The cut for the top 50 and ties is currently projected to fall at 14 over, which means that defending champion Robbie Cannon should make it.

1830 — The third round of the Irish Amateur Open resumed at 6.30pm following a two hour and 24 minute suspension because of the threat of lightning at Royal Dublin.

Gary McDermott waits for play to resume at Royal Dublin.

1834 — Carton House's Gary McDermott leads by two shots from Irish Close champion Cormac Sharvin on six under par though seven holes having eagled the par-five second with a wedge to 30 feet.

Light is not expected to be a problem for the remainder of the evening but with winds forecast to gust up to 40mph, there is a danger that balls could start to move on some of the more exposed greens.

Play has resumed at Royal Dublin after a weather delay of more than two hours. 

Storm approaching from the south at Royal Dublin

1606 — Play has been suspended in the Irish Amateur Open due to the threat of lightning. Dark clouds are approaching rapidly from the south.

Play is expected to be suspended for at least one hour.


1547 — High winds and squally showers look set to cause havoc for the leaders in the third round of the Irish Amateur Open at Royal Dublin. 

Overnight leader Gary McDermott, who was two clear of Scotland's Jamie Savage and the Isle of Man's Tom Gandy on four under at halfway, has picked up two shots in his first three holes.

The calm before the storm

The Co Sligo 32-year old, now playing out of Carton House, leads by two shots on six under from Irish Close champion Cormac Sharvin of Ardglass who started birdie-eagle--birdie to get to four under.

West of Ireland champion Jack Hume of Naas was three under after six and tied for third with Savage and Gandy.

Live scoring

The 54-hole cut of the top 50 and ties is currently 13 over par but that will rise as players battle their way home against the wind on a course that has been reduced by 436 yards to 6,857 yards.

No fewer than 13 tees have been moved forward:

  • 1st -9
  • 4th -42
  • 5th -44
  • 7th -53
  • 8th -8
  • 9th -10
  • 10th -58
  • 11th -24
  • 12th -41
  • 13th -53
  • 14th -17
  • 16th -6
  • 17th -58
  • 18th -13

Earlier today, Co Sligo teenager David Brady had his first hole-in-one in competition, holing an eight iron at the 168-yard ninth in a 77 that leaves him on 19-over par.