Kilfenora's Jonathan Keane ends Lahinch's 57-year wait for South of Ireland winner
The 25-year-old Kilfenora schoolteacher completed a magical week over the famous west Clare dunes, rolling in a five-footer for a closing birdie to beat Dundalk's Caolan Rafferty one up and follow in the footsteps of his watching boyhood coach JD Smyth, who was the last Lahinch man to win the title in 1968.
Keane dropped his putter and put his hands over his eyes in disbelief as his father, Johnny, and mother, Mary, ran onto the 18th green to envelop him in an emotional embrace.
"I felt good over it because I have had that putt loads of times before, that back left pin," Keane said. "Just knew what to do. I wasn't feeling any nerves; I was feeling 100% confident. It was just a shock for about five seconds."
The 18th was ringed with hundreds of spectators as Keane was chaired in victory by his supporters in a scene that summed up the magic of amateur golf at a venue that will host the Walker Cup next year.
"I don't know what to say," Keane reflected after a day when he beat Edmondstown's Liam Abom 2&1 in the semi-finals as Rafferty confirmed his favouritism for the title by blitzing Grange's Jake Whelan 5&3 after playing the first five holes in five-under-par.
"Absolutely delighted. This has been my dream since ever I joined this golf club, and for it to come true, it's absolutely unbelievable. Just thrilled. Thrilled."
While overseas member Patrick Adler from Chicago won last year, several hundred locals turned out to watch one of their own lift the coveted trophy after a brilliant display of powerful hitting and sensational chipping and putting.
He'd made two eagles and 24 birdies in five matchplay rounds to get to the final and did not let up when it mattered.
All the hard work he did to recover from a herniated disc that kept him out of the game for nearly three years turned out to be worth its weight in gold.
After the first two holes were halved in bogey-birdie figures, Keane birdied the third, then eagled the fourth from 35 feet to go two up.
He had a chance from eight feet to go three up at the Dell, but while he missed that and lost the seventh to par after taking a penalty drop from deep rough, he won the eighth in par and turned two-up.
Rafferty was spent after a gruelling week and both men made mistakes coming home.
Rafferty won 11th in par, lost the 12th to Keane's birdie, failed to convert a slippery 10-footer for a win at the 13th and watched his rival get up and down from sand at the 14th to remain two up.
It looked as though the tide would turn when Rafferty made a remarkable four at the 15th, flopping to a foot from heavy greenside rough, then hit to 12 feet at the 16th, where he was conceded the hole after Keane chunked into sand from heavy rough above the back left bunker.
They were all square.
Keane had been brilliant on and around the green all week and after Rafferty chipped close on the 17th, he cooly slotted home an eight footer for a half in fours to take the match to the last.
Rafferty came up short in two, and with 240 yards to go and adrenaline pumping, Keane rifled a five iron to 50 feet and two putted for victory, dribbling in a five-footer for glory after his rival had chipped to the back fringe and missed his 15 footer.
There were emotional scenes as the putt dropped, which was no surprise given Keane's battle with a back injury he picked up during COVID, when he had worked too hard in the gym and battered hundreds of balls on the beach without proper rest.
"I was trying to drive the ball an absolute mile —the Bryson DeChambeau effect," he confessed. "I used to hit about 250 balls a day. And after about six months of doing that nonstop and doing too much gym, the body just gave up.
"I had herniated discs in my lower back and it was very bad, and I couldn't play golf for two and a half years."
Lahinch Golf Club stepped in to help, and thanks to two members — Dr Gerry O'Sullivan and Dr Conor O'Brien — Keane received the medical treatment he needed before embarking on a seven-month programme of strength and conditioning with former South of Ireland winner Robbie Cannon.
He returned for the South in 2023 and put many sleepless painful nights behind him to achieve his dream yesterday, "I have to give credit to those three men there for helping me come back from that injury," he said.
No wonder there were tears at the end of an epic, triumphant week for the amateur game.
Pierse Motor Group South of Ireland Amateur Open Championship, Lahinch Semi-finals: Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk) bt Jake Whelan (Grange) 5/3; Jonathan Keane (Lahinch) bt Liam Abom (Edmondstown) 2/1.
Final: Keane beat Rafferty 1 up.
