Peter O’Keeffe had a slow start to the British Amateur yesterday as a wide range of scores were reported on day one in Royal St Georges. O’Keeffe is the only Cork golfer in action and he signed for a three over par 73 on the par 70 layout. O’Keeffe was one under through nine, he responded to an early bogey on the third with two birdies on the 7th and 9th. The back nine was tougher though and the Douglas man ran up five bogies and one birdie to come back in 39 strokes. O’Keeffe is just inside the top 200 and has a lot of work to do today on the Princes course. He’ll need to get under par to have a chance of making the top 64 and get through to the match play stage. Princes played somewhat easier yesterday with 18 of the top 20 scores coming from that course. That included a course record -8 by Iceland’s Gisli Sveinbergsson. Qualification is definitely possible for the big hitting Irish Amateur Open Champion. He’s in a good vein of form after winning in Tralee last week and a good start is all he’ll need to mount a strong challenge for qualification.
Robin Dawson is the best placed Irish golfer, the Munster golfers shot a four under par 68 on the Princes course to lie tied for 20th place after the first round. Fellow Munster golfers Geoff Lenehan and Jack Pierre are both outside the top 200 and qualification for the match play stage is unlikely.
O’Keeffe tees off at 10.45 this morning while Dawson is out on St George’s at 8.50.
David Whyte and Michael Ryan have announced dates for their summer golf camps taking place in July and August. The three day camps take place on the 24/25/26 July and again on 22/23/24 August The camps are open for boys and girls aged 7 – 13 and all levels will be catered for. The camps take place at the Golf Academy at Frankfield Golf Range and are run by experienced PGA Professionals. The golf academy has recently been upgraded and golfers will benefit from learning and practicing at the top qualify facility. Further details and bookings can be made by contacting David or Michael.
Karl Bornemann had a very good final round in the European Seniors in Spain today and claimed a spot in the top ten at the Golfclub Schloss Schönborn in Austria. The tree-lined parkland course proved a tough challenge for the elite amateurs, there were just five sub par rounds over the three days. Windy conditions also added to the challenge on the par 73 course. The Douglas man opened with a 77 on Thursday and finished in the top 30. He followed with two round of 75 which saw him over into the top ten after 54 holes. Bornemann took third place in the event last year and was happy with his performance considering that he admitted that he didn’t have his A game. “It demanded precision and afforded few opportunities” said Karl. “There was lots of slope and grain on the greens so made it tough to convert the opportunities that did come. If you pushed too hard, disaster awaited.” Karl has had a busy year, he’s Captain in Douglas this year which has limited the amount of competitive golf that he can play so a top ten finish is a very positive reminder that he can challenge at the top level. It’s also a timely boost as the AIG Senior Cup and Barton Shield qualifiers approach. Mallow host the Senior Cup while Macroom is the venue for the Barton Shield in three weeks time.
He might only be there since the start of 2017, however Ronan Collins has been busy heading up the Fota Island Academy’s new custom-fitting programme. Ronan’s appointment was just one step on a journey to refresh what was on offer from the tour standard teaching and practice facility. After upgrading their Trackman launch monitor systems, the Academy brought in club fitting systems from all of the major manufacturers. The Academy is now a one stop shop for any golfer looking to examine their game. Having launch the Academy in 2006, Fota Island reinvested in their teaching bays, and upgraded their analysis tools to incorporate the latest Trackman technology. The new Trackman 4 system can be used in the specialised indoor fitting bays or on the range, and also includes the putting analysis software making it an essential resource for the five-star resort. Ronan is a seasoned PGA Professional and is ideally placed to analyse and advise golfers having worked directly for Callaway as a 
Macroom will host their Senior Scratch on Saturday 1st July, and the event is set to be a sell out as many golfers will use this event to as preparation for the AIG Barton Shield. Macroom are hosting the South Munster qualifiers for the Barton in Mid July and Cork’s top golfers will have the chance to see the mid Cork course during championship conditions. Nutricia have come on board to sponsor the event, boosting the prize fund for all the participants.
Golf fitness is a relatively new discipline and it’s interesting that the newly opened Cork Golf Centre has its very own onsite golf gym. The centre which was formerly a stand-alone driving range reopened in April with a refurbished range and teaching room, shop, treatment room and gym. Francis Courtney is behind the gym side of Cork Golf Centre, and the TPI qualified fitness coach is a keen golfer himself. He started playing golf at just 7 years old, thanks to his Dad who was a greenkeeper in Dunloe. He’s currently a category one golfer playing out of his native Killarney. He’s now working alongside PGA Professionals Stephen Hoey, Wayne O’Callaghan and Liam 
Cathal Butler shot a course record 64 in Newlands today and catapulted himself into a share of the lead going into tomorrow’s final round of the Leinster Students Championship. Butler made the most of the benign conditions on day two, and he eagled the par five 2nd hole to set the tone. He added two more birdies on the front nine to go out in 31 strokes (-4). Three more birdies followed on the back nine and although he failed to birdie the short par five final hole, the Maynooth student did enough to claim a course record.
Cork Golf News 