Thornton storms to win at Nuremore
17/09/2013
Near gale force winds and blustery rain blew away many players dreams of success in yesterday’s PGA Assistants’ Pro-Am tournament at Nuremore.
Conor Thornton battled to a brave victory on a day when rounds of over five hours were common and scores, in some cases, soared into the eighties.
But the Dundalk assistant carded a highly creditable two-over-par 73 to finish two strokes ahead of David Ruddy from Cahir Park.
Thornton got off to a super start with birdie three at the first hole but bogeys at the short fourth and par four seven and nine left him turning in two-over-37.
He was three over after another bogey five at the 12th hole but then he hit a streak of three birdies in a row from 13, going 3-4-4 to pull away from the field.
However, the good work was almost ruined when he double-bogeyed the short 16th for a homeward run of regulation 36.
The winning team was brought in on 86 points by Strandhill assistant Anthony Gray, the last man to finish, who was playing his first tournament of the season. Gray brought along his own team that included his uncle Tony Kennedy (24) plus Christy Weldon (8) and Harry Carolan (14).
The Irish Assistants’ Championship will be played at Nuremore today and tomorrow.
