As music from an on-site festival blared around Palmerstown House Estate, Niall Kearney moved to the beat as he romped to the 114th Irish PGA Championship title.
Kearney put in a commanding final round performance with a bogey-free round of 66 to win by six shots on twelve-under-par for his third Irish PGA title and first since 2015 in Dundalk and he has set his sights on tracking down the ten titles won by fellow Royal Dublin legend Christy O’Connor Snr.
“I played well the last three days, first day I didn’t score well but managed to score pretty well the last couple of days even though it was tough conditions. I knew it would be tough today playing with Colm and Michael, two serious players so I knew I would have to play well.
“Delighted to get the hat trick. Christy Snr from Royal Dublin is where I am a proud member has his name on it ten times so that is something I will strive for. It’s great to get over the line today and gives me great confidence because it has been a while.”
Kearney was part of an all-star final three-ball on Friday morning alongside Michael McGeady and Colm Moriarty and it soon became a two-horse race as McGeady leapt alongside him with two birdies in the first four holes.
Kearney, who opened his birdie account on the fourth pulled away with birdies on the 6th, 7th and 9th as McGeady dropped shots on 9 and 11.
The Dubliner set up a brilliant birdie from the fairway bunker on the 13th hole to stretch his lead to five with as many holes to play and he coasted home from there, adding a sixth birdie of the day on the par-5 16th to come home in 34.
“I felt like I could have been two or three better today, missed a couple of putts that were within range, three putted a hole, but overall delighted, driving the ball great so was able to take the course down from the tee.
“The start was hot, Michael played really well the first few holes and rolled in two or three birdies and it was very much game on. It’s great for it to be so competitive. The region is like a mini tour, the standard is so high just from looking at the pro-ams through the year. You have to shoot five, six, seven under to come close to winning. It’s positive for us as players to keep us sharp.
“I feel like I am playing well even though the frequency of play is low but the game is definitely there.”
Kearney’s name was already in the history books here after he carded a course record setting 64 on Thursday and he knows it’s never easy in golf to follow a low score with another low score in consecutive days.
“I’m good friends with Colm and Michael and know how good they are so I knew as soon as the tee sheet came out with the scores from yesterday I knew I was going to have to play well to win.”
Richard O’Donovan and Tim Rice shared third place on two-under-par after rounds of 69 and 72 respectively while Shane Irwin and Shane Jenkinson rounded off the under-par scoring on one-under after rounds of 72.