Peter O’Keeffe and Robin Dawson (Ireland) on the 4th tee during Day 2 Foursomes of the Home Internationals at Moortown Golf Club, Leeds, England. 17/08/2017
Picture: Golffile | Thos Caffrey
There were mixed results for the Cork golfers in action in England and at home today. Peter O’Keeffe recorded two wins today at the Mens Home Internationals, while Valerie Clancy won her first round match in the British Girls but lost in this afternoon’s second round.
It was a good day for Ireland at the Home Internationals in Moortown today. Peter O’Keeffe combined well with Robin Dawson this morning to win an important foursomes match against Scotland. The pair had lost yesterday so this morning’s result was a boost and came as part of a 4-1 win in the morning session. He followed up this afternoon with another win in the singles. O’Keeffe was one down at the turn but mounted a comeback and was two up after 12 holes. He closed out his match on the 16th with a 4&2 win over Scotland’s Sam Locke. Ireland now have a great chance to create history tomorrow, a winner takes all match with England give’s Ireland the chance to win the title for the fourth straight year.
Valerie Clancy was the only Cork girl to make it through to the matchplay stage of the British Girls. Clancy made it though on the cut mark (+8) after the 36 hole qualifier and she won her first round match this morning, beating Celilie Nielsen 3&2. She lost out this afternoon though, losing 2&1 to Mayka Hoogeboom. Rachel Thompson and Continue reading
Gary Ward had a double win last weekend, the Kinsale man scooped two senior scratch cups over the course of two days. On Saturday he headed to Kanturk and went around the North Cork course in one under par to record his second win of the year. On Sunday it was off to Co Clare for the 36 Dromoland Senior Scratch Cup, and Ward topped the leaderboard again after shooting rounds of 69 and 77. Ward won the Cobh Senior Scratch Cup in May, shooting a course record 66 on the way to his first senior scratch cup title. Ward played Kanturk for the first time on Saturday and it was a winning debut as he described. “It was my first time playing Kanturk and all I knew was that it was tight” said Ward. “I hit the ball where I could see it and played really steady golf the whole way around. The pins were very tough, a few hanging off slopes so it was tough to put it close. I never went over par and never went better than -2, my 3rd birdie on the par 3 16th saved my round and took my pars on 17 and 18 for a 70 to win by 1 from Peter Duane.”
Dunmore won the Munster Country Clubs Cup today, the West Cork Club was hosting the finals and overcame Raffeen Creek and Lisselan to claim the title. It’s the third time that Dunmore have won the title, their previous wins came in 2009 and 1991. After winning the semi-final, Dunmore faced local rivals Lisselan in the final. Dunmore didn’t have it all their own way in the final. At the halfway point it was very much even, with a hole or two at most separating each match. The back nine however proved critical and the home side started to take the upper hand, as the showers and wind impacted on the players. Jerry Lehane brought in the first point for Dunmore and two more followed from Martin Kelleher and Kevin Sutton. Niall Deasy brought in the winning point meaning that the final three matches were called in. It was a special day for Dumnore’s Captain and President, both Michal O’Leary and John O’Driscoll were both playing which added to the celebrations for the host club. It was a special win for the host club as they are celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2017 and recently held a number of events marking that milestone.
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