Time is running out for the chasing pack to catch long time Bridgestone Order of Merit leaders Matthew McClean (Malone) and Aideen Walsh (Lahinch) as the end of the championship season draws near.
McClean has held top spot since his Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open Championship victory back in May, but the field has slowly gained ground on the Malone golfer with Brian Doran’s recent run of form pushing the Millicent golfer closest of all to knocking McClean off the top spot.
A runner-up spot in the Munster Stroke Play, a run to the South of Ireland final, a Mullingar Scratch Trophy victory and most recently an eighth-place finish at the AIG Irish Men’s Amateur Close has seen Doran climb rapidly up the ranks, putting himself just 31 points off top spot.
With only two more tournaments down for decision on the men’s ranks the North of Ireland Championship this September is more important than ever when it comes to picking up ranking points as a group of players including Doran may see an opportunity of taking that coveted order of merit title.
Doran, Munster Men’s Stroke Play Champion Paul Coughlan (Castleknock), Connacht Men’s Stroke Play Champion Jake Whelan (Grange), West of Ireland Amateur Open Champion Keith Egan (Carton House), TJ Ford (County Sligo) and Hugh Foley (Royal Dublin) have all played themselves within 233 points of McClean and with 250 points on offer to the winner of the North of Ireland Championship it is still very much anyone’s to win
The Women’s Order of Merit is just as tight as Aideen Walsh takes her 77-point lead into their final two events of the year. Edmondstown’s Anna Abom has been hot on the heels of Walsh for most of the season and will get another chance to try and overtake the treble scratch cup winner at the Ballybunion Scratch Cup.
Walsh and Abom have been on top form this season with both accruing over 1000 ranking points, battling over the lead all year but Annabel Wilson will also count herself amongst the contenders for the title as the Ulster Women’s Amateur Stroke Play Open Champion is still just 232 points off the number one spot.
This week Seán Keeling (Roganstown) and AIG Irish Men’s Amateur Close Champion Thomas Abom (Edmondstown) have been the biggest movers on the Men’s Order of Merit with Keeling picking up 168 points and Abom the full 300 for their performances in Dun Laoghaire. As a result, the two underage Irish internationals have risen inside the top 15 for the first time this season.
Players have just under a month to get themselves ready for the penultimate tournaments of the season as the women make the trip to Kerry for the Ballybunion Scratch Cup on September 14 before the men head to Royal Portrush for the North of Ireland Championship which gets underway on September 18.
View the latest Bridgestone Order of Merit rankings here