Cork’s Gary O’Flaherty won his second Lee Valley Scratch Cup in style today with a two shot win over a strong field. O’Flaherty started the third round one shot off the leaders, Andrew McCormack and Dave O’Donovan, but all three were level going onto the 9th hole. The conditions were near perfect and things were tight on the back nine until O’Flaherty birdied the 13th and 15th to stretch ahead. He parred his way home from the 15th, maintaining a two shot buffer. The only hope for the chasers was when he ended up in the greenside bunker on the 18th, but the 2012 winner splashed out to five feet and calmly made the uphill putt. O’Flaherty’s four under par total was made up of a 69/72/21 over the three rounds. James Sugrue took second place Continue reading
Author: niall@corkgolfnews.com
Gallery: Dell EMC Lee Valley SSC, Round 3 (2)
Pictures from Lee Valley on Sunday afternoon: Continue reading
Gallery: Dell EMC Lee Valley SSC, Round 3
Pictures from Sunday morning in Lee Valley: Continue reading
Turner middle of the pack in Japan
Niall Turner carded a final round 73 to finish in 44th place at the Panasonic Open in Japan this morning. On Friday Turner made birdie on the final hole to get inside the cut, this event is his first in seven weeks after he played in the Maybank Open in Malaysia in February. Turner had a 69 yesterday to jump up to 30th place but dropped back today as a result of his two over par 73.
Turner takes away almost $4,500 which see’s him jump up to 62 in the Asian Tour order of Merit. Turner nee to be inside the top 60 to retain his card and he’ll be encouraged that this weekend makes it three cuts in a row after missing the cut in the first two events of the season. The Waterfall native has a total of $15,000 in tour earnings from his five events. Turner has entered the Yeander Heritage event in Chinese Taipei next week and although this is only a $300k event (the Asian Tour minimum prize-fund) it’ll give Turner a chance to get inside the top 60 before the tour takes a break in May.
McCormack & O’Donovan tied for the lead in Lee Valley
Andrew McCormack
After a superb day for golf, Andrew McCormack and Dave O’Donovan are tied for the lead on four under par. O’Donovan was level par for his second round, adding to his earlier 68 while McCormack shot 69/71. The Castletroy member clawed a shot back from O’Donovan this afternoon to tie for the lead. Gary O’Flaherty is one shot off the leaders, he also shot level par this afternoon after a 69 this morning.
Bandon’s Donal O’Donovan had a very impressive 70 this afternoon, he’s in fourth place on 143. Peter O’Keeffe is next on 144 after two level par rounds, and Mallow’s James Sugrue is also on 144. John Murphy, Joe O’Sullivan and Eanna Griffin are all on 145, all three have a chance tomorrow but they will need to go low to catch and the beat the leaders. The cut (top 30) fell at 150, two shots better than last year which is no surprise given the Continue reading
Dave O’Donovan leads Lee Valley with 68, Senior Scratch Cup R1
Dave O’Donovan follows his tee shot on the 4th in Lee Valley this morning. Picture: Niall O’Shea
2015 winner Dave O’Donovan holds the first round lead in Lee Valley after shooting an excellent 68 in great conditions this morning. 78 golfers took the course for the Dell EMC sponsored event, as sunshine and fast greens greeted the competitors. O’Donovan leads the tournament by one, Gary O’Flaherty and 2016 runner up Andrew McCormack are one shot back on 69.
Munster Students champion John Murphy is in fourth spot on 70 and James Sugrue also got into the red with a one under par 71. Peter O’Keeffe and Ben Murray are among a few players who shot level par. Although conditions are good, scoring is tough on the parkland course with back tees and tricky pins contributing to the stiff test for some of Ireland’s top amateurs. Ronan Curran (74) is the best of the home players while Lee Valley Captain Pat Continue reading
Gallery: Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup R1
Pictures from Round 1 at Lee Valley: Continue reading
Walsh takes second place in Leinster Boys
Edward Walsh (Mallow) pictured after winning the Munster U17 Boys Championship last year. Picture: Niall O’Shea
Mallow’s Edward Walsh finished in the runner-up spot at the Leinster Boys in Headfort today after a three hole play-off. Walsh had a share of the lead going into the final round, he tied with Castle’s Robert Moran on a one under par score of 143. Walsh finished his final round tied with Aaron Marshall, the Lisburn golfer shot a two under par 70 compared with Walsh’s 72. Although he birdied his final three holes yesterday, Walsh shot level par for his back nine today. A three hole play-off followed with the Mallow golfer losing out when Marshall won the second and third play-off holes. Greg Barrett gave Mallow a second place in the top ten, he finished tied for 10th place after a final round 76. Adam Boland also from Mallow finished in a tie for 16th place.
Power looking forward to Lee Valley Scratch Cup
Not everyone qualifies to take part in a senior scratch cup, but this weekend Lee Valley Captain Pat Power will have the pleasure of doing so, with an outside chance that he might actually win the event. In previous years the one handicapper just had to turn up and play but this year as Captain he has been central to the staging of the event. After weeks of preparation the Captain is looking forward to being one of the 81 golfers who will tee it up tomorrow morning in the first round of the 54 hole WAGR event, and for Captain Power the preparation is now paying off. “Everyone in Lee Valley is very excited to get the 2017 Dell EMC Senior Scratch Cup underway this weekend” said the Captain. “Preparation has gone well with the course looking spectacular. The greens have very much improved and should prove a good test for all this weekend. As always we have a very strong field with the best of local talent teeing it up. I myself am looking forward to participating and hopefully the Lee Valley lads will put up a good showing. A big thank you to all who have done huge work to put the event together, lead by Vincent Drinan our tournament director and the course staff lead by our head green keeper James Mulcahy.”
Dell EMC Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup Drawsheet
This time last year the tournament was thrown into doubt due to heavy midweek rain. this year however the benign weather has assisted the course preparation and under the watchful eye of Jerry Keohane the legendary Lee Valley greens will be rolling well. The forecast for the weekend is good too so the Captain has one final comment: “The weather looks favourable so why not come out to watch some good golf over the weekend.”
3 Days to Dell EMC Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup
The countdown is on to the Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup which takes place this weekend, with a top class field hoping to win Cork’s only 54 hole scratch cup. John Murphy, Ian O’Rourke, John Hickey and Peter O’Keeffe lead the field, all four are playing off +3 and over 30 more golfers are playing off scratch or lower. O’Keeffe recently won the Mid West Alliance and will be hoping to continue to run of form while Murphy is also coming off a big win in the Munster Students Championship. Despite moving to Dublin, O’Rourke has been a loyal supporter of Cork events, and the Royal Dublin has seen his handicap drop further to +3. John Hickey has been out with an injury for the past few weeks and he too will be looking to build on the inter-varsity title he won at Continue reading
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