Kieran Earls - second again at the Catalan Open

The Clare Cup is contested annually in March and generally heralds the beginning of the Open season in Ireland.   Parteen's Kieran Earls was the 2015 winner.  Kieran fired 15 under par 93 for 36 holes to beat Irish Strokeplay champion Liam O'Donovan (Bruff) by a shot.

Just a month later, the Co. Limerick colleagues were in action on foreign soil, in the Catalan Open at Lleida.  This time, Liam O'Donovan was the victor.  Kieran Earls finished four shots back and was runner-up in the Catalan showpiece for the second successive year.

"I was disappointed I missed out on winning it but I took a lot from the experience as well. I still have to keep telling myself that I’m young and these successes will come if I keep up my form,” was Kieran Earls' philosophical reaction. 

Just two weeks before jetting off to the Iberian peninsula, Kieran had collected another big prize.  Earls had tied on 138 with another county colleague Tommy Hanley after 54 holes of the Limerick Masters at Parteen and Ardnacrusha.  The players embarked on an eleven hole play-off before Kieran Earls finally came out on top.   That reversed Kieran's unlucky extra hole loss in the 2014 Catalan Open at Teia, when Jordi Saborit won the play-off.

Spanish surroundings seem to suit Kieran Earls.  The young Limerick player finished fourth in the inaugural Galicia Open in 2012.  John Walsh was a runaway winner of that Pazo da Touza event.  Kieran Earls tied on 151 with Galicia's own Jorge Rodriguez Sarmiento. Sarmiento took third spot on the tiebreaker.

Matchplay is another forte of Kieran Earls, who first burst into national prominence when finishing second to runaway winner Stephen Shoer in the 2008 Irish Intermediate Strokeplay championship at Tullamore.    Just as we went to press, Kieran had reached the last four in the Munster provincial Matchplay championship, an event he finished runner-up in two years ago.  His first taste of the National Matchplay finals taught him a lot.  “Damien Fleming beat me in the Last 16 in Collinstown in 2011 and seeing him go on to win the whole thing after kind of told me what I needed to be doing to get to that level,” he said.

It's been a fabulous start to the season for Kieran Earls but it could get even better.  He faces Kerry's Jason O'Regan in the Irish Matchplay on 30th May and is qualified to play at Orvelte in the European Strokeplay. The future looks bright.