Mooney best in Titleist FootJoy PGA Professional Championship; Creamer masters windy Malahide
Paul Hendriksen. Picture: Julian Herbert/Getty Images
Damian Mooney tied for 12th behind Devon’s Paul Hendriksen as David Higgins slipped down the leaderboard on the final day of the Titleist & FootJoy PGA Professional Championship at Burnham & Berrow.
Nevada Bob's Belfast backed Mooney shot a one under 70 to win £1,130 on nine over, five strokes behind Hendrickson (72), who won by a shot from Cameron Clark and Gareth Wright.
Higgins made a triple bogey seven at his second hole and slipped to a 79 and a share of 25th on 12 over.
Hendriksen won £10,000 and a place in the Great Britain & Ireland PGA Cup team to face America in September, after edging out Wright and Clark in a rollercoaster final day at the Somerset links.
He did it the hard way too, negotiating a treacherous chip over a bunker at the last to card a decisive bogey for a one over par 72 and 288 total for the 72-hole tournament.
“I didn’t really know what was going on out there – I don’t normally play that well in bad weather,” said Hendriksen. “The wind came in from the sixth for us and it changed from a five mph wind to a 30mph wind.
“I was doing really well up until then, I was a couple under. From there on in I just somehow managed to hang on in the back nine and played some really good golf.
“I didn’t look at the leaderboard until the 18th and I had the fiddliest of shots over a bunker, downwind off an awful lie. I had to have a look to see what the situation was, because obviously my first aim this week was to get into the PGA Cup team. If anything that was priority so had to have a look and saw I had a two shot lead and just played for a bogey.
Apart from the £10,000 first prize, Hendrickson won the use of a Peugeot 308GT for a year in addition to qualifying for the end of season PGA Play-Offs in Turkey.
But his biggest thrill was making Jon Bevan’s PGA Cup team at CordeValle Golf Club in California.
Niall Kearney (Royal Dublin), Jason Levermore (Channels) and David Dixon (Enmore Park) who qualified via the PGA Play-Offs last December, are also California bound.
The team man team will be completed with a captain’s pick to be announced in the next two weeks.
Malahide Pro-Am for Creamer
Richard Creamer fired a one over par 71 to win the Malahide Pro-Am on Friday.
The Ballinamore professional produced a battling display in windy conditions at the Co Dublin course to edge out Keith Shannon, Ciaran Molloy, Patrick Devine, Wayne O'Callaghan, and Jimmy Bolger by a shot.
Scores
Creamer went to the turn in one over 35, courtesy of three bogeys and two birdies at the third and fourth. He began the back nine with a birdie at the par four 10th, but dropped a shot at the 12th and followed that up with a double-bogey at the 13th.
However, he finished strongly with birdies at the 15th and 17th to come home in level par 36.
Patrick Devine guided his amateurs to team success with 94.
Malahide Pro-Am, supported by Philip Walton for St Francis Hospice, Malahide GC (par 70)
1 R Creamer (Ballinmore GC) +1
T2 K Shannon, C Molloy (Blackwood GC), P Devine (Royal Dublin GC), W O'Callaghan (Fernhill G&CC), J Bolger (Kilkenny GC)
T7 C Carvill (Belvoir Park GC), P O'Hagan (Luttrellstown Castle GC), P Jones (Coolatin GC), J Kelly (St Margarets G&CC)
Team scores
P Devine 94
B Walton 88
