Hi °C | Lo °C Step forward and take a bow Alan Dunbar of Rathmore golf club who has broken the home hoodoo on the AIB Irish Amateur Open golf championship at Royal Dublin.
Dunbar, 20, a plus-two handicap and a full-time amateur, became the first Irish player to win this prestigious international event since Noel Fox took the title back in 2003.
The Portrush man did so by the narrowest of margins, with a final round 72 for four over par total of 292 proving just about enough to edge out Scotland's Kris Nicol by a single shot.
Nicol, who came second last week to Portstewart’s Paul Cutler in the Lytham Trophy, had to swallow the bitter pill of defeat to another Northern Irishman for the second successive Sunday.
As the championship neared its climax, the nerves of the two players were jangling.
The wind which had sent scores soaring on Friday had dropped for the final day's 36 holes.
Dunbar shot 71 in the morning to start the fourth round two shots behind 54-hole leader Luke Lennox of Moyola Park, with Nicol four off the pace.
As the round wore on, Lennox fell away to eventually finish in joint fourth, and the championship became a two horse race.
It was all about keeping mistakes to a minimum and Dunbar left the 13th green in good shape, with a three shot advantage over Nicol, who was playing in the group ahead.
Dunbar only managed par on the 14th hole from just off the edge of the green, but got through the next two holes scrambling par before taking a bogey at 17.
He still led by one, with Nicol ahead up on 18 desperately trying for a birdie.
The Scot's four-iron second finished through the green and his pitch back ended up 12 feet past, from where he two-putted for bogey.
Dunbar knew before he hit off the 18th tee he needed par to win, and got the job done with a hybrid tee-shot, followed by a top quality five-iron from 205 yards onto the green.
Two putts later and the job was done, but it was far from easy.
He had won the St Andrews Links title last year, but this win on home soil was just as big.
“It hasn't sunk in yet. St Andrews was pretty big, but this is just as special,” he said.
“Winning the St Andrews Trophy definitely helped me. I knew how to get it down the stretch.
“I had a bad bogey on 17, but apart from that I just played solid, and I'm just happy to get it done.”
