A closing birdie secured individual victory for Joe Lyons at the International Senior Invitational amateur tournament at Cartersville Country Club in Georgia, his second victory at the event in three years.
After rounds of 71 and 68 on days one and two respectively, the Galway man held a share of the individual lead with Utah’s Shane McMillan going into the third and final round. However, the Irish team’s position of eighth on the leaderboard meant Lyons teed off just over an hour ahead of McMillan and Iowa’s Michael McCoy, who was a shot behind in solo third.
Lyons recorded three bogeys and three birdies over the first 15 holes, but birdies on the par-3 16th and par-5 18th gave him the clubhouse lead at -7, and it proved to be just enough as McMillan and McCoy both finished on six-under.
Lyons’ round of -2, combined with Karl Bornemann’s level-par 72 gave the Irish team of Lyons, Bornemann and John Reynolds an overall tally of +1 for the three rounds, lifting them into fifth place overall with South Carolina overtaking Utah to take the team title by two strokes at the end of the week.
FULL SCORING
