Pictures from R1 in Muskerry: Continue reading
Senior Scratch Cup
Four Cork Golfers head for Sligo
Mel Deasy
The West of Ireland qualifier takes place on Sunday and four Cork golfers will be heading for Co Sligo with the hope of making the tournament proper. Mel Deasy, now wearing Lee Valley colours will be hoping to make his first senior championship start while Kieran Murphy from Cork Golf Club will also challenge for one of the ten championship spots. Kinsale have two representatives in the qualifier, Mark Healy and Eric Rumley. They will be hoping to join the three Kinsale members already in the Championship field; Cathal Butler, Gary Ward and Keith Fitzpatrick.
West of Ireland Qualifier Tee Times
This week marks the start of a busy few weeks for Cork’s top golfers with six already confirmed for the West of Ireland. Peter O’Keeffe (+3.7) and James Sugrue (+3.6) are both in the top ten of entries, the Irish squad members had some very impressive performances at national and international level in 2018 and both will be hoping to add another championship to their resume at the first opportunity this year. Kinsale trio Cathal Butler, Gary Ward and Keith Fitzpatrick will be joined by Sean Desmond (Monkstown), Greg O’Mahony (Fota Island) and Padraig O’Connor (Macroom). This year the event has a different format, the traditional 36/64 has been replaced by a 72 hole strokeplay event. The reason behind the change is that Co Sligo is also hosting the Flogas Irish Amateur Open this year. It’s the first time in 96 years that the event will not be run as a match play competition with a new date also adding to the changes. With the Irish Open taking place in Mid May, the decision made to move the West from the traditional Easter date. For anyone not heading to Sligo, the East Cork SSC takes place on Saturday 6th April.
Saturday Showdown in Muskerry
Muskerry Captain Diarmuid Linehan pictured with the holder Fionn Hickey and Michael O’Connor from Investec at the launch of the Muskerry Senior Scratch Cup.
Excitement is building for the first major golf competition for 2019, the Muskerry Senior Scratch Cup on Saturday. With new sponsors Investec on board, the club put renewed effort into the famous event. They reaped the rewards with a strong field of entries which includes two Irish internationals and several Munster interprovincial players. Peter O’Keeffe and James Sugrue lead the field in terms of handicaps, both golfers are past winners, Sugrue won in 2016 while O’Keeffe’s win came ten years earlier in 2006 will be looking to add to his growing haul of titles. Both golfers have been busy in the off-season. Sugrue was at the Irish training camp in South Africa which incorporated two top level international events, while O’Keeffe made an appearance at an Alps tour event and has been focused on practice in the recent weeks.
Draw: Investec Muskerry Senior Scratch Cup
Munster golfers Gary O’Flaherty, Cathal Butler and Andrew McCormack were among the early entries and there is currently a standby list in place as over 80 golfers have entered the event. The original limit of 66 players has been moved to Continue reading
Draw: Investec Muskerry Senior Scratch Cup
R1 gets underway at 8.30am
Busy start to the season for Lee Valley
Gary O’Flaherty who will be aiming for three in a row at Lee Valley next month
A major new open competition, big plans for the senior scratch cup, and a new indoor practice room all add up to a busy few months for the Lee Valley committee. With the golf season now ready to get into top gear, the next few months will be busy in the Ovens club. “April will be a busy month with Boyle Sports kindly sponsoring two large competitions for us” explained Club Captain Chris O’Sullivan. “First on April the 13th we have the Boyle Sports Open Four ball with prizes including a VIP trip to the Irish Grand National, this is followed two weeks later by our Boyle Sports Senior Scratch Cup. This has become a firm fixture for the top amateurs all over the country with world ranking amateur points on offer to competitors. We are delighted to have Boyle Sports sponsorship and support. They took over sponsorship last year and have supported our club further this year with their sponsorship again. Without which, we would struggle to host the competition to the standard that we now have it under the stewardship of Vincent Drinan who continues to look after this event. It is a tournament that has had winners including Shane Lowry. However, the Continue reading
Second win for Sugrue in Fermoy
James Sugrue (Mallow) teeing off in the third round of the South of Ireland in July. Picture: Niall O’Shea
