Douglas is the place to be tomorrow, their Senior Scratch Cup will be the third of four consecutive cups that are taking place in April.  With Muskerry and Lee Valley complete, Douglas and Cork remain in what has proved to be an exciting month for Category 1 golfers in the county and indeed the province.  Eanna Griffin, Andrew McCormack and Shane Hogan lead the golfers that hoping to take the title outside of the county.  Gary O’Flaherty, David O’Donovan, John Hickey and holder Daniel Halliessey lead the local challenge, while Peter O’Keeffe will be representing his home club Douglas and he’s like nothing better than to mare his return to amateur status with his first big win on his own turf.

Kieran Canty has been a busy man over the past few weeks, as a committed Douglas member, Kieran is one of the main drivers behind the scratch cup and he’s also sponsoring the event.  Senior Scratch Cups have been a challenge for most clubs over the past 8-10 years.  Limited numbers of entrants, pressure on timesheets, and competition from national and provincial events have all impacted on the perceived importance and prestige of senior scratch cups.  Douglas like a few other clubs have now proved that with the right focus and effort, the trend can be reversed.  Douglas has a full time sheet with some of the best golfers from Munster taking part as Kieran commented: “I must say I am delighted with the field that will take part on Saturday, it is great to see some new names.  The interest is certainly increasing which is great and  this is certainly helped by the inter-provincial order of merit inclusion.  The course is in great shape after the weather we have had over the winter which is a great credit to Peter Morris the course superintendent and his staff.  I am sure it will play long on Saturday and the rough will be a bit tricky, with some fast greens so it should make for a great day.”

Gallery: Gallery: Douglas Senior Scratch Cup 2015

The Douglas past Captain has more ideas too on what can help all clubs to grow and develop their senior events: “I do feel that with the Munster Branch including the scratch cups in their order of merits for interprovincial teams it is a great help.  I would love to see a situation where a proper Scratch cup schedule is put together with the help of the Branch which would help the local clubs in the province by promoting the various scratch cups and also I think it would help our teams.”

Kieran Canty Financial Services Douglas Senior Scratch Cup Timesheet

Having played in many scratch cups and championships across Ireland over the years, Canty has seen the courses at their best and the generous prizes that are generally associated with scratch golf events.  When Douglas lost a long standing sponsor a few years ago, Kieran came on board with his own company, Kieran Canty Financial Services.  As a result Kieran will be wearing several hats this weekend;  he’s a senior member of the club, one of the organisers, he’s backing the event and he’s also playing.  “This is my 7th year sposnsoring this event.  Having been a member since 1984 and it was a chance for me to give something back to the club.  Seven years ago our original sponsor P J O’Hea unfortunately had to stop their sposnsorship and it was my chance to step in and I was delighted to do so.”

Everything is in place for an exciting day, play gets underway in Douglas at 8.30am, with the second round scheduled for 1.30pm.