Caolan Rafferty finds magic touch on greens to seal ‘East’ glory with final-round 65

The Walker Cup star (32) had finished second for the previous two years but a change of putter and some hard work with Dundalk professional Leslie Walker proved the difference as he came from three shots behind halfway leader Jack McDonnell to edge out Royal Dublin’s Max Kennedy by a shot on 15-under par.

“I changed the putter two weeks ago and spent three-and-a-half hours on the putting green, which I’ve never done in my life,” Rafferty confessed. “And we figured something out that might just give me a bit of feel and a bit of confidence.

“I know the greens well here anyway, but I read them really well, and my pace was good, so it was just a case of really trusting it.”

After carding a bogey-free 68 in the morning to go into the final round just two shots behind McDonnell and Kennedy on eight-under, Rafferty birdied the second, fourth, fifth and seventh to turn in 33 before racing four shots clear of Kennedy thanks to further birdies at the 10th, 12th, 13th and 15th.

Kennedy birdied the 15th and 16th to cut the gap to two shots and when Rafferty three-putted from just off the 18th for just his third bogey of the week, the Royal Dublin man needed a closing birdie to force a three-hole aggregate play-off.

Fortunately for Rafferty, Kennedy missed a tricky six-footer to force extra holes and added a 68 to his morning 67 to finish a shot behind.

“Made hard work of it on the last, but it was nice to get it over the line,” a relieved Rafferty said.

“I played really solid today, didn’t do anything really wrong just holed a lot of putts. I just went out with the mindset of needing to shoot a low one.

“Actually the joke with the caddie was that if I shot 64, he would go off the drink for the month so just fell short of it. He’s delighted I three-putted the last in one sense!”

The ‘East’ was the title Rafferty craved most but he admitted he feared the worst after taking six at the last.

“I wanted to win this pretty bad, so I just knew I had to keep at it and keep at it and see what happens,” he said. “It’s one of them, you just put so much into it and then keep falling short and then when I did what I done on 18, I was like, don’t tell me I’ve done it again.

“I’ll have to give Max a pint whenever I see him for missing that one on the last.”

McDonnell closed with a 74 to finish tied for third with Tralee’s Mark Gazi and Seapoint’s Dylan Keating on eight-under.

East of Ireland Amateur Open Championship, sponsored by Kingspan, County Louth GC (Par 72) Final totals

273 Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk) 71 69 68 65;

274 Max Kennedy (Royal Dublin) 68 71 67 68;

280 Mark Gazi (Tralee) 73 69 70 68, Jack McDonnell (Royal Dublin) 66 71 69 74, Dylan Keating (Seapoint) 69 75 69 67;

284 Matthew McClean (Malone) 70 71 71 72;

285 David Shiel (Enniscrone) 75 71 72 67, Adam Smith (Mullingar) 72 70 69 74;

286 Adam Buchanan (Royal Portrush) 74 71 71 70, David Lally (Blainroe) 68 70 77 71;

287 Aaron Marshall (Lisburn) 73 71 70 73, Harry Gillivan (Portmarnock) 72 73 72 70, Evan Farrell (Co Louth) 70 69 69 79;

288 Gavin O’Neill (Malahide) 70 74 72 72, Cian O’Connor (Roscommon) 71 73 73 71, Gerard Dunne (Co Louth) 77 68 70 73, Simon Walker (Roscommon) 67 74 72 75, David Reddan (Nenagh) 75 70 74 69, Brian Doran (Millicent) 71 69 73 75, David Kitt (Athenry) 73 71 72 72, Shane McDermott (Slieve Russell) 73 72 70 73;

289 Marc McKinstry (Cairndhu) 71 73 74 71, Sean McAufield (Ardee) 73 68 72 76, Seamus Cullen (Slieve Russell) 71 74 76 68;

290 Luke O’Neill (Connemara Golf Links) 72 74 72 72, Stephen Grant (Birr) 71 71 72 76, TJ Ford (Co Sligo) 71 70 74 75, David Howard (Fota Island) 73 67 73 77, Eoin Murphy (Dundalk) 72 68 77 73;

291 Ian Lynch (Rosslare) 72 74 73 72, Hugh Foley (Royal Dublin) 71 71 73 76, Paul O’Hanlon (Carton House) 72 68 79 72;

292 Thomas Abom (Edmondstown )74 70 73 75, Jake Whelan (Grange) 70 72 71 79, Ross Latimer (Clandeboye) 75 71 76 70, Jordan Boles (Charleville) 74 72 72 74;

293 Morgan Cain (Cork) 72 74 71 76, Geoff Lenehan (Portmarnock) 67 75 80 71, Colm Campbell Warrenpoint 69 73 78 73;

294 David Foy (Laytown & Bettystown) 71 73 77 73, Eoin Sullivan (Portmarnock) 70 74 76 74, John Cleary (Elm Park) 72 74 74 74, Darcy Hogg (Belvoir Park) 74 71 75 74;

295 Peter O’Keeffe (Douglas) 71 75 72 77;

296 Rory Gallagher (Galway Bay) 74 72 72 78, Jamie Butler (Naas) 74 71 76 75;

297 Adam Fahey (Portmarnock) 72 73 72 80;

298 Darragh Flynn (Carton House) 71 75 79 73, Matthew Grehan (Tullamore) 71 74 78 75;

299 Conor Hickey (Dooks) 71 75 78 75;

300 Ryan McNelis (Fintona) 74 72 77 77, Jack Blake (The Island) 71 74 78 77;

301 Seán Desmond (Monkstown) 73 73 79 76.