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Stuart Grehan in action in 2024 (Photo by Alex Burstow/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
Grehan produced a super display over Sunday’s 36-holes to claim the victory by six strokes.
Co. Louth clubman Stuart Grehan is the 2026 East of Ireland Men’s Amateur Open Champion, after a wonderful Sunday performance at his home-track in Baltray saw him run out as comfortable winner on seventeen under par.
The Co. Offaly man also won the tournament in 2015. He since turned professional before returning to the amateur ranks, playing at the Walker Cup last year alongside fellow Co. Louth member, Gavin Tiernan.
Tiernan, who lost the final of the Ameteur Open Championship by just one stroke last year, narrowly missing out on a place at the Open at Portrush; finished fifth, on -5. Fellow Baltray member, Gerrard Dunne, finished in third, on nine under par, while Grehan’s closest challenger was Dundalk clubman, Caolan Rafferty. It’s the fourth time the Dromiskin native has finished inside the top-five at the tournament, having won the title in 2024.
Rafferty performed well over Sunday’s 36-holes, shooting a 69 and a 65 to help him to an -11 total for the tournament. That would have been enough to bring him firmly into contention had Grehan not been in such flying form, but the 2015 champion shot a total of 12 under par today, following a 67 and a 65 in today’s final two rounds.
Remarkably, Grehan recorded a hole-in-one on the par 3 seventeenth hole, his 71st of the week, after his tee shot took one bounce before plugging in the hole.
It’s the first time in 41-years that a Co. Louth member has won the prestigious tournament, which is one of the majors on the Irish Amateur Golf elite circuit.
