Tom McKibbin was understandably short spoken after a “disappointing” final round at the Irish Open but was left feeling encouraged by the week as a whole at Royal County Down.
The 21-year-old would end his tournament with a lacklustre two-over 73 as he never fully recovered from four dropped shots in four holes, including a double-bogey at the par-three fourth, and had to settle for a finish just outside the top-30 at two-over-par overall.
On a day where conditions were much more scoreable than in previous days, McKibbin never quite got going and, despite recovering somewhat with back-to-back birdies on the back nine, he was frustrated to finish the day well off the pace after starting it just outside the top-ten.
“I didn’t play very good. It wasn’t playing too hard with the wind so, yeah, a little bit disappointed,” he surmised.
And yet it is still a positive week on the whole for McKibbin, who swallowed the pressure of playing with Rory McIlroy on days one and two, as well as clawing his way back from hitting his opening tee shot out of bounds.
While the final day did not pan out the way he wanted, the Newtownabbey star put himself in a position to record a strong finish and ultimately did his chances of finishing in the top-ten on the Race to Dubai and earning a PGA Tour card for next season no harm.
“A little bit of everything. A little bit of good, a little bit of average, a little bit of poor. Overall, to play four rounds here and to have some good golf, it was a pretty decent week,” was his own summation.
“Yesterday and Friday I played two very solid rounds. To shoot under par around here is really good and I was looking forward to going out here today and shooting a good one in that weather.
“But overall, battling back from Thursday and having a good round yesterday in the wind, it’s been an okay week.
“It’s very hard. Even today, with no wind you can go and shoot a score but when you’re not fully on then it’s still very tricky, it can catch you out very fast.
“It’s a great golf course, I thoroughly enjoyed my week here.”
Now McKibbin’s attentions turn to the DP World Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth which begins on Thursday, and aiming to improve on his 17th place positioning in the order of merit.
“I’ve played some very nice golf, very consistent golf. My game is feeling quite close, so hopefully I can continue that on for the rest of the year,” added McKibbin.
“There’s enough positives to take into next week. I played some nice stuff and played nicely in the last nine holes, so I can move on and go again next week.”