Peter O’Keeffe fired himself into a fifth place finish at the East of Ireland, thanks to a three under par 69 in his final round this afternoon.
O’Keeffe has an impressive back nine, he went on a birdie run and was three under for his final seven holes, and it was an impressive finish given the difficulty of the course in Baltray. The result is a nice boost for the 2017 Irish Open Champion as he looks to cement his place on the Irish Squad. O’Keeffe started the season with a win in the Muskerry Senior Scratch Cup, and the performance in Co Louth signals that he’s back on form. Greg O’Mahony built on last week’s win in Douglas with a top twenty finish. The Fota Island member will probably be disappointed with a closing 75 having been well placed after a 71 this morning.
Sean Desmond was the only other Cork golfer to make the cut, he finished in 23rd place on +5 after a final round 72.
Mallow’s James Sugrue and Kinsale’s both missed the East as they played in the Brabazon Trophy in The Alwoodley Club in Leeds. Sugrue had a an impressive event, finishing in the top twenty. Like much of the field, Sugrue batteld with the back nine over the four days, but on Sunday he had four birdies on the first ten holes before he eventually succumbed to two bogeys on the closing holes. It meant that he finished with a 70, which saw him jump from 35th to tied 18th. Both are back in action this week in the St Andrews Links Trophy. Murphy will be keen to show some of the form he had on display recently in the NCAA Regionals and Finals, especially as he missed the cut in Leeds last weekend.
While many golfers will be familiar with lessons, or fitness, or mental preparation, it not usual to see all three elements coming together. That’s what’s happening with the “One for the Ladies” day which sees all three covered in an exciting day of tuition and play. The idea came to life when Trish Daly saw a gap in the market. Daly is a Cork native who spent the past 30 years in Australia, and retuned to Ireland in 2018 and started her Yoga for Golfers programme at Cork Golf Centre in Inniscarra. Soon after Trish met up with PGA Advanced Professional Sarah Claridge and sports psychologist Deirdre Gallagher who both work out of Cork Golf Centre. While Trish was only up and running with her individual and group yoga for golf classes, she spotted a gap in the market for ladies wishing to improve their golf. After a good deal of planning the trio set about holding their first event in Skibbereen back in March. “While there is a lot of energy put into attracting women into the sport of golf with the very successful “get into golf programme” we found that 
It’s almost twelve months on from where it all kicked off. The St Andrew’s Links Trophy 2018 was when John Murphy had his first major win, and the Kinsale man has kicked on with a great season with University of Louisville in NCAA Division One college. Today he kicks on with his first appearance at the Brabazon Trophy, the English Strokeplay championship. From there it’s onto St Andrew’s to defend his Links trophy, and from there it will be a mixture of Irish, English and European events as the seasons builds towards August. Murphy has the added benefit of being named in the extended Walker Cup panel, and although he missed out on a few early season events in England, he’s now on the right side of the Atlantic for the selectors to see what he can do. Twelve months ago it’s was a sudden death play-off that decided the winner of the St Andrews Links. Given Murphy’s experience in matchplay situations going back to when he was under 15 it was no 
Walker Cup hopeful James Sugrue is back on the winning trail after romping home in the Castletroy Scratch on Saturday. The Mallow man was named on the Walker Cup training panel earlier this month and his golf continues to do the talking as he finished five strokes clear of a strong field at the end of the 36 hole event. Rounds of 68 ad 71 (-5) saw him clear the field, and with just one bogey in each of the rounds he played some very tidy golf. Second place went to Pat Murray on level par with Harry Duggan (Kilkenny) finishing in third place on +1. Jack Ryan was the best of the home golfers, he took fourth, and it was a special day for Athenry’s Peader O’Beirne. Peader too second nett but also had a hole in one in the competition. It was a welcome win for Sugrue who was laid low with an injury just six weeks ago. The Irish International has been playing well all season. A top 15 finish in Lytham, and a top 20 in the Irish Amateur came after Sugrue had to pull out of the Euro Nations with a rib injury. His performance at the weekend now sends a signal that he’s a contender for a second major to the South title he won in 2017. Sugrue is headed for Leeds this week for the Brabazon Trophy, where the Walker Cup selectors will no doubt be watching the members of their extended training panel.
Jack Howard finished runner-up in the Irish Club Professional Tournament in Dromoland last week, losing out to Damien McGrane after a play-off. Howard, representing Fota Island shot a four under par 68 to lead the tournament. That included important birdies on the 17th and 18th to get into a tie for the lead. It was in impressive round from Howard in a strong field, and it included seven birdies. At the end of the round the two leaders were tied on -4, and unlike other PGA events it was on the a play-off. After halving the first play-off hole, McGrane put the pressure on by hitting the green on the short par four 10th. When Howard missed his 12 foot birdie attempt the former European Tour winner tapped in or birdie to claim the title.
Round 1 Results
The second Cork Fourball Championship event takes place in Muskerry on Wednesday and interest is building following the successful first event earlier this month. The series runs over six qualifying dates with the top three pairs from each qualifier advance to the series final which takes place at the end of September. From that event, the lucky winners will head off on a golf trip to Portugal. The winners of the first qualifier were Paul O’Keeffe and Brian O’Keeffe from the home club. They scored 45 points to win in a competitive field. The other two pairs to qualify were Derek Kelly (Lismore) & Martin O’Driscoll (West Waterford) and Owen Barrett and Tony Hayes (Muskerry). Ryan’s Marketing Manager Jerry Manley was 
Mahon and Bandon were the two big winners over the weekend as they came through the first serious weekend of cups and shields action. Monkstown and Blarney were the host venues for the AIG Jimmy Bruen Shield qualifiers, with fine weather and great conditions adding to the spectacle of matchplay golf. All Ireland winners Kinsale were not in the shake up this time, they lost out to Skibbereen in a first round match the previous weekend. Mahon had also come through a preliminary match the previous week, they had a comprehensive win over Mallow in the first round to set up a meeting with Douglas on Saturday morning. Similar to their previous form, Mahon had a good win over Douglas but they faced a stiff challenge again Cork in the third round and two matches would need additional holes for Mahon to advance. Tim O’Mahoney needed to chip out of the water on 18 in order for himself and Gavin Carroll to half the hole. They went on to win on the 
