Sugrue lands late invitation for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open
James Sugrue watches his tee shot on the 15th hole during the second round at the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club (West Course) in Mamaroneck, N.Y. on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. (Simon Bruty/USGA)
Just hours after saying he’d jump at the chance to tee it up in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, Mallow Amateur James Sugrue has been handed a late invitation to tee it up at Galgorm Castle next week.
The 2019 Amateur champion was disappointed to follow a 78 with a 79 and miss the cut in the US Open at Winged Foot but he will now head home with a spring in his step after England’s Lee Westwood expressed his “shock” on Thursday that an Irish winner of the Amateur Championship was not already in the field.
Asked after his round if he’d like to play in Ballymena he said: “Yeah, definitely. I've never played. Last year it was at Lahinch, which would be pretty close to my house and one of my favourite courses, and I couldn't play because, A, I think it was a Rolex event last year, and also because we had European Team championships, so I couldn't play.
“So, yeah, I would love to -- it would be great to get a start in the Irish Open. That would be brilliant. I would definitely take up on that offer if it was possible.”
He revealed that he had not been approached by the European Tour, who the GUI ”think” approached Irish teammate Mark Power to offer him his invitation.
Asked if he was surprised not to get the nod, he said: “Yeah, a little bit. I thought that I had done enough to warrant an invitation. Obviously, it's not my decision. I don't know whose decision it is or who hands out invitations, but, yeah, I wouldn't dwell on it too much. If I'm in, I'm in.
“If I'm not, I'm not. It's not the end of the world. It would be a pretty quick turnaround coming home from here. I'm not too sure what the story is with me coming home and quarantine and stuff like that. It's in the North of Ireland this year, so they have different rules, the Republic, so it's all a little bit messy. If the opportunity came up, I'd definitely play.”
There is unlikely to be as much rough at Galgorm Castle was there was at Winged Foot, where he struggled from the tee and mixed three birdies with five bogeys and two triple bogey sevens, the first of which came at the opening hole.
“I suppose I just did not play well,” Sugrue said. “Even kind of leading up to this, I wasn't playing my best. I was here ten days before the tournament started, and I just wasn't really firing. Out here, like there's very little managing for error. Off the tee, which would usually be my strongest point, I just didn't really know where the ball was going. So, yeah, it's always going to be tough, especially out here with rough like that and narrow fairways. When you don't know where the ball is going, it's going to be an uphill battle.”
"I suppose I was pretty pleased to make a few [birdies]," added the Cork man, who signed off by rifling a 140-yard wedge to six feet and birdie the 18th
"But even from the word go on the first hole, I hit it left, drew a horrendous lie, I thought I did well to hack it out of that lie into probably a worse lie, and then went long off the green, and that's just dead.”
Having casually suggested earlier in the week that six over might win on Sunday, he watched Bubba Watson got 72-69 and Lee Westwood follow a 67 with a 76 and changed that prediction.
“Probably not. I will say yesterday, I suppose, when we played practice rounds, we were playing off the back of every tee box. Like on the 3rd hole, I hit 3 in there one of the days, and I hit 5 iron in there yesterday, I think,” he said.
“So it did play an awful lot different. With the wind, it's pretty windy today. If it gets up, who knows? I see a couple of lads there that shot good scores yesterday that aren't shooting as good scores today. Unless you guys trick it up a bit, which is very, very doable, it may not be plus 6.”
