James Sugrue recovered from an early double bogey to post a two under par 70, and jump into the top ten at the Flogas Irish Amateur Open. Sugrue had a 5 on the par three fourth hole, but bounced back with quick two birdies. More birdies on the back nine saw him move under par and he signed for a 70. The Mallow teenager is the best placed Cork golfer in action in Royal Dublin, he now on -3. Mark Shanahan finished with a one under par 71 to move inside the top 20. It could have been much better only for a double bogey on the 17th and he’s now on -1 for the tournament.
Cathal Bulter continued his consistent form, a level par 72 saw him finish tied for 28th place, slightly better where he say yesterday. Ian O’Rourke also shot a level par round to make the cut which fell at +5. Cork’s John Hickey had a tougher day, he signed for a disappointing 80 that saw his drop out of contention for a place in the top 50.
Colm Campbell remains on top of the leaderboard, he’s two shots clear of the field on -14 after 54 holes. The final round takes place tomorrow.


Mark Shanahan and James Sugrue both shot two under par 70’s at Royal Dublin today in the second round of the Flogas Irish Amateur Open. Sugrue is now two under for the tournament and he’s just outside the top 10. Around half of the field have completed their second rounds. Castlemartyr’s Mark Shanahan is two shots behind Sugrue. He had a mixed start to his round but he birdied three of the last six holes to get back into the red and he’s on level par after 36 holes. Shanahan is tied for 20th place currently. John Hickey bounced back from his opening 75, he had four birdies and two bogies and signed for a 70 to get back to +1. Cathal Butler shot a second round 74 and he now also sits in 30th place on +1. Ian O’Rourke is currently on +5, he added a 75 to his opening 74 and he’ll need a better score tomorrow to make the 54 hole cut.
Castlemartyr Golf Club held its first Open Weekend competition over the Bank Holiday weekend. The club had Halpenny Golf on board as a new sponsor to support this event, with over 200 golfers playing over the weekend. Recent weather had disrupted preparation of the golf course for the weekend, but the course was in great condition on Friday morning as the first golfers headed out. Conditions for the weekend were reasonable if not a little cold for the time of year. This obviously had no effect on scoring as there were some great rounds posted over the weekend. This was especially true on Sunday where there were a number of scores in the high forty’s.
Cork’s Gary O’Flaherty shot the low round of the afternoon to take a two stroke lead into the second day of the Munster Strokeplay Championship. Cork Golf Club proved to be at tough test for everyone during the opening day of the Munster Strokeplay Championship. Although there were several under-par rounds not a single golfer got through the day without at least two bogies. Indeed there were plenty of eagles on the par fives, but there were also several triple bogies also as the 