Roger Russell, General Manager of The Metropole Hotel, presenting the youth sports awards trophy to Sara Byrne Douglas Golf Club with John Buckley, John Buckley Sports, Award Sponsor.
Picture: Gerard Bonus.
Sara Byrne was back in the news last week when she won yet another award. The Douglas teenager won the Cork City and County Youth Sports Award last week at a reception in the Metropole Hotel. It was a great award to win, beating the 11 other monthly award winners to scoop the title. This is the second award for Byrne, who was named the Irish Golf Writers Womens Amateur Golfer of the Year Award in December. For Sara and her family it was a change to reflect on the successes of the year, although Sara was a bit more clinical in her review of the year when she accepted the award. “2018 was a bit of a rollercoaster year” said the Douglas and Ireland golfer, “there were plenty of ups and downs and feeling frustrated at times, but the adrenaline rush is unreal when you succeed. Last year gave me some really hard knocks but some magical moments also. I’ve advanced my goals hugely, Irish Ladies Champion. Irish Girls Order of Merit winner, getting to +1 handicap and getting to into the top 100 in the WAGR rankings”.
There was more than that for the talented teenager. She represented Ireland at Continue reading
Mairead Martin recently enjoyed a few weeks at home after an exciting few months in the US on a golf scholarship in Kentucky. The Kanturk golfer who completed her leaving cert in June and in August she moved to start with their acclaimed womens golf programme. It was a great first semester, Mairead finished the second highest ranked golfer on the roster claiming two top ten finishes on her first five tournaments. It was a busy few months for the teenager as she settled into her new home for the next few years. “The first couple of weeks were tough and quite intense it took a while for me to get used to how busy each day was between school, practice and workouts” explained Mairead. “I struggled to find time to even think about home or even be homesick. When I arrived in Louisville the team and coaches couldn’t have been 
2018 was a breakthrough year for Sara Byrne, and that was recognised last week when she won the Irish Golf Writers Womens Amateur of the Year award. The award was a reflection on the results Sara achieved during the year as well representing Ireland at two international competitions. It was a busy year for Sara, although she committed to playing in fewer events this year, the competitions she did select were higher in profile and the quality of the field was generally stronger. In terms of other awards, Byrne topped the Girls Order of Merit by a clear margin, and she also finished third on the women’s order of merit. Sara’s season started in March when she finished third in the Munster Womens Championship in Killarney. Rounds of 74, 75 and 78 saw her claim a podium finish although she did miss out on retaining her Munster Girls title by one shot. Despite playing well, she couldn’t manage to claim the top spot until she got to Enniscrone in June for the Irish Womens Close. She came through two rounds of Strokeplay and five rounds of matchplay golf to win the national title. Aside from the mental battle of matchplay, she also had to contend with extreme weather as wind and 
Rachel Thompson put on a great display of golf in Mount Julliet last week to win the Faldo Series qualifier. Played over three days on the testing championship course, Thompson was trailing by two shots after the opening round. She went on to fine an impressive one over par round on the second day, that was eight shots better than the field and gave her a six shot lead. Thompson had a solid final day, holding her big cushion and claiming the win. The Cork golfer now qualifies for the Faldo Series final which takes place in Dubai in November. It promises to be an exciting few weeks for the Cork golfer. She will be moving to Scotland in September to take up a golf scholarship in the University of Sterling. Before that she’ll tee it up in the English Womens Strokeplay and she’s heading to Yale in October in a college tournament. There was disappointment for Kinsale’s Gary Ward, he was within two shots of the lead after two rounds. Opening rounds of 71 and 72 had him on -1, just two behind Rosslare’s Paul Murphy. Unfortunately for Ward he had a disappointing final day, he dropped to fifth overall after a final round 79. Cathal Butler and Mark Healy were also in action, Butler also finished tied for fifth and Healy was in the top ten. It was another positive week for Kinsale considering they are preparing for the Munster finals of the Barton Shield.
Cork Golf News 