Paula Walsh (Doneraile)
Doneraile’s Paula Walsh won the Munster Senior Open Championship in Cork today, and her three under par display meant that she was a wire to wire winner over the three rounds. Paula went into the final round with a three shot lead, and her four birdies and single bogey saw her extend her grip on the tournament to win by six strokes. The Doneraile golfer is also a member of Cork and she used her knowledge of the Little Island course as she dominated the event. Two early birdies on the first and second would have settled her as she continued with a very steady game to maintain and extend her lead. It’s two in a row for North Cork, last years winner in Waterville was Valerie Clancy from Mitchelstown. Second place went to Sara Byrne from Douglas who was one of only three players to break par on the final day. It was a great finish for Byrne who opened with a disappointing 80 in the first round. A second round 75 saw her jump up to 6th place and the one under par 73 today saw the Douglas golfer finish in second place overall.
Gallery: Munster Senior & Junior Championships
Sara had a dream start, with three straight birdies from the first hole. Two more birdies followed on the back nine and she played a very tidy game with just four bogies on the card. Byrne also won the De Courcey Trophy and Continue reading
The first round of the Irish Junior Foursomes gets underway next week with Macroom, Cobh and Fermoy hosting the strokeplay qualifying rounds. Two teams from each venue will qualify for the second round.
John Murphy rued a disappointing front nine in St Andrews today as dropped one spot to finish second at the R&A Scholars Tournament. After 36 holes on the Eden Course in St Andrew’s on Monday, Murphy led the field by two shots. By doing so he started the third round in the final grouping on the famous Old Course. Scoring was difficult on the normally manageable links, tough winds meant that there were several returns in the high seventies and eighties. Murphy suffered on the greens on the way out, with an uncharacteristic number of three putts and a rare double bogey. He turned on +5 for the day to drop himself back into the field and two more bogies followed on the 11th and 12th holes. To his credit, Murphy bounced back with three birdies on his last seven holes and the turn-around in form meant that he finished in a tie for second place. John’s Maynooth teammate Stuart Grehan carded a very tidy level par 72 to win the tournament by three shots.
