14/06/2026
It was a magnificent treble for the Old County Pitch & Putt Club to celebrate their 60th anniversary as Stephen Murray took the Senior Gents Dublin Strokeplay title to add to Gerry Clarges & Daniele Di Tofano's victories yesterday.
Barry Gorey of Lucan Pitch and Putt Club took the early lead as he put superb rounds of -11 & -8 together to lead by a shot from Loughlinstown Pitch & Putt star JR Crangle.
Stephen Murray was just another stroke back in 3rd with further shots back to Paddy O'Connor of RGSC pitch and putt club and George McGreal also of the host club. Karl Murphy was also just about within touching distance of the leaders but was 7 behind.
Andrew Lowe, another of the home contingent, lead the field after a brilliant 44 in the play off brought him to a total of -20.
George McGreal & Karl Murphy would be playing together and basically bounced off each other's scores as they came down the stretch producing brilliant pitch and putt as George just edged out Andy by a stroke with a great birdie on the 18th but then Karl done the same to George to jump ahead and take solo 3rd with a brilliant final round of -9.
Stephen Murray took an early 4 on the second but it seemed to spur him on and by the time they had turned to the last sextet of holes, he had pulled clear on -23, a score he would set for the final duo on the course. Paddy O'Connor signed for a 50 but could do not better than 6th as Old County dominated the top 5.
Barry Gorey saw his lead slip away as a poor pitch into the breeze on the 6th, found the out of bounds area and two shots were dropped and he ultimately struggled to replicate his earlier form eventually finishing with a 53 and a -20 total.
The last man to take on Stephen was JR Crangle, he started slowly but birdies on the 8th, 10th & 11th left him just one behind and a birdie on the 14th had him level with 4 to go and seemingly in control. A missed chance of 15 was equalled out by a brilliant par save on the 16th, the 17th though could have been a different story!
A superb pitch grazed the pin and took what looked a tap in birdie to a difficult chance which he missed. A poor approach on the 18th was made worse as the kick from the side of the green left him with no option but to putt up the slope and at least give himself a chance of a playoff. A putt he left, didn't find the bottom of the cup and Stephen Murray would be the champion once again just like in 2017 the last time Old County hosted and completed a famous club treble.
A superb weekend in RGSC & Old County and a huge thank you to all our officers and volunteers who helped out throughout.
