Castlemartyr Fringe Festival of Golf
By Niall O’Shea
You can expect golf to be the main topic of conversation next week as the Irish Open takes place in Cork. And while Fota plays host to over 150 of Europe’s top golfers, several other courses are getting in on the action. Cobh and Monkstown are two of the clubs with events planned around the Irish Open and Castlemartyr has created their very own fringe festival around the main event. Continue reading
East Cork through Pierce Purcell Finals
By Niall O’Shea
East Cork GC booked their place in the Pierce Purcell Munster Finals on Sunday with an impressive win over Bandon Golf Club. Monkstown was the venue for the area final and both side were hoping to advance after they both had overcome strong opposition in the area matches. Continue reading
Monkstown’s McNamara has second bite at the Irish Open
By Niall O’Shea
A year ago Cian McNamara was facing a daunting trip to Carton House for his first appearance in the Irish Open. 12 months later the Monkstown PGA professional is relishing a return to the event that saw make headlines with four under par first round. Naturally McNamara is delighted to be back playing in the big time, the Limerick man qualified last year thanks to his top eight finish on the PGA Ireland Order of Merit, and a similar finish in 2013 saw another invitation being issued. Continue reading
O’Leary Partners Cronin to Mahon Scratch Cup Wins
By Niall O’Shea
Mahon Golf Club held their annual scratch cups weekend over Saturday and Sunday and there was a clean sweep for Mahon golfers. It’s always nice when one of your three-ball is going well, but it seldom happens that two of the three go on to win a scratch cup. Paul Cronin and Tony O’Leary have played together for many years and it looked for a while like Paul was in with a shout for the Intermediate title. Continue reading
Wayne heading for the US Masters of Junior Golf
By Niall O’Shea
Nine year old Wayne Whitley O’Callaghan is about to take on the golfing world. He’s heading to the US where he has qualified for two international junior golf events. Wayne will be Ireland’s only representative at the World Masters of Junior Golf in Las Vegas in July and in September he has a date in Pinehurst for the US Kids Finals. Wins in the Irish Junior Golf Tour last year saw Wayne qualify for Las Vegas, he won events in Munster, Ulster and Leinster in the under 8 category. A few weeks ago Wayne won again in Dungarvan, this time in a US Kids qualifier and went forward to the Irish finals in Portmarnock Links. The final was over nine holes and Wayne went around the shortened course in 40 strokes. The nine year old was two shots off the lead playing the last but a great tee shot on the 114 yard hole saw his ball finish just 10 feet from the hole. He made to putt to tie the lead and went on to win on the countback. Continue reading
Shake a leg at Wacky Trousers’ Day and win prizes from Emirates
Forget your fascinators and gorgeous gúnas, this year’s Irish Open is all about the wackiest dressed in homage to golf legend and sometime fashionista, John Daly. The organisers of The Irish Open are calling on ladies and gents alike to unleash their inner John Daly and arrive to Fota Island Resort in their craziest shorts or trousers on Friday, 20th June, to be considered for the wacky fashion crown and some fantastic prizes. Top prize is a €500 voucher for award-winning airline and official airline to The Irish Open, Emirates with lots of European Tour runners-up prizes on offer to encourage visitors to get into the spirit of Wacky Trousers’ day and bring even more colour to the county of Cork. Continue reading
Irish Open picks Mercy Hospital as Official Charity
By Niall O’Shea
There was more great news from the Irish Open on Friday when the Mercy Hospital Foundation was announced as the official charity of the Irish Open. The event which takes place at Fota Island Resort is only three weeks away and the relationship with the Mercy Hospital is another demonstration of the strong Cork links with the 2014 event. The Foundation was selected from a shortlist of local charities by the trustees of the Tour’s charitable arm, the Tour Players Foundation (TPF) who look to support charity in the regions that the European Tour run events. Continue reading
East Cork beak Cobh hearts
By Niall O’Shea
East Cork broke Cobh hearts again last weekend as they progressed from the Pierce Purcell qualifiers at Mahon. On Saturday they accounted for hosts Mahon and on Sunday morning they beat Monkstown. On the other side of the draw Cobh beat Castlemartyr, Fermoy and Mallow to advance to the venue final. It was the same match up as the Bruen qualifier two weeks ago but Cobh started brightly and held the advantage through most of the afternoon. Continue reading
As the build up to the Irish Open continues, Cork’s Mardyke Arena have announced two golf seminars that will take place in June. On Tuesday 17th June the Arena will host a conference focused on fitness in golf, and a large number of amateurs, professionals and coaches are expected to attend. The seminar is being run by the newly formed Confederation of Golf in Ireland (CGI), the European Tour Performance Institute and the Mardyke Arena UCC. The CGI is a new body made up from the GUI, ILGU and the PGA. Junior Golf Ireland has been subsumed into the new umbrella body and their key objectives include increasing participation and driving elite performance in both amateur and professional codes. Continue reading
Douglas will be a busy spot this weekend as the club hosts the Irish Women’s Open Strokeplay, the showpiece 72 hole ILGU Championship. Continue reading
