22-04-2025
Schoolboy Dylan Holmes (18) becomes youngest winner of West of Ireland Championship since Rory McIlroy
The willowy 18-year-old Leaving Cert student from Greystones Golf Club played sensational golf throughout, beating local favourite Barry Anderson 3&1 in level par figures in the semi-finals before racing into a four-up lead through 10 holes of the final en route to a 2&1 win on his PGA professional father Karl's 51st birthday.
'That was some of the best golf I've ever played,' a rain-soaked Holmes said after holding off laureled Warrenpoint man Campbell (37) in some of the worst weather endured at a West of Ireland final in years.
Holmes was four under and 4-up in the best of the weather with seven to play.
But while Campbell won the 12th with a birdie and followed a losing par at the 13th with wins at the 14th and 16th, Greystones heralded its first West of Ireland winner on the iconic 17th green.
'That was a brilliant match. I was really nervous coming down the stretch there. I am so happy it's over,' said Holmes, who won the Fred Daly Trophy in a team featuring his caddie Jamie Anderson last year. 'It's incredible. I didn't really have any expectations coming in this weekend. I'm just really happy.'
The final was brought forward to midday to avoid the worst of the weather.
But Holmes displayed a maturity beyond his years and dug deep as heavy rain and 50kph gusts lashed the finalists from the southeast for the final six holes of a memorable final that will only add to the lore of the West.
Campbell admitted he got a taste of his own medicine from Holmes, who was not only playing in his first West but also his first men's championship.
In his semi-final with the pre-Championship favourite Stuart Grehan, four-time championship winner Campbell got off to a dream start.
After starting par-birdie-birdie-par-eagle to go three-up, he won the next two holes in par, lost the eighth, but then made a 25-footer for birdie at the 11th to go five-up en route to a 2&1 win.
The long hours Holmes has spent practising on his home putting green certainly paid off.
After winning the first in par and halving the second in birdie, he won the fourth with a two-putt par from 90 feet, rolling in a 12-footer for the win.
While Campbell halved the fifth in birdies, he three-putted the sixth to go 3-down. Holmes drove out of bounds right and lost the seventh but got a break at the eighth, where he drew a good lie in the rough miles right and got up and down from sand for a half in pars.
From potentially being pegged back to 1-up, Holmes was four to the good 30 minutes later.
He made an 18-footer for a two at the ninth, won the 10th in par to go 4-up and then turned the screw by brushing in a 25-footer for a half in birdie at the 11th, where Campbell was stone dead in two.
'He probably gave me a wee bit of my own medicine,' Campbell confessed. 'I've done that enough over the years… It wasn't meant to be today. Dylan was the right winner.'
The remaining holes were played in high winds and heavy rain, but while Campbell, 4-down with five to play after a bogey at the 13th, won the 14th in bogey, halved the 15th in six and won the 16th with a par, he could only match Holmes' five at the 17th.
As for comparisons with McIlroy, Holmes could only smile.
'He's probably one of the greatest golfers of all time,' he said. 'So I guess that's a pretty cool thing.'
Meanwhile, Brendan Lawlor shot rounds of 72 and 80 to win the ISPS Handa G4D @ The West by nine strokes from Co Sligo's Alan Gaynor on 10-over.
West of Ireland Championship – Semi-finals: D Holmes (Greystones) bt B Anderson (Cork) 3&1; C Campbell (Warrenpoint) bt S Grehan (Co Louth) 2&1. Final: Holmes bt Campbell 2&1.
