Irish CloseAlastair McKinley harboured muted expectations when he pitched up to Donegal Golf Club for the Golfsure-sponsored Irish Close Championships. A single practice round and a mediocre performance in qualifying over the Murvagh links at the weekend weren't exactly harbingers of great progress.
Today, though, the 22-year-old from the Shandon Park club will take on Michael McGeady of North West in the semi-finals, 24 hours after enjoying arguably the best day of his golfing career. In the morning he was a surprisingly emphatic 7 and 6 winner over Walker Cup player Noel Fox, and, after a quick bite to eat, outlasted the 2002 Irish Close champion John McGinn to win by two holes on the home green.
Two notable scalps, but perhaps of greater import is his admission that the quality of his ball-striking has only improved as the tournament has progressed.
By his reckoning, he would have been two under for 11 holes against Fox and one under when he strode off the 18th green in victory over McGinn. "I didn't play particularly well in the qualifying, but my game has got better each day."
A former Irish Youths international, he is on the national under-25 panel and travelled to Portugal earlier this year with the senior squad.
McKinley completed a family double yesterday morning in beating Fox, having accounted for the latter's younger brother, James, earlier in the championship. Despite losing the first, he quickly wrested the initiative when Fox conceded a couple of holes to regulation figures. Birdies at the sixth, eighth, ninth and 10th took McKinley to six up, and when Fox buried his drive on the 12th he shook hands.
The McGinn encounter was a much tighter affair. The pivotal moment was probably McKinley's 20-foot downhill putt for a half on the 14th to remain one-up at that stage. He closed out the match on the 18th when his opponent took a bogey.
He'll face Irish international and North West golfer McGeady, who performed an unlikely escape when three down with as many to play against Harry Diamond of Holywood in the morning. McGeady won the 16th and 17th with birdies, and on 18 looked on as his young opponent took three shots in a greenside bunker before conceding the hole. Another birdie on the first tie hole completed a remarkable comeback.
The adage is that it's important to maximise any good fortune and McGeady certainly did that after lunch. Facing Dunmurry's Darren Crowe, he won eight of the first nine holes (he halved the fourth), lost the 10th, but closed out the match on the 11th green with a two-putt par. The 26-year-old is playing golf full-time and has been working hard with his coach, Malone's Michael McGee.
Completing a quartet of Ulster golfers in today's semi-final are Ballyclare's Gareth Maybin and North West's Brian McElhinney. Maybin, the leading qualifier over the two rounds of strokeplay, beat Tramore's Clancy Bowe with a birdie on the home green, and then outlasted East of Ireland champion Mark Campbell of Stackstown in the afternoon.
The South Alabama University student was two down early on but came back to take a one-hole lead down the 17th. Campbell drove the par four, while his opponent put his second in the front bunker before conceding. On the last, Campbell shaved the hole with a 12-foot birdie putt before Maybin's eight-foot par putt toppled in: he thought he had missed. He clinched the match at the 19th, the first, when Campbell took two to get out of a bunker.
McElhinney's progress to the penultimate round has been remarkably measured. In the quarter-final he won the first three holes against Scrabo's Andrew McCormick, and closed out the match on the 13th green.
