Ballycastle golfer ranked among the best in Europe

YOUNG Ollie McEvoy from Ballycastle Golf Club has made great strides in his golf career this past year reaping the fruits of all the hard work he has been putting into his golf game since he was a toddler.
This year has seen Ollie chosen for a third year to represent Ulster at Under 14 level with an enviable record of eight wins and no losses. Ollie has also won several individual titles this year and this puts him top of the Irish Order of Merit for Under 14s.
He started the year by winning the Under 14 Close Championship at Moyola, retaining the title he won last year.
The first two weeks of July saw him runner-up in the Connacht Under 14 Championship and the following week he went one better, lifting the Ulster Under 14 Boys Amateur Championship.
The Irish Boys Under 14 Championship, which took place over three nerve-racking days at the beginning of August in Banbridge, brought Ollie’s third title of the year and following this he set off to compete in the English U14 Championships – the Reid Trophy.
Battling through the worst of the weather in the first morning draw, Ollie progressed over the next two days to end the three days tied for the lead.
A sudden death play-off saw Ollie finish runner-up to John Moran who had lost out to Ollie the week before.
Add in a fourth place finish in the Connacht Under 16 Championship and a sixth place finish in the Ulster Under 16 championship earlier in the year and it is easy to see why Ollie McEvoy is currently ranked number five in the European Golf Rankings for his age group. All Ballycastle eyes have been on Ollie since his very earliest days on the golf course, but with these titles and his current ranking in Ireland and beyond, he will certainly be on everyone else’s radar too in the coming years!