Foley chasing place in Irish golfing history in Cádiz

Hugh Foley en route to victory in the Irish Close at Rosapenna in 2020. Picture by Pat Cashman

Royal Dublin’s Hugh Foley can become just the fifth Irish winner of the prestigious Copa del Rey for the Spanish Amateur Championship as he was left as the last Irishman standing at Sherry Golf Jerez in Cádiz.

The reigning West of Ireland champion was the only Irishman to make the last 32, beating Germany’s Constantin Mons 2-up to set up a second-round clash with Spain’s Jaime Montojo Fernandez, who qualified brilliantly from the 36-hole Strokeplay phase in tied fourth.

Newcastle’s Reeve Whitson, the Royal County Down player, won the title out of Mourne Golf Club in 2013 at La Manga to follow in the footsteps of Philip Walton (1981), Michael Quirke (1987) and Darren Clarke (1990). (Past winners)

Just six of the 12 Irish entrants survived the 36-hole qualifier with AIG Irish Close and Flogas Irish Amateur Open winner Peter O’Keeffe the big name to miss out as he followed his opening 68 with an 81 in Wednesday’s second round.

Only one of the six survived the opening day, however. (Draw)

Bray’s Alan Fahy lost 2 and 1 to England’s Callan Barrow, Forrest Little’s Jack McDonnell lost 5 and 4 to Germany’s Thomas Schmidt, Galway’s Liam Nolan fell 4 and 3 to England’s Harley Smith, Castleknock’s Paul Coughlan lost 2-down to Spain’s Alvaro Gomez de Linares while Carton House’s Marc Boucher lost 1-down to Kiet Van de Weele of the Netherlands.

Leading qualifier Carl Siemens of Germany remains on track for victory with a 5 and 3 win over Belgium’s Jarno Tollenaire and now takes on Spain’s Ruben Lafuente.

In the Copa de la Reina at Real Club Pineda in Seville (Draw), Kirkistown Castle’s Beth Coulter fell 1-down to Spain’s Claudia Lara, but Spain-based U16 Girls international Marina Joyce Moreno beat England’s Patience Rhodes at the 19th and now faces Denmark’s Melissa Johansen for a place in the last 16.