The Debrief: 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

Everything you need to know from a thrilling week at Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort.

John Catlin earned his second European Tour victory in a month, while a farmer and his cows had front row seats at the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

Here is everything you need to know from a thrilling week at Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort.

Catlin caps stunning September with another win

At the beginning of the month, Catlin was still searching for his maiden European Tour title. The American now has two to his name after following up victory at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucia Masters three weeks ago with further success in Ballymena. Catlin fired three birdies in his final four holes on Sunday to sign for a closing 64 and that was enough to earn him a two shot victory, with Aaron Rai his nearest challenger. Catlin said: "You never know if you're going to win or not and to get that monkey off my back at Valderrama really freed me up today to know that I can look myself in the mirror and tell myself honestly that I've been here before and I can do it again."

Frost and fog delay play

The action did not get under way until 11.49am local time on Sunday as frost and mist caused the second weather delay of the week after frost also held things up on Friday. Here is what the course looked like early on day four...

Rai nearly goes wire to wire again

Englishman Rai's maiden European Tour win at the 2019 Honma Hong Kong Open presented by Amundi came in wire-to-wire fashion and he had been in contention to repeat the trick in Northern Ireland after leading at the end of each of the first three days. But he narrowly missed out after finishing the week with a 70 that contained three birdies and three bogeys. He could have forced a play-off with a birdie at the last but he could only manage a closing bogey. After his final round, Rai said: "I'm feeling a little bit disappointed. I can’t hide that. But I played solid for most of the week and the 18th was just one of those things. It’s golf, and it happens, but John played incredibly well today and deserves it. There’s a lot of positives to take, I felt like I handled myself well on the outside and, more importantly, on the inside. A lot more positives than negatives to take out of this week."

Moooooving Day

There were no spectators in the bubble last week due to Covid-19 protocols but one lucky local farmer managed to get a view from his field on Saturday. It was his companions who drew the most attention, however, as he was ganged up on by a group of cows! Clearly a man vastly experienced with bovine buddies, he was completely unmoved and even joined by more human company later on.

Burmester's brilliance at the short seventh

Dean Burmester came agonisingly close to holing his tee shot at the par three seventh on Sunday, only for the ball to hit the cup and bounce away...

He was able to tap in his close range putt for a birdie, though, so it wasn't all bad for the South African.