McCormack & O’Donovan tied for the lead in Lee Valley

Dell EMC Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup, Lee Valley Golf Club, Saturday 22nd April 2017

Andrew McCormack

After a superb day for golf, Andrew McCormack and Dave O’Donovan are tied for the lead on four under par.  O’Donovan was level par for his second round, adding to his earlier 68 while McCormack shot 69/71.  The Castletroy member clawed a shot back from O’Donovan this afternoon to tie for the lead.  Gary O’Flaherty is one shot off the leaders, he also shot level par this afternoon after a 69 this morning.

Bandon’s Donal O’Donovan had a very impressive 70 this afternoon, he’s in fourth place on 143.  Peter O’Keeffe is next on 144 after two level par rounds, and Mallow’s James Sugrue is also on 144.  John Murphy, Joe O’Sullivan and Eanna Griffin are all on 145, all three have a chance tomorrow but they will need to go low to catch and the beat the leaders.  The cut (top 30) fell at 150, two shots better than last year which is no surprise given the Continue reading

Dave O’Donovan leads Lee Valley with 68, Senior Scratch Cup R1

Dell EMC Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup, Lee Valley Golf Club, Saturday 22nd April 2017

Dave O’Donovan follows his tee shot on the 4th in Lee Valley this morning. Picture: Niall O’Shea

2015 winner Dave O’Donovan holds the first round lead in Lee Valley after shooting an excellent 68 in great conditions this morning.  78 golfers took the course for the Dell EMC sponsored event, as sunshine and fast greens greeted the competitors.   O’Donovan leads the tournament by one, Gary O’Flaherty and 2016 runner up Andrew McCormack are one shot back on 69.

Munster Students champion John Murphy is in fourth spot on 70 and James Sugrue also got into the red with a one under par 71.  Peter O’Keeffe and Ben Murray are among a few players who shot level par.  Although conditions are good, scoring is tough on the parkland course with back tees and tricky pins contributing to the stiff test for some of Ireland’s top amateurs.  Ronan Curran (74) is the best of the home players while Lee Valley Captain Pat Continue reading

Power looking forward to Lee Valley Scratch Cup

Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup Launch 8th Mar 2017_3.1Not everyone qualifies to take part in a senior scratch cup, but this weekend Lee Valley Captain Pat Power will have the pleasure of doing so, with an outside chance that he might actually win the event.  In previous years the one handicapper just had to turn up and play but this year as Captain he has been central to the staging of the event.  After weeks of preparation the Captain is looking forward to being one of the 81 golfers who will tee it up tomorrow morning in the first round of the 54 hole WAGR event, and for Captain Power the preparation is now paying off.  “Everyone in Lee Valley is very excited to get the 2017 Dell EMC Senior Scratch Cup underway this weekend” said the Captain.  “Preparation has gone well with the course looking spectacular.  The greens have very much improved and should prove a good test for all this weekend.  As always we have a very strong field with the best of local talent teeing it up.  I myself am looking forward to participating and hopefully the Lee Valley lads will put up a good showing.  A big thank you to all who have done huge work to put the event together, lead by Vincent Drinan our tournament director and the course staff lead by our head green keeper James Mulcahy.”

Dell EMC Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup Drawsheet

This time last year the tournament was thrown into doubt due to heavy midweek rain.  this year however the benign weather has assisted the course preparation and under the watchful eye of Jerry Keohane the legendary Lee Valley greens will be rolling well.  The forecast for the weekend is good too so the Captain has one final comment: “The weather looks favourable so why not come out to watch some good golf over the weekend.”

3 Days to Dell EMC Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup

Final Round, EMC Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup 2016The countdown is on to the Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup which takes place this weekend, with a top class field hoping to win Cork’s only 54 hole scratch cup.  John Murphy, Ian O’Rourke, John Hickey and Peter O’Keeffe lead the field, all four are playing off +3 and over 30 more golfers are playing off scratch or lower.  O’Keeffe recently won the Mid West Alliance and will be hoping to continue to run of form while Murphy is also coming off a big win in the Munster Students Championship.  Despite moving to Dublin, O’Rourke has been a loyal supporter of Cork events, and the Royal Dublin has seen his handicap drop further to +3.  John Hickey has been out with an injury for the past few weeks and he too will be looking to build on the inter-varsity title he won at Continue reading

Desmond through to Matchplay in West of Ireland

AIG Senior Cup Munster Finals, Cork Golf Club, Saturday13th August 2016Monkstown’s Sean Desmond made it through to the matchplay stage on his debut in the West of Ireland Championship today.  Desmond shot a second successive 73 at Co Sligo and finished inside the top twenty.  Sean had a colourful card today, five bogies and a double were offset by five birdies on the testing links track.  Tomorrow he has a 7.27am start where he’ll face Robert Brazill from Naas.

Desmond was the only Cork qualifier in a very narrow field that saw just three Cork golfers get into the tournament.  James Sugrue finished 20 places outside the matchplay cut while Kinsale’s John Murphy had a tough debut with rounds of 79 and 77.  Conor O’Rourke secured the Silver Medal as the best qualifier on -2, while just two others managed to break par.  Three days of matchplay golf follow as all 64 qualifiers will have hopes of winning the season’s first major event.

West of Ireland Matchplay Live Scoring

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Bumper entry for Munster Strokeplay

Golf_Munster Strokeplay_Barry Anderson2_May 2014

2014 Winner Barry Anderson

A top class field has entered for the Munster Strokeplay which takes place at the end of this month and the cut looks like falling again from the 2016 mark of 0.5.  Entries for the showpiece Cork Golf Club event closed last night and there were no less that seven late entries that should qualify, four of those playing from plus handicaps.  Although all handicaps will need to be verified, it’s looking like the cut will fall at 0.3, with not all of those playing from this mark getting in on the first cut.

Tiernan McLarnon was one of the late entrants and he leads the handicaps, playing from +3.6.  There are over fifty golfers playing from plus handicaps including 24 who Continue reading