Cork Golf

Thompson wins Cathy Smith Trophy in Baltray

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Rachel Thompson Baltray May 2017Cork’s Rachel Thompson finished strongly  at the Irish Womens Open Strokeplay in Baltray over the weekend.  She captured the Cathy Smith Trophy as the best under 18 and she also finished with the best nett score.  Rachel won the U18 prize with a one stroke lead over Germany’s Sarina Schmidt, but when it came to the gross prize she had a five shot lead over the field.  The competition was won by Mari Dunne who lead form the first round and closed on -9 for the tournament.

Thompson finished in second place in the Lahinch Scratch Cup recently and since then her golf has moved up a gear.  He performances over the weekend has seen her handicap drop from 2 to scratch.  Despite not playing in the Portuguese or Spanish Opens, Thompson is currently 9th in the ILGU Senior Order of Merit.  Valerie Clancy, Sara Byrne, Mairead Martin, Paula Walsh and Karen O’Neill all feature in the top twenty so there should be plenty of Cork golfers in contention for the Ladies and Girls interprovincials.

Major win for O’Keeffe, Flogas Irish Amateur Open

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Flogas Irish Amateur Open Championship at Royal County Down Golf

Peter O’Keeffe (Pic: Pat Cashman)

Peter O’Keeffe has been playing top level golf for 20 years and today he captured the top prize, the Flogas Irish Amateur Open at Royal County Down.  From an elite junior golfer he moved into the US college ranks and from there he spent close to a decade on the Challenge Tour and Europro Tour trying to make the breakthrough in the paid ranks.  In late 2015 he was reinstated as an amateur and last year he challenged on the local scratch cup circuit.  Today he broke through to elite senior golf ranks when he won the Irish Open in style.  One-stroke clear overnight, O’Keeffe cruised through much of the final round, winning by three thanks to a final round 73.  The 35-year-old from Douglas ended the week on two over, three clear of Scotland’s Christopher MacLean and England’s Tom Sloman.

Needless to say the Douglas man was delighted with the win.  “It feels fantastic.  It was tough to keep my emotions in check there going up the last,” said O’Keeffe, who claimed his maiden championship title.  “It was nice Continue reading →

O’Keeffe leads Irish Amateur going into final round, Royal County Down

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Munster Strokeplay Championship, Munster Golf, Cork Golf Club, Sunday 30th April 2017It wasn’t the low round that he promised – but in any case it was enough to give Peter O’Keeffe the lead going into tomorrow’s final round of the Flogas Irish Amateur Open.

O’Keeffe started quickly with an eagle on the opening par five, but he gave the two shots back before the turn and started the second nine level for his round.  It was an interesting back nine for all of the leading contenders.  England’s Sean Towndrow took a two shot lead on the 16th thanks to an eagle on the short par four, but two doubles followed and he closed on a 77 and +3 for the tournament.  Christopher McClean was level with O’Keeffe after 15, but bogies on the 16th & 18th saw him drop down also.

O’Keeffe continued his pattern of steady golf with the odd birdie or bogey balancing each other out.  In the end only himself and Robin Dawson (T7) could match par on the closing three holes.  That was enough for two over par 73 on day three, and surprisingly enough that see’s him with a one shot lead over Christopher McClean.  O’Keeffe (L) will be joined by Mc Clean (+1) and Marc Norton (+2) in tomorrow’s final group which tees off at 11.12.

John Murphy saw the Continue reading →

Hickey Regains Muskerry Scratch Cup Title

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Muskerry Senior Scratch Cup 2017

Jason O’Callaghan (Ryans SuperValu) presenting the Muskerry Senior Scratch Cup to Cork’s John Hickey, also included is Jim Hornibrook, Captain.

