Walton and Sharvin sparkle in the sunshine at Portmarnock Links
Portmarnock Links
Brendan Walton and Cormac Sharvin took the top prizes as a high-quality field teed it up in the TaylorMade Winter Series at Portmarnock Links.
There were 74 players in action in perfect conditions, and the standard was so high that thoroughbreds Robin Dawson, Paul McBride and Stuart Grehan could not make the winner's enclosure.
Walton posted a four-under 67 — the only blemish-free round of the day — to win the nett by four strokes from Royal Tara's Sean Whelan and Europro Tour regular Brian Casey while Sharvin's one-under 70 gave him the gross by a shot from Wexford's Rhys Clarke and Beaverstown's Gary Cullen.
Well-known for his impressions, Walton did his best Padraig Harrington swing on the 18th tee to finish with a birdie — a massive fade over the 17th green to take the beach entirely out of play.
Out in two-under-par with birdies on the sixth and eighth, he birdied the 14th before his closing three capped a perfect day.
One handicapper Whelan, who won last year's amateur Order of Merit, was out in level par and home in one over for his 71, finishing with a birdie to take second place after a countback from Casey, who won the professional Order of Merit last season.
Casey birdied the 15th and bogeyed the 16th for his 71, which was one more than the gross winner (and TaylorMade brand ambassador) Sharvin, who went out in two-under with birdies at the third and sixth holes and had his lone blemish at the par-three 11th coming home.
Plus two handicapper Clarke went out in two over par but birdied the downwind 14th and 15th for his 71 to beat Cullen on a countback.
Out in one-over, Cullen was home in an adventurous one-under thanks to birdies at the index one 12th hole and the 14th.
He might also have birdied the 15th, but his approach ricocheted off the flagstick and almost spun off the green.
When he hit a 200-yard approach into the wind to eight feet at the par-three 17th, another birdie looked on the cards. But the former Irish Amateur Open winner and reigning Leinster Mid-Amateur champion three-putted to finish third in the gross with a 71.
The action continues next Tuesday.
TaylorMade Winter Series, Portmarnock Links (Par 71, SSS 75, CSS 75)
Nett
1, Brendan Walton (Pro) 67 Roganstown
2, Sean Whelan (1) 71 Royal Tara
3, Brian Casey (Pro) 71 Unattached
Gross
1, Cormac Sharvin (Pro) 70 Ardglass
2, Rhys Clarke (+2) 71 Wexford
3, Gary Cullen (+4) 71 Beaverstown
