Dunbar does it

Nick Rodger

Golf Correspondent

Sunday 24 June 2012

Rory McIlroy didn't manage it.

Alan Dunbar lines up a putt Photograph: Getty

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Nick Rodger

Neither did Darren Clarke nor Graeme McDowell. Yesterday at a soggy but briefly sunny Royal Troon, Northern Ireland's Alan Dunbar achieved what his Major-winning countrymen never did: he captured the Amateur Championship title.

The 23-year-old from the Rathmore club in Portrush, who landed the St Andrews Links Trophy in 2009 and was a Walker Cup winner with Great Britain and Ireland at Royal Aberdeen last September, was toasting another triumph on Scottish turf as he edged out Austrian teenager Matthias Schwab by one hole of a tense and tight 36-hole tussle contested in the most challenging conditions.

Six days of combat on the Ayrshire coast were decided by a shoot-out on the final green and, for Schwab, it was a particularly sad end. The 17-year-old, who was mightily impressive throughout the matchplay campaign, had been one up with two to play but, after finding the bunker on the 17th and stumbling to a bogey-four, he faltered again at the last. His four-footer for a par dribbled by the cup and Dunbar strolled up to tap in his par putt from two feet to become only the third Northern Irish winner of this celebrated championship. Michael Hoey won the event at Prestwick in 2001, while Garth McGimpsey plundered the prize at Royal Dornoch in 1985. "There must be something in the Scottish air," said Dunbar, before catching the Troon-to-Larne ferry home. With invitations in his back pocket for July's Open, as well as next year's Masters and US Open, there was plenty to celebrate."I had been talking with my coach [Seamus Duffy] before the event and he had said 'if you win, you're taking me to the Masters'," said Dunbar. "I used that as a bit of motivation and it will be nice to repay him for the work he has done."One down after the morning's round, Dunbar made a telling thrust early in the second 18 and covered the first five holes in three-under to turn that deficit to a two-hole advantage. Schwab was always a menace and his cause was aided by costly errors from Dunbar, particularly on the back nine when the Irishman took two swipes in thick rough on the 28th, hooked a drive into the bushes on the 30th and found two fairway bunkers on the 34th. This week, Dunbar will take up an invitation to the European Tour's Irish Open at Portrush. Along with McIlroy, Clarke and McDowell, there will no doubt be a rousing reception afforded to Northern Ireland's latest golfing champion.

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Dunbar does it

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