Sara Byrne had another impressive week on the course when she finished in the top thirty at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France.  Byrne was in Ladies European Tour action for the second time in two weeks, hoping to make the most of her playing opportunities before the end of the year.

The Douglas golfer opened with a level par 71 on the opening day of the 54 hole tournament, and a one over par 72 followed on the second day which saw her safely inside the cut mark of +5.  A final day 71 saw her finish in 28th place at Golf Barriere in northern France.

Byrne carded 11 birdies in the 54 holes, showing she has the game to stake a claim for a tour card on the professional circuit.  She won over €4,100 last week which gives her a nice total of over €9,700 for her two weeks on tour since turning professional.

Her attention will now turn to the LPGA qualifying school where she has booked a place in the second stage.  She was in action in California in late August at the preliminary stage and safely booked her place at the next stage which takes place in Florida in two weeks time.

Fermoy came agonisingly close to All Ireland glory on the final weekend if the Golf Ireland Inter-Club finals.  They were in action in the Flogas Irish Mixed Foursomes, one of they 288 clubs who took part in the competition.  Fermoy won their regional final back in Mallow in Late August, they beat Faithlegg to win the Munster East Pennant.

That set them up with a trip to Oughterard for the All Ireland finals which took place over two weekends.  Two weeks ago they travelled up to face Castletroy in the All Ireland quarter final and they won that well to book their place in the semi final last weekend.  This time they were up against Millicent and they put in a strong performance to make it to the final.

There they faced Malahide who were beaten finalists in Knightsbrook last year.  Although it was a tight match, and both sides looked capable of winning, it was the Leinster team who came out on top and dispatched Fermoy back to Munster with a national silver medal.  The weekend in Oughterard closed out the last of the 2024 inter-club finals.  Although Cork clubs were very successful at the regional level, there were no All-Ireland pennants returning to Cork after the finals of the 12 national competitions.

While the 2024 events have just finished, Golf Ireland has opened for entries to the 2025 competitions.  It’s likely that the 2024 structure will remain, with 12 national competitions and a number of other competitions played on a regional level.

Fota Island’s David Howard shot an impressive 64 to win the East Cork Senior Scratch Cup on Saturday.  His five under par round was two clear of the field and rounds off an impressive year for the Cork golfer.  Padraig O’Connor won the Macroom Senior Scratch on Sunday.  The final scratch cup of the year will take place in Doneraile on Sunday next, and details are available from the club.

 

Fifteen Cork golf clubs have benefitted from the recent sports capital programme announced last week.  A total allocation of over €1.3m was announced between the clubs with amounts ranging from €35,000 to €169,000.  A total of €230m was allocated to sports clubs and associations last week, with over €11m allocated to golf clubs.

Golf clubs have become regular recipients of funding over the past decade and the latest phase of allocations was welcomed by Golf Ireland.  “This funding is another huge boost for sports facilities across Ireland. We are grateful to the Government and Sport Ireland for the investment which will ensure clubs have the facilities needed to thrive, grow, and enhance participation at all levels,” said Golf Ireland CEO, Mark Kennelly.

John Doyle and Justin Dennehy have both been named on the Golf Ireland high performance panels for 2025.  Doyle from Fota Island is named on the Under 18 panel while Dennehy from Douglas is on the Under 16 squad.  There were several locals also named on the regional panels.

The U17 boys performance development panel has a number of Cork golfers including Adam Barr (Kinsale), Oran Barrett (Cork) Rory McCarthy (Kanturk), Cian McDonnell (Monkstown), Darragh Nolan (Fermoy) while Julia Falvey Ryan (Fota Island), Hailey Martinez (Fota Island), Claudia O’Donoghue (Douglas) and Niamh O’Sullivan (Mallow) were named on the girls panel.