Malone’s Matthew McClean and Roscommon’s Olivia Costello clinched podium finishes in major amateur events over the weekend.
Walker Cup player McClean finished as runner-up in George L. Coleman Invitational
at Seminole in Florida, three strokes behind Evan Beck on one-over par. Scores
Royal Dublin’s Hugh Foley was tied 17th after 36 holes before being forced to withdraw suffering the effects of suspected food poisoning.
As for Costello, she finished just three shots outside a playoff for the R&A Girls’ U16 Amateur Championship at The Berkshire. Scores
Louise Landgraf held her nerve in sudden death to become the first French winner of the title.
She beat England’s Charlotte Naughton over the Red Course, taking the Angela Uzielli Trophy with a par at the second play-off hole, the par-five first, after they tied on eight-under-par 211.
The pair set a new 54-hole championship record, bettering the six-under-par mark Italy’s Francesca Fiorellini recorded to win the 2019 title.
The French player lived up to her billing as the top-ranked player in the field at 134th on the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
She joins the likes of Fiorellini and inaugural winner (2018) Hannah Darling as champions but it was anything but easy.
“My voice is a bit shaky now because I had a lot of adrenaline and nerves today,” said Landgraf. “I didn’t have my best golf so I just tried to stay as calm as possible. Charlotte played really well and I knew she was getting closer to me all the time.”
Holding a five-shot lead over Naughton and Costello heading into the final round, 15-year-old Landgraf added a closing one-over-par 74 to earlier rounds of 68 and 69. She becomes the sixth winner of the popular 54-hole stroke play championship, which was making its debut at The Berkshire.
Landgraf still had a three-shot lead over Naughton with four holes to play but bogeyed the 15th and 16th. Naughton then birdied the 18th to shoot 69, three-under, to force the play-off. However, the English player three-putted the second extra hole while Landgraf two-putted. Costello finished third, three shots out of the play-off after closing with a one-under 72.