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‘I have to give credit to those three men' — How trying to become Bryson DeChambeau almost cost Jonathan Keane his South of Ireland dream
His mentor JD Smyth, who was the last local Lahinch member to pull off the feat in 1968, was by his side offering advice on the victory speech. It was an emotional end to a long, painful road for the 25-year-old second school teacher from Kilfenora, and perhaps the start of a magical new journey, as he recounted how he overcame a crippling back injury that almost ended his career and birdied the last to beat Dundalk's Caolan Rafferty one up and spark joyous scenes in Lahinch. Hundreds had given up the chance to watch Kerry win the All-Ireland football title, or Pádraig Harrington claim the Senior Open, to watch one of their own win the 'South'. Keane was emotional at the finish as he hugged his trusty caddie Noel Sexton, fell into an emotional embrace with his parents and supporters and then thrust his arms in the air as he was chaired from the green in triumph. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. But what of the injury that kept him out of golf for almost three years? "I got injured at the start of Covid," he recounted. "I was doing a lot of practice. I kind of got into the mindset of trying to drive the ball an absolute mile — the Bryson DeChambeau effect. "I was doing an awful lot of gym work, but I had nothing to do during Covid, so I used to go down to the beach and hit about 250 balls a day. And after about six months of doing that nonstop and doing too much gym, the body just gave up. "I had herniated discs in my lower back. It was very bad, and I was about two-and-a-half years without any golf. I tried every sort of a thing. I didn't want to go down the route of surgery, and after about three years of being out of the game, I finally got back into it about two weeks before the South in 2023." What happened before that is a testament to the network at Lahinch Golf Club, the efforts of members Dr Gerry O'Sullivan and Dr Conor O'Brien to find a solution and the strength and conditioning expertise of former South of Ireland champion, Robbie Cannon. "Your mind is just thinking, will I ever golf again, because some nights you'd be waking up with pain and couldn't fall asleep," Keane said. "So it's just unbelievable now that I've come back from that and managed to win the competition I've always dreamt of.' Getting back to full fitness was no easy feat. "I tried a few things and they had failed, but Gerry O'Sullivan and Conor O'Brien came together. Conor O'Brien brought me up to Galway clinic and identified a nerve that was in trouble. "I got an epidural injection into my lower back that kind of numbed the pain for a while. And then during that time, I went up to Robbie, and we got a strength and conditioning plan, so gym work, and I kept at that. "I must have kept at it for about seven months and then I finally got back playing. So I have to give credit to those three men there for helping me come back from that injury.' Keane shot rounds of 82 and 78 at Lahinch to miss the cut comfortably in the 2023 South of Ireland. But he slowly recovered and started to show his potential this year, reaching the quarter-finals of the West of Ireland. It all came together on Sunday, when he beat Edmondstown's Liam Abom 2&1 in the semi-finals as 2018 champion Rafferty played the first five holes in five-under en route to a 5&3 win over Grange's Jake Whelan. Two up at the turn, Keane was just one up after 11 holes, but after winning the 12th to go two up again, he abandoned his policy of playing the 15th down the 14th, found heavy rough and lost the hole to Rafferty's incredible par-saving flop shot from heavy rough right of the green. "Maybe I wasn't thinking 100 percent at the time," he said. "I did hit a great tee shot in the morning. I said, I hit it down the middle of the fairway, and I did, and I tried to do the same thing this evening, but I probably should have hit it down the 14th like I was doing earlier in the week.' He lost the short 16th too, taking three to find the green after Rafferty hit a brilliant tee shot to 10 feet. Pegged back to all square there was a chance the dream could evaporate, but after making a nerveless eight-footer for par at the 17th to remain all flat, he drilled a 240-yard five-iron to 50 feet at the 18th and two putted for birdie and victory as Rafferty failed to get up and down from short of the green. "I don't know what to say, really," he said afterwards. "Absolutely delighted. "As I was saying, this has been my dream since ever I joined this golf club, and for it to come true, it's absolutely unbelievable. Just thrilled. Thrilled.' Pierse Motor Group South of Ireland Amateur Open Championship, Lahinch Semi-finals: Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk) beat Jake Whelan (Grange) 5/3; Jonathan Keane (Lahinch) beat Liam Abom (Edmondstown) 2/1. Final: Keane beat Rafferty 1 up.
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