Moate native Coughlan conquers all in Cork

By Caomh Breen Allen

Moate native Paul Coughlan was crowned as the 2024 F45 Elysian Munster Men’s Amateur Open champion after a brilliant four-shot win at Cork Golf Club yesterday (Sunday).

The field was whittled down to 33 by Sunday morning and over the final two rounds it was the Castleknock-based golfer who put in an almost perfect performance and walked away as the winner on -10.

The day began with Carton House's Darragh Flynn leading the way by three shots following his rounds of 66 and 70 on Saturday. That lead though was short lived as Flynn struggled to get going in the morning session singing for a 75. Coughlan hunted him down in round three carding a bogey-free 67 including an excellent par save on 18 to set up an exciting afternoon.

“The weather was pretty good as well. There is chances out here. There is certain holes that you still make pars on but there is a lot of birdie chances out there,” said Coughlan of his morning round.

“I kind of had a target of eight in my head, and I started off pretty well this morning, so I just kept it going.”

Coughlan set that target for the day and surpassed it as the early morning sun made way for more breezy and wet conditions during the final session, but Coughlan continued to shine, teeing off with a two-shot lead over Flynn and picking up where he left off in round three, blotting his copybook only once on his way to a -1, 35 for his opening nine holes, walking on to the tenth tee with a three-shot advantage.

The Westmeath man continued his fine form throughout the back nine, his accuracy and aggressive play off the tee leading to four more birdies and two bogeys, closing out with a par on 18 to seal a four-shot victory with a -3 round of 69.

“After the West (of Ireland) and a couple of other events, I really needed to get one over the line for my own headspace," said Coughlan, who felt it was important to "stay aggressive" even when holding the lead going into the last round.

"I said 'just play it as if you are trailing, make birdies where you can just keep the foot down',” said Coughlan.

While Coughlan expertly plotted his way around the Little Island course, he was pushed all the way by two of the Carton House contingent, reigning West of Ireland champion and Bridgestone Order of Merit leader, Keith Egan, and Flynn. Flynn carded a +3 round of 75 and Egan a +2, 74 in the third round. They both battled back, however, in the final round with Flynn finishing the best of the two, signing for a closing round 72 to finish third.

Brian Doran took home second place after a solid showing on Sunday. The Millicent golfer, who was part of Coughlan’s group, carded four birdies in his final round for a -6 total.

“I was actually surprisingly quite relaxed. I thought maybe with a couple of shots lead with a couple of holes to go I thought I would be a lot more nervous but we had a good group as well and Brian (Doran) was keeping me going forward as well because he was still making birdies coming up behind me so any kind of slip up he was there to capitalise,” said Coughlan.

Meanwhile Douglas golfer James Walsh finished fifth in the standings on -2 and picked up the U-25 award.