Irish championships are held at Lisburn Golf Club

Robin Dawson from Faithlegg in County Waterford was the winner after surviving a play-off with Marco Penge from England.

Dawson took the lead with a fine opening round of 67. This gave him a two stroke advantage over Marco Penge (England), Kevin Le Blanc (The Island) and Mark McGrath (Limerick).

The light rain on Thursday morning turned into a downpour. The efforts of the green staff and officials proved fruitless and play had to the suspended for nearly three hours. The second round was eventually completed after nine o’clock.

Dawson followed his 67 with a 69 to finish two strokes ahead of Jack Sing Brar (England) with Hurly Long (Germany) in third place following a course record equalling 66.

Dawson was still two ahead of Sing Brar after three rounds with Penge three strokes further back.

After 15 holes in the final round Dawson and Penge were level. Penge overshot the 16th fairway into an unplayable lie and finished with a double bogey six to go two strokes behind Dawson. Dawson retained his advantage to the final hole. His tee shot missed the green on the left and finished under the branches of a tree. Penge’s tee shot finished on the front of the green.

Dawson played a magnificent recovery to within ten feet of the flag. Penge putted to four feet and holed out for a par three.

Dawson’s first putt slid three feet past and he missed the return to finish in a tie with Penge.

The three holes playoff started at the 16th. Penge got a par four but Dawson holed from eight feet for a birdie three. Following par fours at 17 Dawson hit a magnificent iron to within six feet of the final flag. Penge followed to 12 feet.

His putt for a two hit the back of the hole jumped up and surprisingly stayed out. Dawson putted to the hole side for a par to win.

The prizes were presented by the GUI President, Ivor McCandless. He gave a special welcome to the visitors from England and Germany and thanked all the staff for their efforts during the meeting.

He made special mention to the work carried out by Robert Nelson and the green staff for the magnificent condition of the course which was presented to the highest possible standard.

Prior to the event the championship committee and council members of Lisburn Golf Club were entertained by the Mayor and councillors in the Island Centre.

Competition results were as follows:

Long Kesh Cup 1st Craig Ryan 38 pts, 2nd Jonny Grant 38 pts, 3rd Christian Kennedy 37 pts.

Postle Cup 1st Davis Heaney 41 pts, 2nd Ian Suffern 40 pts, 3rd George McCaigue 40 pts.

Lisburn qualified for the knock out stages of the Holt Shield following a 4 – 1 victory over Bangor.

The Sam Rutherford defeated Silverwood by 14 holes.