Ireland

Galway golfer Joe Lyons to be reunited with trophy that missed Ryanair flight due to hand luggage restrictions

Irish golfer Joe Lyons expects to receive his tournament trophy today after initially being told it would be discarded by Ryanair staff who barred him carrying it on a flight.
Irish golfer Joe Lyons expects to receive his tournament trophy today

Irish golfer Joe Lyons expects to receive his tournament trophy today after having to leave it behind at a Ryanair desk in a Spanish airport.

He won the Spanish Senior Men’s Amateur Championship held at the Real Sevilla golf club at the weekend but when he arrived at Seville Airport for a flight home discovered that neither he nor his wife Vera could fit the silver cup in their hand luggage.

“It wouldn’t fit in the hand luggage so it couldn’t travel. They advised they will have to put it in the bin,” he wrote on Facebook.



After his Facebook post on Sunday, Lyons said he received a call from a Ryanair representative apologising for the incident and assuring him that the trophy would be sent directly to his home in Galway.

“All’s well that ends well. Ryanair have just called me and said they are putting the trophy on a flight tonight and will courier it to Galway tomorrow!” the golfer wrote on Facebook.

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The former West of Ireland champion started the third and final round of the Spanish Senior Men’s Amateur Championship tied for sixth on two-under-par, while Jody Fanagan of Milltown and Benjamin Morin of France lead by two strokes on five-under.

Lyons surged ahead of the pack with an unbelievable last 18 holes, finishing six-under par.

This score would allow him to win by four shots.