The qualifier for the Muskerry Junior Scratch Trophy took place recently with well over 200 players hoping to claim a top 64 spot and entry into the match play stage. The qualifier was held over two days, with Darragh Murphy shooting a very impressive 69 to top the qualifiers. Murphy was the only golfer to break par; he played on the Saturday and had three shots to spare over the nearest challenger.

Olan Buckley, Clem Leonard, Colin Sheehan and David Kelly all returned scores of 72, with Luke Merriman and Phelim Cotter finishing with 73. Thirty-seven golfers qualified from the second day of play, with five golfers scoring 78 to make the match play cut.

A score of 73 was the best on the opening day of the competition; Stephen O’Brien, Sean McSweeney and Tony Gardiner were all tied on +2. Danny Walshe and Alan Carey were next best with a pair of 74s. There were 27 qualifying spots available on the Friday, with all of the golfers who shot 78 getting a place in the match play draw.

The Muskerry Junior Scratch Trophy is unique in Ireland and is now in its 47^th year. It combines a stroke play and match play element, and is the only competition to do this at junior handicap level. A stroke play qualifier narrows the field to the top 64, and from there six rounds of match play golf follow. The 63 matches lead to a worthy winner after three days of competition.

The 18/64 format has proved popular over a number of decades, with golfers entering year after year. The trophy dates back to the original staging in 1970. There have been many famous winners and many dramatic finals. Eoghan O’Connell, Niall Turner and Morgan O’Donovan were among the winners to turn pro, while Sean Duggan from Castlemartyr and Mitchelstown’s Sean Leonard were among the youngest winners.

Bantry’s Donal McCarthy won the trophy on three occasions in the 80s, and he was the only player to win back to back, in 1984 and 1985. Although the trophy has plenty of Muskerry names, Ger O’Shea and John McSweeney are the only members of the home club to win more than once. Mitchelstown’s Clem Leonard also won twice, in 2010 and 2012, and in 2016 his nephew Sean Leonard continued the Leonard family’s success in Muskerry. Clem Leonard is the only previous winner in the field this year; he’ll be hoping to match John McSweeney’s record.

John McSweeney was the last golfer to record three wins, an amazing achievement in Cork’s toughest competition. The Muskerry member first won the competition over twenty years ago in 2003, and he added a second win in 2021 before winning his third title in 2023. The 2025 winner was Adam Ahern, who was the beaten finalist a year earlier. The Muskerry member went one better last year to add his name to the winners list. The first match play round gets underway tomorrow morning at 7am, and the event is again sponsored by Brewin Dolphin.

Fota Island’s David Howard came close to winning his second major championship on Sunday. The East of Ireland winner was runner-up at the Flogas Irish Amateur Open in Seapoint. Howard was in the top ten going into the final round, but he was five shots adrift of the lead. Howard got off to a fast start with birdies on the first and the second, and he bookended the front nine with two more birdies to get into a share of the lead.

The competition was wide open at that stage, with five golfers within two shots of the lead. David birdied the 10^th but gave the shot back with a bogey on the 12^th. Playing in the fourth-last group, Howard finished birdie-birdie to sign for a six-under-par 66, and set the clubhouse lead at -10. When leader Patrick Keeling bogeyed the 17^th, it looked like Howard and Keeling were set for a playoff. However, the Louisville golfer birdied the last to win by one. Howard has been in good form over the past two months and he’ll be hoping to convert that form into a win over the summer.

John Doyle finished in the top ten after a final round of 66. The Mitchelstown teenager jumped 18 places on the leaderboard, capturing valuable Bridgestone Order of Merit points. Doyle is currently 15^th on the Order of Merit, while Howard is in second place.