John Murphy was back in college golf action last week for the first time in ten months, but the Kinsale golfer has kept himself busy. After working hard in Cork for the summer he travelled back to America last August, and he was determined to make to most of his extension as a student in University Louisville. Murphy was a Senior last year but the cancellation of the second half of the season gave him another opportunity to compete in the 2021 NCAA college golf schedule. It was a big decision to return in August, when many European based golfers chose to stay at home, but it paid off for Murphy, providing him with the weather and the facilities to improve his game. “I felt as though the semester was really productive. As always, I am just trying to learn and grow as much as possible as a player, and being in this environment certainly allowed me to do that. I was able to compete with the world’s best Continue reading
Month: January 2021
Inter-Club Handicaps Announced
Entries are now open for the 2021 Inter-Club competitions. Entry details for the national competitions were sent to golf clubs last week, with Golf Ireland also confirming the key handicapping information that will apply this year. 2021 will bring a few changes, with the old name of the GUI and ILGU Cups and Shields replaced with the new name of Inter-Club competitions becoming the central club events for Golf Ireland. In January the new single governing body for amateur golf in Ireland officially took over from the Irish Ladies Golf Union and the Golfing Union of Ireland which had been responsible for the sport for over 100 years. 2021 promises Continue reading
Buckley wins Emirates Amateur Open
Cork’s Paul Buckley became golf’s first winner of 2021, he won the Omega Emirates Amateur Open last week. The Kanturk native held his nerve during the closing stages of the elite amateur event to become the second Irishman to win the title. “I’m absolutely delighted with the win and totally taken aback with all the attention, it must be lack of Cork sport at the moment” said Paul after arriving back in Cork on Sunday.
Paul along with Karl Bornemann travelled out to Dubai two weeks ago to take in two tournaments. Buckley who spent over a decade in Australia prior to 2019 had played in a few Australian events in early 2020 but the Covid restrictions meant he had to look in a different direction for competitive golf this year. “We had Continue reading
Sugrue No 1 in Europe
James Sugrue
James Sugrue starts 2021 on top of the European amateur rankings, the Mallow man was confirmed as the leading amateur on the European Golf Association rankings. In addition to the EGA ranking, Sugrue also reached a high point of 5th on the World Amateur Golf Rankings last week. While it’s unclear if Sugrue will tee it up in any further amateur competitions, his standing as an elite amateur is something to remember as he turns towards a career as a tour professional.
Having made the decision to compete on the professional circuit in 2021, Sugrue will have lots to look back on in his amateur career. He was a solid performer in team golf, representing Mallow, Munster and Ireland from 2012 when Continue reading
Irwin qualifies as PGA Professional
Monkstown Pro Shop’s Shane Irwin who recently received graduated as a PGA Professional.
Picture: Niall O’Shea
Monkstown based Shane Irwin recently completed his PGA training and the Limerick native is now a qualified PGA Professional. After three years of training, Shane passed his final exams to receive his degree level qualification from the University of Birmingham. Shane joins a number of recently qualified golf professionals in Cork, including Alan Gleeson, Davey Barry and Ciaran McKenna.
Prior to working in Monkstown Shane had worked in the industry in South Africa and the US, and that experience gave him the confidence to know that a career in the industry was the way to go. In 2017 he moved to Cork to take up a role in Monkstown Golf Club. After spending a few months working in the pro-shop, .n September 2017 he started his PGA training. Having worked in the US and South Africa prior to that. It was the next step in a plan for Shane. Traditionally the PGA apprenticeship was based around learning on the job, but now the degree level course has a Continue reading
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