Author: niall@corkgolfnews.com

Healy best of Cork at Connacht Boys, Lyons leads at Irish Seniors Close

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Mark Healy Kinsale

Kinsale’s Mark Healy

Kinsale’s Mark Healy is tied for seventh place heading into the final round at the Connacht Boys at Glaway Golf Club.  Healy is six strokes off the lead after shooting rounds of 73 & 74.  John Murphy was the only other Cork golfer to make the cut for the final round, John had round of 78 and 73 to lie just outside the top 20.

Darren Hourihan (Douglas) had a second round 79 to miss the final round cut by two shots and Brian O’Connell, Eamonn O’Driscoll and Cillian Moloney also missed the cut.

In Tralee, Pat Lyons (Cork) leads the field in the Irish Seniors Close.  Lyone had two birdies on the front nine and turned on one under, but three bogies on the back nine saw him sign for a two over par 73, and finish day one two shots clear of the field.  There’s a strong Cork challenge after the first round, Castlemartyr’s John O’Brien is in a tie for 4th along with Donal O’Donovan (Bandon) and Leinster Seniors winner Michael Quirke (Doneraile) is a shot behind.  Karl Bornemann (Douglas), Tom Cleary (Cork ) and Jerry Crean (Kinsale) are all in the top 30.

Irish Seniors Close Round 1 Scores

Fota Island

Foursome Changes for Munster Men, Ladies & Girls matches Day 2

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2016 Interprovincial Championship at Fota Island Golf Club

Robin Dawson (Munster) lines up his putt at the 15th green during the second day of the 2016 Interprovincial Championship at Fota Island. Picture by Pat Cashman

After another disappointing day for Munster yesterday, Munster have made several changes to their foursome pairings for the final match against Connacht.  Robin Dawson and Cathal Butler pair off in the opening match and Peter O’Keeffe and John Hickey have been paired in the second match.  Andrew McCormack and Geoff Lenehan play together in the third pairing while Munster stalwarts Pat Murray and Gary O’Flaherty team up in the back match.  Munster had a very Continue reading →

Tough day at the office for Munster

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GUI Interprovincial Championships 2016Munster endured a tough opening day at the Interprovincial Championships at Fota Island today.  Despite having local knowledge they struggled in the foursomes with Peter O’Keeffe and Cathal Butler takings Munster’s only win.  Munster’s Gary O’Flaherty and Andrew McCormack scrambled for a very good half in their match, having been down earlier in the game.  The singles were very disappointing for Munster with Andrew McCormack winning Munster’s only point.  The experienced side will need to bounce back strongly tomorrow to give themselves a chance of winning on Wednesday.

Gallery: Interprovincials Day 1

Munster face Leinster tomorrow in the second day of matches.  Leinster had a narrow win over Connacht.  Ulster lead the standings with Leinster in second place, Connacht are third with Munster in Continue reading →

Top 20 for O’Sullivan in Switzerland

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Cork’s Denis O’Sullivan recorded his first top 20 finish of the 2016 Seniors Tour at Bad Ragaz.  O’Sullivan recorded his 300th Seniors appearance last month in Wales.  O’Sullivan opened with a four under par 66 on Friday to hold a share of second place.  On Saturday he was one under for the day and today he signed for a level par 70.  Denis now heads for Vorbeck, Germany for the Winstongolf Senior Open which starts on Friday.

Golf_Denis O'Sullivan_300th Tour Appearance_Jun 2016_1

Cork’s Denis O’Sullivan celebrating his 300th European Senior Tour appearance this weekend with David MacLaren, Head of European Senior Tour, and Andy Stubbs, European Senior Tour Managing Director. Picture: Phil Inglis

Swiss Seniors Open 2016 Final Results

Denis is still clearly enjoying life on tour.  “This is my 18th year, but it doesn’t Continue reading →

Fota the perfect venue for tournament golf

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Gary O'Flaherty Geoff Lenehan

Gary O’Flaherty & Geoff Lenehan pictured during practice today at Fota Island

Fota Island has proven itself to be the perfect tournament venue and next week it will host the GUI Senior Interprovincials.  The famous Deerpark course has a long-standing association with top level tournament golf, hosting European Tour, Seniors Tour, ILGU PGA and GUI events.  It’s a three time host for the Irish Open, in 2001 and 2002 it hosted the Murphy’s Irish Open and attracted record crowds as the Cork headquartered Brewery wrapped up their nine-year sponsorship of the competition.  More recently Fota attracted 100,000 spectators during the 2014 Irish Open.  As a championship venue, the Deerpark course in Fota has been lengthened but very little else has happened to the Jeff Howes designed course.  Tightly cut fairways, strategic bunkering, and receptive true greens are all hallmarks of the Fota golf experience.  While the vast majority of competitions held in Fota have been strokeplay, it’s also a wonderful course for matchplay.  The signature par five 18th makes Continue reading →

Butler, McCormack & O’Keeffe earn Munster places

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Fota Island Top Golfer Senior Scratch Cup 2016

Cathal Butler  pictured with the Fota Island Senior Scratch Cup. 

