LAHINCH, IRELAND | Longshot wins are not unusual in top-class Irish amateur golf in which the links game, the vagaries of the Emerald Isle’s weather and the unpredictability of match play usually means throwing the form book out the window.
Of course, there are exceptions to that rule, as the likes of Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Pádraig Harrington proved umpteen times over the years.
Even in the South of Ireland Amateur Open, which celebrated its 122nd edition last week, the list of past champions is a veritable who’s-who of Irish golf, from World Golf Hall of Fame member Joe Carr to Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley and major champions Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell.
You can add 21-year-old Patrick Adler of Winnetka, Illinois, in suburban Chicago to that illustrious list now after he made a mockery of his World Amateur Golf Ranking of 2,972nd. Adler became the first Lahinch Golf Club member – like his father, he’s an overseas life member of the club – to lift the famous old trophy since Lahinch’s J.D. Smyth in 1968.
“No, I always believed I could win it,” Adler said after securing a 3-and-2 victory against Brian Doran (4,162nd on WAGR) from the modest Millicent Golf Club in Clane, County Kildare. “But you know, I think the big instinct for me was to get past the round of 16.”
This wasn’t Adler’s first go in the event known simply as “the South.”
"It’s probably the coolest moment of my life. There is a running joke in my team that I am the only one that doesn’t have a hole-in-one. So, to get my first one in competition on the 16th in the ‘South’ is pretty unbelievable.”
Patrick Adler
While he’d first played Lahinch as an 11-year-old on one of many family trips home to his mother’s native land, the 6-foot-2 Marquette University senior made the 36-hole cut before losing in the round of 64 in 2022. He made the cut again last year and got to the last 32.
“I wanted to get further,” he said moments after trying on the size 46-regular green Lahinch blazer that he would be sporting at the trophy presentation. “So, yeah, I always reminded myself that I could win it. But I never really let myself get ahead of myself. Really, I just kind of just stayed in the moment and kind of embraced it all.
“I’m like, you know, you’re out playing Lahinch in beautiful weather. My family is all there. You just have to remind yourself of that and sometimes not really focus on winning.”
Winning became a reality for Adler when he made a 40-foot bomb on the par-3 16th to beat Lahinch’s own Jonathan Keane, 3 and 2, to reach the last 16. But there was more magic to come there.
Then, after beating Roscommon’s Thomas Higgins on the 18th in round three – the only time Adler was taken the distance all week – he picked a glorious time to make his first competitive hole-in-one.
Three up with three to play against Slieve Russell’s Shane McDermott, Adler holed a 9-iron from 202 yards at the downwind, downhill, par-3 16th to win his quarterfinal, 4 and 2.
“It’s unreal,” he said moments later. “It’s probably the coolest moment of my life. There is a running joke in my team that I am the only one that doesn’t have a hole-in-one. So, to get my first one in competition on the 16th in the ‘South’ is pretty unbelievable.”
It got better from there.
He would go on to cruise to a 5-and-4 semifinal win over 53-year-old Pat Murray, the 2022 champion, on Sunday.
In the final, Adler never trailed, winning the eighth, ninth and 10th holes in birdie-birdie-par figures to go 3-up. Doran got to 2-down at the 13th and 15th holes before Adler fittingly closed out the match at the 16th, splashing out of sand to 3 feet. After Doran lipped out for par, the American rolled in the putt to win.
It was a stroke that sparked joyous celebrations from “Paddy’s Army” composed of family, friends and Lahinch members.
“It’s been unreal,” he said. “I’ve played in tournaments where people have been watching, but nothing like the crowds out here. The first year, we had probably 10 people watching me in the round of 64, and they started calling themselves Paddy’s Army. And Paddy's Army was in full force today.
“Being an American playing this event, you never know what side the fans are going to be on, because I might be a bit of an intruder. But it felt unbelievable to have the support. When I lost a hole, they were always there to egg me on and push me to keep fighting.”
After etching his name on the famous old trophy alongside the likes of McGinley, Clarke and McDowell, he added: “Anytime I tell anybody over in the States that I’m coming to play in the South of Ireland, they wouldn’t necessarily know how big of an event it is. They’d be like, ‘Why are you going all the way over to Ireland to plan an event?’ But it’s a legit event with some legit past winners.”
As for which shot was more memorable, the 3-foot putt to win or the hole-in-one, he said: “That’s a tough one, but I think the 3-footer trumps it over the hole-in-one, honestly. Just to have my name on the South of Ireland trophy, it’s what I’ve dreamed of since I came out to Lahinch for the first time.”
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Top: Marquette's Patrick Adler takes South of Ireland Amateur Open at Lahinch.
COURTESY Niall O'shea