There was a nice symmetry to James Sugrue’s golfing summer. On Sunday last he won the John Whyte Fermoy Senior Scratch Cup to close out the season, that followed his win in Fota Island at the start of the season when he won the very first Senior Scratch Cup to be played in Cork. The two wins may be highlights, but to be fair the Mallow golfer has had a very impressive summer of golf which was recognised last month with his selection to the Irish team. Sugrue joined the Irish Mens panel this year and represented the Irish selection at the South African and Spanish Amateurs in the early season. His full cap finally came when he was selected to play for the Home Internationals which took place last week. Capped on multiple occasions in Boy’s golf, this was a big step up for Sugrue but one he took in his stride. The easy going 20 year old went on to win four matches as Ireland finished as runners-up in the four team tournament. “There was actually no real difference, I didn’t Continue reading
Another Lee Valley win for Gary
It was win number four for Gary O’Flaherty in Lee Valley when he won the Munster Mid-Amateur title on Sunday. His season started with a win in the Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup in April, and he closed out on Sunday with another win on the championship course in Ovens. Back in April O’Flaherty maintained his overnight lead to win his third Lee Valley title, this time he overturned a three-shot deficit to win on the final green in a tense finish. Although the weather was much better than the wet conditions on Saturday, there was a stiff breeze blowing through Lee Valley which tested many of the golfers. O’Flaherty played some very tidy golf, his only bogey of the day came at the 7th and his birdie on the 9th got him back to level for the round. He birdied the par five 15th to get into the red, and he narrowly missed good birdie opportunities on the 16th and 17th. Standing on the 18th, Gary was one Continue reading
John Whyte Memorial set for Sunday 16th, Fermoy Senior Scratch Cup
Fermoy will host one of the final scratch cups of the year on Sunday 16th September. The John Whyte Memorial Senior Scratch Cup takes place, with a bumper prize fund of €1,000, Entry for the 18 hole event is just €30, which includes a meal.
Previous winners include European Seniors star Denis O’Sullivan and Fermoy native Tom Cleary and current Irish international James Sugrue.
Last year’s winner was Darren O’Donoghue from Bandon. Online entry is available on http://www.fermoygolfclub.ie and you can also call the club on 025 32694.
Sugrue & O’Keeffe bow out of Close
Cork interest in the AIG Irish Close finished today as James Sugrue and Peter O’Keeffe lost in the third and fourth rounds respectively. Sugrue was up against Conor Purcell and the match went all the way to the 20th hole before it was settled. Unlike the result of extra holes in Lahinch, Sugrue came out on the wrong side when the match finished on the 2nd hole. Purcell went on to beat Eugene Smith this afternoon and will face Eoin Leonard in tomorrow’s semi-final.
Peter O’Keeffe had a good win this morning, beating Jack Walsh with two holes to spare. He faced Alex Gleeson in the quarter-final and unfortunately for O’Keeffe the 2016 winner from Castle won by a single hole. Gleeson will now face Robbie Cannon in the other semi-final.
Seven Cork Golfers through in AIG Close
Gary Ward
It was a good weekend for Cork golfers as seven have made it through to the matchplay stage of the AIG Irish Close Championship. The European Club in Co Wicklow is the venue for the final major of the year and the challenging Ruddy designed links saw the scores vary from 66 to 90+ over the opening two days.
The leader from day one, Peter O’Keeffe (Douglas) finished in tied third place. Although he had a 76 today, his opening 66 from yesterday was always going to be enough to see him safely through to the matchplay phase. A few early bogies set the tone for his day and despite a recovery on his second nine, two late bogies meant he finished on +5 and level par for the 36 holes. Gary Ward (Kinsale) is just one shot behind in fifth place, tow rounds of 71 and 72 left the Kinsale golfer on +1.
Macroom’s Padraig O’Connor has reached the matchplay stage for the first time. He shot a one over par 72 today, and finished on +5 to take 16th place. John Hickey and Cathal Butler both made their second successive championship cut with solid play over the opening two days. Hickey carded rounds of 75 and 75 to finish in 33rd place and although he’ll be disappointed by the two late bogies, he’s safely through to Continue reading
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