There are three new picks on the 2016 Munster team, as Captain Phil Cooney plots to win this third interprovincial title in five years as captain.

Newly capped Cathal Butler jointly topped the order of merit, and the Kinsale man is one of three members of the team joining the team.  His order of merit placing was predominantly down to his performance in winning the Munster Strokeplay in May, but also his performances in the East of Ireland and the Irish Amateur Open added valuable points.  Butler has spent the winter working with the Harrington Scholars golf programme in Maynooth University where he is also a full time student.

As well as access to top level training and fitness programmes, Cathal also played in the competitive Hilary Golf Society outings in Dublin through the winter.  He’s also a member of the Irish Mens development squad and Butler is just back after competing for Ireland in the World University Championships in Brive.  Butler also beat a top class field in Fota Island in March to win the Senior Scratch Cup which bodes well as the inter-pro’s are being held on the same Deerpark course.

Andrew McCormack from Castletroy was also an Continue reading →

O’Flaherty looking forward to Interpro Challenge

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Munster Strokeplay Championship 2016

Gary O’Flaherty pictured during the Munster Strokeplay at Cork Golf Club in May. Picture: Niall O’Shea

It’s been 20 years since Gary O’Flaherty made his debut on the Munster Inter-provincial team and the Cork Golf Club member is really looking forward to the 2016 event in Fota Island next week.  O’Flaherty won on that original outing in Mount Juliet and has been on five winning teams.  In that time the Munster and Irish golfer has won numerous individual and team titles but he is still very fond of the interpro’s and has some great memories.  “There are so many good ones” said O’Flaherty. “being 4 down after 9 holes in foursomes against Rory McIlroy & Johnny Caldwell in Ballyliffin in 2006 is probably the best.  Myself and Pat Murray managed to reel off five birdies to go one up, only to be pegged back on 16 where McIlroy holed from 40ft for an eagle.  We halved the match in the end.”  Golf has moved on a lot, even in the ten years since Ballyliffin, and many top amateurs are now effectively full time with easy access to all the Irish and International championships.  The senior interpro’s remain an important part of the Irish golfing calendar and Gary still sees the competition as one of the most important in the year: “I believe it’s very important.  It gives guys a goal at the start of the season.  Not everyone can make Irish teams and compete in championships every week, so it’s great to be able to compete against the best for a few days.  It also gives selectors a chance to see how guys are in a team environment, as well as playing foursomes together.”  Gary is also a big fan of Munster Captain Phil Cooney who has helped deliver two titles for Munster in the past four years.  He’s also a fan of the team spirit that Phil promotes: “I think so, it’s very important to have a good team atmosphere. Any year we have Continue reading →

Historic AGM for Castlemartyr Ladies

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Castlemartyr Ladies AGMThe inaugural Annual General Meeting of the new Ladies club in Castlemartyr took place last night, marking the first new ladies club in Cork for many years.  It was a historic event for Castlemartyr, and all of the members, and mark the culmination of a year long project headed by Director of Golf Brady Sherwood.  Kate Heffernan was elected as Catlemartyr’s first Lady Captain.

A Historic evening for Castlemartyr Golf Club with the Inaugural ladies A.G.M held at the club. Great enthusiasm was shown by the members with a great turnout. Kate Heffernan was Continue reading →

4 Cork Golfers through to final round of Irish Boys

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Fred Daly Trophy Munster Finals

Eric Rumley 

The third round of the Irish Boys took place today at Castle Golf Club and four Cork golfers are through to the final round.  John Murphy (Kinsale) and Eamonn O’Driscoll (Clement Ader) were both safely through to the final round but there was an anxious wait for Sean Desmond and Eric Rumley.  Desmond, fresh from Monkstown’s Senior Cup wins last weekend, had a birdie on the 18th to sign for a 73.  He was pretty confident of making it into the final round but it looked like Eric would miss out by one.  Dropped shots in the closing holes Jack Hearn and Brian O’Connell brought all of the +14’s inside the cut.  Eamonn O’Driscoll is just outside the top 20 on +9 and John Murphy is also on +9.  Both however are well off the joint leaders on -6.  Mark Power and Thomas Mulligan are both six Continue reading →