Monkstown’s Ronan O’Keeffe receiving the Bruen Youths trophy from David Bruen. Also included is Richie Cahill, sponsor. Picture: Joe Lane
Ronan O’Keeffe added his name to the roll of honour in Muskerry on Sunday when he won the Bruen Youths. The Monkstown golfer signed for an impressive 67 around the Bruen course in Muskerry. O’Keeffe got off to a fast start with a birdie on the 3rd and an eagle on the 7th.
Two more birdies followed on the back nine and despite a bogey on the last he pipped the holder Barry Keane by one shot.
Third place went to Lee Valley’s Jack Bohane with a 71 and Noah Joyce (Monkstown) won best nett. The competition was again sponsored by the Cahill Family and Richie Cahill was on hand to present the prizes.
O’Keeffe has also broken the Muskerry winning run, golfers from the home club had won six of the last seven events. The Bruen Youths remembers the club’s link with Jimmy Bruen. While Bruen is also associated with Cork Golf Club, it was Muskerry who gave Bruen his first handicap, and that ultimately allowed him to go on to compete and win at the British Boys.
The cup itself has its own legacy, it was won by Jimmy Bruen himself in 1944 when it was presented to him when he won the Muskerry Captain’s Prize. The Bruen family donated the cup to Muskerry in 1986 when the club wanted to honour the 50th anniversary of Jimmy Bruen’s win in the British Boys at Royal Birkdale.
And 50 years later there was still a strong connection as David Bruen was on hand to present the cup to Ronan. David has supported the event for many years and the club honoured him with honorary pavilion membership on Sunday,
Sara Byrne continued her good run on the Ladies European Tour in Italy last week with a 23rd place finish in Golf Club Milano. Byrne has banked over €50,000 in prizemoney and is 59th in the order of merit. It has been a great summer considering she missed the first eight events of the season with a serious elbow injury. She bounced back with a second-place finish at the Ladies Open de France in her third event. She has backed that up with seven cuts made from eleven events.
The Dromoland tour pro is back in Cork this week and will be fine tuning her game as she heard towards the last swing of the season. Byrne heads for Korea next week for the Aramco Championship where a prize fund of $2m is on offer. A good finish in Korea could secure a 2027 tour card with four events left on the calendar.
Bantry Bay Golf club had a great day on Sunday in Kinsale when they won the West Cork Senior Shield for the first time since 1994. The team was made up of Rory Aylmer & Patrick O’Riordan, Tommy & Oisin O’Driscoll, Alan O’Sullivan & Kevin Marron and Andy O’Shea & Tristan Coakley.
The subs were Mick Noonan & Dan Crowley, and the managers were Martin Collins & Gearoid Hurley. The team were delighted to dedicate the win to the memory of Pat Morrissey who died during the week and was a great supporter of the club over the past 40 years.
While many of the local and national events are finished, two Cork golfers have important events this week. Tour professionals James Sugrue and John Murphy will both need to do well this week if they’re hoping to advance this season. Sugrue is in action in Abu Dhabi in a ket HotelPlanner tour event. Sugrue is currently well down the rankings, but given the volatility in the tour, a good finish could see him rise up rapidly. The Mallow golfer, who turned pro in 2021 needs to move into the top 70 in the order of merit to advance to the next two events in China.
Sugrue will know his way around Abu Dhabi, the Al Ain course was the location for the Clutch Pro Tour Championship last year and he put together two rounds of five under to finish in third place on the order of merit and clinch a HotelPlanner tour card.
John Murphy is in a similar position to Sugrue, in fact he’s in the same position as Sugrue was last year. He s in action in Slaley Hall near Newcastle in the final event on the Clutch Pro Tour. Murphy is currently in 9th place on the Order of Merit, and with three HotelPlanner tour cards on offer, he’ll be targeting a win this week. Murphy has already tasted success on the Clutch Tour, winning the Crondon Park Classic in May.
