Dave O’Donovan follows his tee shot on the 4th in Lee Valley this morning. Picture: Niall O’Shea
2015 winner Dave O’Donovan holds the first round lead in Lee Valley after shooting an excellent 68 in great conditions this morning. 78 golfers took the course for the Dell EMC sponsored event, as sunshine and fast greens greeted the competitors. O’Donovan leads the tournament by one, Gary O’Flaherty and 2016 runner up Andrew McCormack are one shot back on 69.
Munster Students champion John Murphy is in fourth spot on 70 and James Sugrue also got into the red with a one under par 71. Peter O’Keeffe and Ben Murray are among a few players who shot level par. Although conditions are good, scoring is tough on the parkland course with back tees and tricky pins contributing to the stiff test for some of Ireland’s top amateurs. Ronan Curran (74) is the best of the home players while Lee Valley Captain Pat Continue reading
Not everyone qualifies to take part in a senior scratch cup, but this weekend Lee Valley Captain Pat Power will have the pleasure of doing so, with an outside chance that he might actually win the event. In previous years the one handicapper just had to turn up and play but this year as Captain he has been central to the staging of the event. After weeks of preparation the Captain is looking forward to being one of the 81 golfers who will tee it up tomorrow morning in the first round of the 54 hole WAGR event, and for Captain Power the preparation is now paying off. “Everyone in Lee Valley is very excited to get the 2017 Dell EMC Senior Scratch Cup underway this weekend” said the Captain. “Preparation has gone well with the course looking spectacular. The greens have very much improved and should prove a good test for all this weekend. As always we have a very strong field with the best of local talent teeing it up. I myself am looking forward to participating and hopefully the Lee Valley lads will put up a good showing. A big thank you to all who have done huge work to put the event together, lead by Vincent Drinan our tournament director and the course staff lead by our head green keeper James Mulcahy.”
Monkstown’s Sean Desmond made it through to the matchplay stage on his debut in the West of Ireland Championship today. Desmond shot a second successive 73 at Co Sligo and finished inside the top twenty. Sean had a colourful card today, five bogies and a double were offset by five birdies on the testing links track. Tomorrow he has a 7.27am start where he’ll face Robert Brazill from Naas.
Cork Golf News 