The Picturesque Enniscrone Golf Club in Co. Sligo home to the 2009 Irish Close Championship,  was the venue for the 2009 3G Irish Universities Golf Championship and a fantastic victory for UCD’s golf scholarship student Gerard Kelly.

The Championship got under way on Thursday morning with an early start for all competitors as two rounds had to be played on the day. After round one UCD’s sports scholarship student Gerard Kelly was tied for the lead on two under par with Thomas Mc Gowen and Brendan Walton from NUI Maynooth and Declan King from UCC.  It was a beautiful afternoon on the links of Enniscrone on Thursday and this lead to exceptional scoring in the afternoon in all but near perfect conditions. UCD’s Gerard Kelly compiled a round of three under par 70 to lead at the half way mark on a total of five under par, one shot clear of NUI Maynooths Thomas Mc Gowen and three clear of Brendan Walton and Declan King UCC, who had pulled away from the rest of the field after the first two rounds.

When dawn broke on Friday the Competitors were awoken to storm force winds and heavy rain that was sweeping across the Enniscrone links. Due to the severe weather conditions round three was cancelled and the competitors tee times were pushed back by three hours to allow for the sever gales and heavy rain to clear into the Atlantic.

UCD’s Gerard Kelly was in the final group and leading by one stroke. Play for the final group got under way at one o’clock, and it was a steady start for the leader with opening pars at holes one and two, but after a dropped shot on three and Thomas Mc Gowens NUI Maynooth, back to back birdies on holes three and four, Gerard’s lead was cut as he fell one behind. This was not to last long as Gerard bounced back with a birdie on six to get within one shot of the lead now held by Thomas Mc Gowen, but followed this with a bogey on the par five seventh to fall two behind once again. Gerard suffered a major setback on the 420 yard par 4 9th, when he hit his tee shot across the dog leg left to right corner and was unable to find it, he had to make the long walk back to the tee box to reload and play his third shot from the tee box, Gerard recorded a double bogey six on the hole to fall four shots behind the now likely winner Thomas Mc Gowen.

The famous BBC Sports commentator once said, “A major never starts until the back 9 in the last round”, and in this case there was never a truer statement. With his back up against the wall and seemingly out of the tournament, Gerard had no choice to throw caution to the wind and begin to fire at the pins and take some risks. Both Thomas and Gerard stated the back nine with birdies on ten, but a dropped shot by Thomas on eleven got Gerard back within one. The 12th was pared by both players and Gerard made a fantastic up and down from the back left of thirteen to save par. Gerard remained three behind with five to play as the 3G Irish Universities Championship now became a two horse race. Gerard managed to birdie the par 5 fourteenth, to Thomas’ bogey to get back into a tie for the lead. 

With a sense of the momentum Gerard followed his birdie on fourteen with another birdie on the fifteenth for the UCD man to go into the lead. A solid par on sixteen kept him one clear, but a poor tee shot on the par three 17th, where he missed the green left, left him with an awkward pitch shot which he played to ten feet. With Thomas already in the hole for a par three, Gerard had to roll in a ten footer to hold a one shot lead going down the last.

Both players hit three woods off the par four 470 yards 18th to within a yard of each other. Gerard was to play first, as he hit a five iron to the left side of the green to fourty feet of the pin. Thomas had executed an approach shot out of the top draw as he hit his shot into fifteen feet of the hole. Gerard was left with a double breaking putt up and over a ridge.  The UCD man hit his approach putt to 12 feet past the hole, which left the door open for Thomas to have a putt to force the pressure on Gerard. Thomas’ birdie putt stopped just short of the hole, which left the UCD man with 12 feet of green to cover in order for him to lift the title. Gerard rolled the putt straight in the middle of the hole to win on the 18th by one stroke from NUI’s Maynooth Thomas Mc Gowen.  

Gerard finished three under par for his back nine and a total of one over par for the day and four under for the Championship. Gerard will now go onto represent Ireland in the World Universities in 2010, as a member of the Irish Team.