To the winner, the bountiful spoils. To the runner-up? Well, a few hearty pats on the back. Losing in the final of the Amateur Championship can be a hard one to stomach.
As well as missing out on that cherished, ornate clump of silverware, there’s the agonising realisation that those potentially once in a lifetime places in the Open, the Masters and the US Open have also been snaffled by the bloke you’ve just lost to.
For Barassie’s Euan Walker, it was a case of so near, yet so far in the unpaid game’s blue riband event at Portmarnock yesterday.
Five down after just nine holes of the 36-hole showdown to Irish opponent James Sugrue, the 23-year-old Ayrshireman put in a robust, defiant display of grit and guile to take the match to the last green.
Needing to win the final hole to draw level and force extra-holes, however, Walker, who was long with his approach, saw his putt dribble back to his feet and his chance was lost.
Sugrue, in front of a huge gallery that harked back to the numbers you’d see in golfing days of yore before professionalism grabbed all the attention, eventually triumphed by one hole.
The trophy, and all the jaw-dropping extras that come with it, was Sugrue’s as he emerged victorious from only the third Irish v Scottish final since the championship’s inception back in 1885.
The Amateur Champion is @JamesSugrue2 of 🇮🇪
— The R&A (@RandA) June 22, 2019
This putt sealed his 2 hole victory over @euanwalkergolf 🏴 at @PGC1894 🙌🇮🇪🏆 pic.twitter.com/SCJ095NJEe
Walker, looking to emulate the success of his well-kent Barassie colleague Gordon Sherry who won the Amateur crown in 1995, became the fifth Scottish runner-up in the last 10 stagings of the championship.
He certainly gave it his all with a dogged effort which should, at least, give him a very good chance of being selected for the GB&I Walker Cup team to play the USA later this season. His summing up was simple. “I’m absolutely gutted to lose,” he said of the crushing disappointment.
On the biggest day of his golfing career so far, Walker was understandably shaky in the opening exchanges and Sugrue took advantage to win the first three holes.
“I was pretty nervous this morning, I don’t think there is anybody in my position that wouldn’t be nervous,” said Walker. “I’ve never played on such a big stage before. It was a bit tough to hold the club first thing but I got over it eventually.”
Nothing focuses the mind like a five hole deficit. The Scot won his first hole of the day at the 10th to give himself something of a toe-hold but he was still three down at lunch.
Sugrue went four up at the 20th but the Scot launched his offensive and won the next two holes to bolster his fightback
Sugrue’s advantage was cut to just one hole after Walker’s birdie at the 26th but the Irishman responded with a birdie at the 28th to go two ahead again.
Like a stubborn stone in the shoe, Walker refused to go away. He won the 31st with a birdie and then squared the contest at the 33rd after Sugrue’s bogey.
Walker found trouble off the tee as the tension mounted on the 35th and Sugrue secured victory at the last when his opponent again pushed his tee shot right and toiled to get up and down from the back of the green.
“James is such a good player and is playing so well at the moment,” said Walker. “I couldn’t give him the first three holes and expect an easy comeback from there, even though it was 36 holes.
“To get it back to all square I had a chance going down the last three holes but I wasn’t very good off the tee on 17 and 18, driving off to the right.”
For Sugrue, the magnitude of his win may take a while to sink in. “It is hard to believe really,” said the 22-year-old. “Everything that comes with the win is incredible. I was very worried when it went back to all square, very worried.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel