The Douglas Scratch Cup is in Kerry hands for the first time in nearly thirty years after Mark Gazi won in style on Sunday.  The Tralee teenager shot a second round 65 to win by one shot.

Gazi was on the fringes after an opening 72, he was four shots behind the leader Dean O’Riordan and back in 6th place.  A second round 65 (five under par) not only got him back on track, it put him into a winning position.  After chipping in for birdies on the 18th, he rolled in a six foot birdie putt on his final hole (6th) and that was the difference when the final scores were tallied.

The Tralee member is the first Kerry winner since Graham Spring won it in 1996, coincidentally with the same total score of 137 strokes.  The only other winner from Kerry was Arthur Spring who won in 1977.

Sean Barry from Fota Island was second thanks to an impressive 66 in the second round.  Sean Reddy took third place, he was also just one shot behind the leader on 138 (-2) and he was the only golfer to say under par in both rounds.  Reddy won the PJ O’Hea cup as the leading Douglas golfer.  Jack Murphy finished in 4th place on 140, with 2022 winner Morgan Cain and Lee Valley’s Ben Murray on 141.

Douglas Senior Scratch Winners

Dean O’Riordan made a welcome return to form, he led after the first round with an impressive 68, one of just two golfers that finished under par.  His second-round score of 74 saw him finish in 8^th position.  Jason Galway, Stephen Riordan, Peter O’Keeffe and David Howard also finished in the top ten.

Peter O’Keeffe’s GolfStrong was the sponsor of the event.  The golf fitness expert who won the event in 2021 came on board last year as the main supporter, and he was also very active in attracting a quality field of over 70 golfers for the 36 hole event.

The competition took place on the Black Course in Douglas, a par 70 set-up measuring almost 6,100 metres.  It plays the second and 18^th as par fours with slightly shorter tees, but the tenth and thirteenth are both played from back tee boxes.  Douglas will hold their Junior Scratch Cup on Sunday 1^st June, the event is heavily booked but there are a few tee times remaining.

 

Golf Ireland’s proposed Independent Golfer scheme continues to attract attention from golfers and clubs as the governing body seeks to continue with the proposed introduction of a new handicapping category for golfers who are not member of an affiliated club.

Back in April Golf Ireland shared the concept with clubs during a webinar.  In essence, the initiative will offer full handicaps to golfers who join the Golf Ireland scheme, effectively bypassing the traditional club membership model.

While the cost has not been announced, the concept is similar to a scheme in England where non-club members can access a WHS handicap for less than £50 annually.  The fear in clubs is that this will remove a certain cohort of members, those who retain their membership just to get or keep a handicap while rarely or never playing on the course.

An independent golfer handicap would provide these golfers access to all open competitions, giving them access to play outside of green fee times, and often at a lower rate.  The impact on green fee volumes appears to be a keen concern.

While there are over 220,000 members of Ireland 377 golf clubs, research says that there are another 300,000 casual golfers who play a full round at least once a year.

While the number of affiliated golfers grew rapidly during the covid restrictions, many clubs are reporting a different landscape in 2024.  Clubs are now struggling to retain some members, particularly those who joined in 2020 and 2021 and are not regularly golfing in the club.

While the initial proposals have stated that current club members would need to wait 12 months to join the new Golf Ireland scheme, clubs still fear that this will hollow out a section of their membership.

For players, the fear is that they will be up against golfers with an independent golfer handicap which many feel lacks the scrutiny of a club managed handicap.  Already many club golfers feel that this happens with some handicap holders who have distance membership in some clubs.

The inclusion of casual golf in a handicap record since the launch of the WHS in Ireland a few years ago continues to be a topic for discussion, and it’s feared that a centrally managed national system would encourage more self regulation of handicaps.  With a launch indicated for later this year, it promises to be an interesting few months for all the stakeholders.