2017-10-12 Paschal wins matchplay singles

2017 Matchplay Singles Final - Paschal Morgan victory

The culmination of the match play singles took place on Thursday afternoon with Paschal Morgan (10) taking on Joe McKnight (6).
A nervous first hole was halved but Paschal won the second after Joe's ball plugged beside the green and couldn't be found. To further compound the disappointment, he three putted the next green where Paschal had an easy four to go two up. A birdie three at the next brought it back to one, followed by a par and a further birdie to go one up. Seven was halved but Paschal struck back at the eighth only for Joe to win the ninth and make the turn 1-up.
It is always said that competitions are won on the back nine and this was the case again for this match. Ten was halved in pars and good tee shots at the 11th gave Joe a good chance for birdie with Paschal just off the edge. However Paschal took the initiative and sank his putt while Joe's putt slid by. Twelve was halved in pars but Joe didn't get up and down at thirteen and Paschal had an easy par to go one up. Two good drives at the difficult 14th gave Joe a chance to put the pressure on. A 5-iron to 12 feet left Paschal with the choice of going for the green or laying up. Getting a shot, he decided on the latter and left himself 60 yards. A super chip in to 5 feet gave him a putt for a par and when Joe's birdied putt veered off to the right, he duly converted to go two up. Paschal hit a good shot to the centre of the green at 15 but Joe went long and didn't get up and down, so Paschal two-putted to go dormy three.
Both hit the 16th in two and Paschal lagged a fifty foot putt to four feet. Once again Joe's putt was six inches from the birdie and Paschal converted to win by 3&2.
So congratulations to Paschal on the victory and commiserations to Joe who now has the unfortunate moniker of having played in three singles finals and has yet to win. However it wasn't poor play on his part but Paschal's sparkling form on the back nine which told the tale. He played from ten to sixteen in one under par, which was always only going to end in one result.