That old cliché of Irish eyes smiling had a ring of truth to it as Matt McClean, a 29-year-old optometrist from Belfast, ultimately out-dueled his fellow-Irish international Hugh Foley in a classic 36-holes final of the US Mid-Amateur Championship at Erin Hills. The win brings with it an invitation into next year’s US Open and almost certainly to the US Masters too.
McClean, from Malone Golf Club, had carried a two-hole lead from Friday’s first round of matchplay final fare into Saturday’s second leg and eventually closed the deal with a 3&1 victory over the 25-year-old Royal Dublin Golf Club player that brought him the biggest win of his career, after a number of close calls in championships this season.
In securing his win, in a final of brilliant golf as the two protagonists threw birdies at each other, McClean joined Graeme McDowell (US Open 2010), Rory McIlroy (US Open 2011) and Pádraig Harrington (US Seniors Open 2022) as Irish golfers to have won a USGA championship.
“Obviously the trophies that they won for the USGA are probably a bit more difficult to win than this one, but I’ll take it. To have your name in any sort of list, no matter what it is, with those three guys is unbelievable,” said McClean, who – with Foley – will also earn an exemption into next year’s US Amateur Championship.
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McClean had moved into a five-hole lead at one point only for Foley to produce a stellar fightback that included winning a hat-trick of holes to get back to two down, only for the Ulsterman to seal matters on the 35th hole.
“We both probably sort of see it in the long run that at least we both got to the final. Again, it’s never nice to have someone who loses and someone who wins, but that’s just obviously why we play golf and sport in general. You end up losing a lot more than you win, so I’m just sort of delighted that it could have been me,” said McClean.
“Me and Hugh have played a lot of golf this year.” said McClean. “He’s beaten me twice. This is the first time I’ve beaten him. It was hard not to think that it was going to be three in a row that I was going to get beat. We know each other pretty well; we’re staying with each other for the past two weeks that we’ve been here.
“It’s been fun. It’s probably in a way who I wanted to play in the final, but at the same time it’s not the person you want to lose to in the final, as well.
“Hugh has played unbelievable golf this year. For the past three months he’s probably been the best player in Ireland comfortably.”
On qualifying for the majors next year, McClean said: “Yeah, well, I think first I’ll probably have to practice quite a bit over the next six months to have a good sort of show of myself there. I don’t think it will really kick in at all, probably not until I get to the event or maybe the practice rounds before.”
