Sara Byrne is bringing her summer in Ireland to a close in style this week, she’s playing in the KPMG Women’s Irish Open in Dromoland. Her invitation to play came as a result of her win in the Irish Women’s Close back in June, and she will tee it up in today’s first round alongside some of Europe’s leading professionals.
Dromoland has been working hard all summer for the LET event and the course is in great condition. With an enhanced spectator village, bigger grandstands and some fine weather forecast, it should be a great weekend at the Clare resort. A large number of Cork supporters are expected to travel to support Byrne in her first Women’s Irish Open.

Naturally the 21 year old Douglas was excited as she looked forward to the event that is being held in Dromoland for the second year. “I’m feeling good, I’m really excited for the week ahead. I’ve done a lot of prep for it now so I know all the hard work is done so I’m just kind of waiting for it to come” said Byrne. And for Sara, despite it being a professional competition and her national open, she’s sticking with her tried and tested approach. “I’ve prepped for the event how I’ve been doing for the whole year. In terms of my mentality towards it and my expectations they are a little different just in terms of I just want the experience of the event. I want to enjoy it and just take it all in. Kind of like the Access events I play in this summer, I’m going to be asking loads of questions and just getting a feel of what the pros do and just benchmark myself against them and their game.”
Sara has had a busy year. The Miami Hurricanes golfers completed her third year in college in May, and had five top twenty finishes during the season. Sara is studying accounting and despite the busy golfing schedule, she has excelled in the classroom as well, reaching the Provst’s Honour Roll in each of the last two 2022 semesters. Sara was named on the WGCA All-American Scholars list as well as gaining a place on the All-ACC Academic Team.
Byrne defied the odds in May by finishing 3rd at the NCAA Palm Beach Regional. Playing as an individual earned her a place in the NCAA Championships in Scottsdale. After that it was back to Ireland and then onto England for the Women’s Amateur where she qualified and won her first round match before bowing out in the second round. A week later she was back in action in Connemara, and it was there that she won her second Irish Women’s Amateur Close. A thrilling final saw her avenge her 2022 final loss to Beth Coulter to claim her second national title.
After that it was on to Sweden, Finland and Wales for Irish team duty and two LET Access professional events.
Those LET Access events proved to be valuable for Sara, she finished in 6th place in the Vasteras Open and 12th in the Capio Ogon Trophy. Importantly her results gave her ranking points ensuring she will have a category on LET and LET Access when she finishes up in Miami next June.
Although it was a busy summer on the course, Sara also built in some downtime and enjoyed a few breaks away from the course. “I enjoyed every second of my summer this year. I was really really busy but that’s what I like! I really enjoyed the five week stretch of tournaments and travel which is great, I wanted to see if I could handle it for when I do turn pro in the future. This summer I just scheduled everything for experience and learning for when I finish college and I really did get a lot of information and learned a lot. I am itching to get back stateside now, I miss the team environment a little and just excited to get back to my season over there.”
Sara will have another Irish golfer in Miami next year as Bangor’s Rebekah Gardner joins the Hurricanes as a freshman. Miami have a total of four new golfers on the 2023 roster and it promises to be an exciting year ahead.
Although Sara is looking forward to the return to Miami, she may have another event in Irish colours before the end of 2023. She is in the mix to be selected on the three person Irish team that will head to Abu Dhabi in October for the World Amateur Team Championships. A good performance in Dromoland this week could help the Douglas golfer claim a spot on the Irish Team.