TWO Swords youngsters were the toast of their golf club recently when they triumphed at a major international event.
Kyle Honer secured victory in the American Golf Junior Championships, taking the overall UK & Ireland title with victory in the Best Net category after a fantastic round of Net 61.
Kyle (14), who lives in Swords and is a member of Roganstown Golf Club, played the round of his life at the home of golfing giant PING, Gainsborough Golf Club, to secure the American Golf title in front of Sky Sports’ cameras.
Kyle, a pupil at Portmarnock Community School, has made incredible recent progress in his sport. He was one to watch last year when he qualified for the final of the American Golf Junior Championship as a ‘Star of the Future’ with a handicap of 36. He returned to qualification in 2016 where he finished second in the event held at his home club, securing qualification for the final for the second year running.
Kyle, now playing off 22, played fantastic golf throughout the final, taking the 2016 overall title by three shots from Yorkshire junior Dylan Shaw-Radford. This success came just three days after he won the Munster Championship, topping off an incredible week for the Northside teen.
“The American Golf Junior Championship has been really good fun and a great experience,” said Kyle. “From the qualifier to the final it was well organised and they really made us feel like professionals.
“I won the Munster Championship a couple of days before so I was quite confident but I didn’t expect to win the American Golf Championship as it’s the biggest competition I’ve ever played in.”
Kyle added: “On the plane home the pilot announced that I’d won and the whole plane gave me a round of applause which was pretty cool.”
Meanwhile, success for Swords didn’t stop at Kyle though, as another Roganstown Golf Club member and Gaelscoil Bhrian Bóroimhe pupil, Sean Keeling, picked up the PING Star of the Future award. Competing against other qualifiers who had made the final by displaying the spirit and character of the game of golf, Sean shot a fantastic round of 40 to take the prestigious honour.
Daniel Gathercole, Director of Marketing and Communications at American Golf, said: “We’ve been treated to some fantastic golf from a set of incredibly impressive youngsters. Every golfer has approached the day with spirit and sportsmanship and there has been some tremendous golf on show.”
