John Doyle won’t let a disappointing second round at the K Club dampen what has been a hugely successful year. The 18-year-old from Mitchelstown, the only amateur in the field at this year’s Irish Open, finished nine-over for the tournament. He did manage to finish Friday with a birdie.
“I was just useless today to be fair,” said Doyle. “I was really bad, but I just have to take the learnings from it. I think I was a bit burnt out from a lot of golf over the last four or five weeks straight. I haven’t really been home, so I’m excited to just take a break for a week or two.”
The Fota Island player shot four bogeys and two double bogeys on Friday. There was a run of seven pars in the middle of his round when he played “decent golf” but Doyle won’t overanalyse that as the pressure was off.
Still, he has enjoyed the week. Starting his opening round with two birdies was the highlight on the course. There were others off it.
“I went up and introduced myself to Rory (McIlroy) today and that was nice,” said Doyle.
“I’ve never been so nervous to meet someone. That’s one of the cool things about this week and you get to see people you idolise and stuff.
“Rory just said make the cut and unfortunately I didn’t do that. It was still cool. It’s been great. Just such a well-run tournament.
“I’ve definitely gotten stuff from the week, like playing with the pros and kind of learning from them and just trying to gain confidence all the time. I’ve had a really good year, so I’m not going to try and let this dampen it too much.
“It just kind of makes you more hungry to be back here again and try and do things differently.”
Next up for Doyle is the Junior Ryder Cup in New York followed by the World Amateur Team Championship in Singapore.
“I’m just going to try and rest for a week or two and then get back on the horse,” he said. “Just go to school for once. I haven’t been much.” Overall, it was a disappointing second round for the Irish. Just four made the cut.
Robert Moran, Seamus Power and Mark Power were the next closest to the level par cut mark. All three shot two-over for the tournament.
For Seamus Power, not making it to the weekend meant a change of plans. He will head Stateside a few days earlier than scheduled.
“I have a tournament next week,” said Power. “I was meant to fly out Monday, probably fly out over the weekend now and go back to the west coast.
Power is now looking forward to the FedExCup’s fall season.
“I’ve always played pretty well in the fall,” he said. “I have to get back to the West Coast, a long ways. Hopefully, I’ll be ready by next Thursday. You play in so many different grasses and stuff in the US.
“It’s just courses that I’ve liked over the years. Looking forward to it. I’ve got six or seven tournaments left. It’ll be a big chunk and a lot of good opportunities.”
