The Open 2015: 8 things you didn’t know about Paul Dunne

1

He’s from County Wicklow

Dunne, who will be 23 in November, is a member at Greystones GC, which is not far south of Dublin. The nearest courses of note are Druids Glen, which hosted the Irish Open several times, and The European, Pat Ruddy’s links masterpiece.

2

He came through Local Final Qualifying

For the second year running, Dunne qualified for the Open at Woburn. A year ago, he almost got disqualified for turning up late for his tee time. There were no such problems this time around.

3

He played at Hoylake last year

There were no heroics though 12 months ago. He shot 75, 73 to miss the cut by two shots.

4

He went to GMac’s college

Namely the University of Alabama, in Birmingham. That’s the American version. He recently graduated with a degree in business finance.

5

He led the Open on Thursday

As one of the early starters, Dunne’s friends sent him texts with pictures of the early leaderboards and his name at the top of it. He won’t be needing those anymore.

6

He played in the Palmer Cup last year

This match sees GB&I’s students take on their American equivalents. Dunne was part of the winning team at Walton Heath last summer.

7

He is all set for the Walker Cup

The match takes place at Royal Lytham in September and it’s fair to assume he is now an automatic seletcion for GB&I captain Nigel Edwards.

8

He is 80th in the amateur rankings

He will rise up this list significantly in the next 24 hours, we can safely presume…