Karl Bornemann won the Munster Seniors in Kinsale last week, winning in dramatic fashion with a sudden death playoff win.  Bornemann, who has suffered with injuries for much of the past two seasons, saved his best golf for the end.  He birdied the 17^th and 18^th to force a playoff with David Mulholland, and he beat his fellow Irish International on the second playoff hole.

Bornemann led the tournament after the opening round on Wednesday, he was the only player to go under par posting a two under 70.  Two early birdies were offset by two dropped shots but an eagle on the last saw him hold the overnight lead by two strokes.

He battled on Thursday and crucially birdied the final two holes to reach a playoff.

Both golfers parred the first sudden death hole, although Bornemann must have been the happier as he just missed the green to the left and ended up with a tricky lie.  A deft chip saw his ball finish a few inches from the hole, while Mulholland saw his thirty foot putt slide by the hole.

It was onto the second playoff hole and both golfers hit good drives.  Bornemann was on the right, and apart from a small tree thirty yards ahead, he had a great angle to approach the tricky green from.  He duly put the ball on the green, around 11 feet belo the pin.  Mulholland’s drive ended up on the left and he faced a tricky shot to the left to right sloping green.  An attempted draw stayed out the to left, and having missed the green his chip resulted in the ball slipping 8 feet past the hole.

While Bornemann played a great lag putt up the hill and tapped in for par, his opponents par putt never broke to the surprise of the gallery.  That miss crowned Bornemann as the Munster Seniors Champion, and the Irish International was delighted to be back in the winners circle after some time on the sidelines.

“I blew out a disc in my back last year after some issues with my neck the previous year so I’ve had to work hard with Peter and Billy in GolfStrong to really try and make myself as bulletproof as possible” explained Bornemann.”

“I showed some form in France but wasn’t able to get it done, I was very much  undercooked there.  So I was delighted when I was in that position to get it over the line, it shows that the hard work that I have done is starting to pay off.”

The Douglas golfer was still struggling to find form and worked with the game he had to maximise his chances of winning.  “I knew I didn’t have my best game but I knew my mind was in the right spot.   My focus was good, I didn’t get too distracted and was able to think my way around the golf course and get it done.”

“I hit a lot of good golf shots coming down the stretch.  I made a great birdie on 17, it would have been easy to back off and take a three wood.  I chose to test myself and ripped a driver down there an hit an eight iron to four feet and rolled it in.  That’s the kind of stuff I take out of it, when I needed to test myself it was good.”

Cork’s Brian Kelleher was just two off the lead and he finished in a tie for sixth place, John O’Brien, Kieran McCarthy Tom Collins and Shane Kenneally all finished in the top twenty.  Kinsale was in great condition for the event and was a credit to course staff.

Bornemann, Kelleher, O’Brien and several others will now be looking forward to the Irish Seniors which takes place in Moyvalley next week.

The Flogas Irish Amateur Open took place in Co Sligo last week, and Berehaven’s Joe O’Neill was in contention for the lead over the four days of the tournament.  O’Neill has played in several championships since 2022 and this was his first time to challenge for the lead.  A 67 and 69 had him six under par at the halfway stage and that put him into the final group for Saturday’s third round.

O’Neill followed with a 74 on Saturday and a level par 71 in the final round to finish in a tie for sixth place.  Fota Island’s David Howard was the next best Cork golfer, he built on a good performance in the West to finish just outside the top ten.  Morgan Cain and Sean Reddy also made the cut to finish in the top fifty from the field of over 130.