O'Briain seals birdie on third extra hole to clinch trophy

Neil O’Briain required a birdie on the third extra hole to finally get his hands on the PGA Southern Championship trophy at Powerscourt GC on Tuesday.

The Old Conna professional, leading by one shot after an opening round 68, fired a second round 66 to reach 10 under par but found that total matched by Michael McGeady.

McGeady’s brilliant best of the tournament bogey-free eight under par 64 saw him leapfrog the overnight contenders to set up a play-off with O’Briain.

“I was playing alongside David Higgins and Richard Kilpatrick and I was nine under going up the last and saying to myself and this is probably good enough,” said Neil who was also in the process of compiling a bogey free round at the County Wicklow venue.

“I hit a nice drive down the last after an edgy two putt on 17 and from around 99 yards knocked it in to about eight feet and holed the putt only to find out that it was only good enough for a play-off,

“I was saying to myself that’s it done, but Mick must have played some superb golf today.”

The pair set off down the 10 th again, halving the par four in pars. They moved on to the 18 th and here O’Briain was out of position off the tee and couldn’t find the green in two. He pitched and putted for a par while McGeady missed a birdie chance to win.

They returned to the 10 th and Michael’s approach finished five feet away from the flag, while Neil’s from the left rough checked up two feet from the cup. On this occasion Michael’s putt for birdie lipped out leaving Neil to hole his for victory.

“I kind of stole that one to be honest, it feels like a bit of a robbery,” said Neil who has moved up to second in the PGA in Ireland Order of Merit behind leader David Higgins following this victory.

“I played very solid overall today but it was playing very easy today. There wasn’t much wind and the greens were receptive and running well. The conditions were very good and really I should have realised the scoring was going to be better than I originally thought.”

PGA Southern Championship

At Powerscourt Golf Club – East (Par 72)

T1 N O’Briain (Old Conna GC) -10 68/66 134 (wins in play-off); M McGeady -10 70/64 134

3 R Kilpatrick (Banbridge GC) -7 69/68 137

4 D Higgins (Waterville Golf Links) -6 69/69 138

T5 M McDermott (Pure Golf Leopardstown) -4 71/69 140; D Mooney (Nevada Bobs Belfast) -4 72/68 140

T7 T Rice (Limerick GC) -3 70/71 141; B McElhinney (North West GC) -3 71/70 141; E Brady (Clontarf GC) -3 74/67 141

T10 D McGrane -2 69/73 142; D Gleeson (Old Conna GC) -2 71/71 142; C McNamara (Monkstown GC) -2 73/69 142.