John Hickey won the Muskerry Senior Scratch Cup in Muskerry on Saturday.  The Cork member won in dramatic circumstances after a sudden death play-off which lasted for four holes.  Hickey finished the 36 holes on a score of level par after shooting rounds of 72 and 70.  He tied for the lead with Castletroy’s Andrew McCormack.  The Limerick man won in Douglas last year and rarely leaves Cork empty handed after a number of good finishes.  The play-off was an exciting affair and lasted for four holes before Hickey won with a birdie on the par three 6th.  The first hole was halved in pars, and both golfers birdied the short par four which came next.  McCormack chipped in for birdie, while Hickey two putted from just off the green.  The pair skipped the 3rd and 4th and went to half the fifth holes which was the third play-off holes.  Hickey had a chance on the fifth, he missed a six footer for birdie which McCormack got up and down from a greenside bunker.  The 6th is probably the most Continue reading →

Turner finishes 4th in Ballykisteen, Europro Tour

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Great National Hotels Irish Masters, Ballykisteen Golf & Country Club, Friday 12th May 2017A cold putter cost Niall Turner today in the final round of the Great National Hotels Irish Masters at Ballykisteen.  The overnight leader bounced back from a double on the first, and despite giving himself plenty of chances on the greens he couldn’t covert the birdies chances.  Turner finished in a tie for fourth place as all of the leaders struggled to match the scoring of the first two rounds.  Despite the missed chances the Muskerry golfer was withing a shot or two of the lead for much of the round, and when a bogey on the 12th brought him back to -9 it looked as if the win was out of reach.  The Asian Tour member rallied with birdies on the 16th and 18th and that brought him back to -11 and he took home just over €2,000 for his week in Tipperary.

Gallery: Great National Hotels Irish Masters Final Round

Waterville’s David Higgins had a great start and was -4 for his opening eight holes which saw him jump Continue reading →

O’Keeffe leads Cork challenge at Irish Amateur Open

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Munster Strokeplay Championship, Munster Golf, Cork Golf Club, Sunday 30th April 2017Peter O’Keeffe shot a one under par 70 on the opening day of the Flogas Irish Amateur Open.  Royal County Down was playing firm and fast today thanks to the recent dry weather and it proved a test for the Irish golfers as only seven made it into the top 25.  O’Keeffe started brightly with a birdie on the first but dropped shots on 4 and 8 meant that he turned on +1.  There were no more bogies for the Douglas member, and he birdied the 10th and 12th before parring his way home.  He’s in a tie for 8th place and three shots off the lead.

Turner leads in Ballykisteen, Great National Hotels Irish Masters R2

Ian O’Rourke is the next best Cork golfer but there’s a gap of over 50 players between him and O’Keeffe.  The Cobh native had been going well, he was two under to the 14th but dropped five shots in the closing holes.  That included a triple on the 15th which saw it’s fair share of bogies, doubles and triples on the opening day.  Kinsale’s John Murphy is one shot back from O’Rourke on +4, his card featured four birdies and nine pars but the four bogies, a double and a triple took the gloss from his debut round at the Irish Amateur.  Cathal Butler (+6) and James Sugrue (+9) will hoping for an improvement tomorrow.

Scoring: Flogas Irish Amateur Open

Play in the second round gets underway at 7.00am when Ian O’Rourke will lead the field of 144 golfers.  Live scoring updates are available from Golfnet.

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Turner leads in Ballykisteen, Great National Hotels Irish Masters R2

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Niall Turner shot a flawless 66 in the second round of the Great National Hotels Irish Masters at Ballykisteen today.  Turner had four birdies on the front nine and added two more at the 11th and 13th.  Surprisingly though the long hitter from Waterfall couldn’t add to his haul on the two closing par fives.  Despite that Turner should be happy, he goes into tomorrow’s final round on -11, with a one shot lead over English duo Jack Harrison and Ben Robinson.

“All parts of my game have been pretty good so far,” said Turner. “If you drive it nicely out here you have a lot of short irons in. I have driven well so far and my wedges have been good so I have given myself a lot of birdie chances.

“This is my first time at Ballykisteen – it is a really enjoyable course to play and it is in great condition. It will probably be similar scoring tomorrow. If you get to 16 or 17 under that would be tough to beat but there is a very low one out there so you are going to need to keep making birdies.”

David Higgins also had six birdies but the Waterville man had two bogies and signed for a 68.  He’s tied for 16th place, five behind the leader on -6.  Monkstown’s Cian McNamara dropped back after is one under a 71.  Despite five birdies in six holes on his front nine, he dropped for shots.  Although he’s safely inside the cut mark, he’s seven off the lead and will be hoping for a good day tomorrow to earn a decent cheque.