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Tour Life for Sugrue

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James Sugrue 

Mallow golfer James Sugrue had few days at home earlier this week.  The tour pro returned from Sweden on Sunday after competing in his first two Challenge Tour events.  Sugrue made the cut in last week’s event and bagged €1,800 in prize money.  There was more good news this week when he was given €17,500 in Sport Ireland funding to assist with his first year on tour.  Speaking from home after three weeks on the road, James was happy with his two tour starts.  “I played nicely, there were plenty of birdies but there were a few mistakes and course management errors, probably from the lack of playing as opposed to anything else.  I feel I’m swinging it well and putting nicely so hopefully there’s a low week coming soon.”

After a few days of walking the dogs and having a “proper dinner”, Sugrue is looking forward Continue reading →

Ger Broderick Celebrates 25 Years in Kinsale

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Ger Broderick pictured with his wife Caroilne Caroline Broderick pictured at the Pro Shop Challenge in 2019.

For any golfers playing in Kinsale’s Farrangalway course, there’s a good chance you’ve come across club professional Ger Broderick.  In fact Ger has been that as long as the course and he celebrated 25 years in Kinsale last week.  Having trained in the UK, Ger was working in Royal Tara when the opportunity came to return home as Kinsale opened their new 18 hole championship course in Farrangalway in 1996.  The affable PGA Pro has been there since, building his reputation over three decades.  He’s seen plenty of change in the club and the course in the last 25 years.

“When i started in 1996 the course was bare, but now the trees have grown and matured” explained Ger.  “I left Ringenane in 1989 with 150 members and returned 7 years later with Continue reading →

Hickey signs for US College

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Fionn Hickey

Muskerry’s Fionn Hickey had some major news last week when he announced that he had signed with a US college for next season.  The leaving cert student had spent some time looking at options in the US, and announced that he was joining Loyola Marymount College in Los Angeles.  Hickey follows in the footsteps of John Murphy and others, hoping to improve his golf in the NCAA Division programme.  Fionn’s decision to join the LMU Lions comes after a few months work of research into the US college system and he was delighted to finally announce his decision last week.

“I started looking actively about a year ago but I guess it was always a dream of mine to play and study in America once it was clear that it could be an option” said Hickey.  “I didn’t know a whole lot about the programmes apart from some internet research when I first started looking.  To be honest it was a bit overwhelming with the amount of colleges and facilities Continue reading →

Winners from 2020 can Smile

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There weren’t too many winners in Cork golf in 2020, but those few that did manage to claim success will look back on the year with a smile.  After losing eight weeks in the spring, and with graduated protocols for a return to competitive golf, the national and regional schedules changed dramatically with far fewer individual and inter-club events taking place.  Berehaven made history in October when the West Cork club won their first Munster title.  They won the Munster final of the AIG Jimmy Bruen Shield in Killarney   Wins over Tramore and Shannon saw them emerge from Killarney with the pennant as Munster champions, their first time the club had achieved success at this level.  Unfortunately for Berehaven, the plans for the all-Ireland finals in Donegal in late October were postponed.  The 2020 finals are now scheduled to take place in Donegal in 2021.

Peter O’Keeffe pictured after winning the Munster Strokeplay in August.
Picture: Niall O’Shea

Peter O’Keeffe won the Munster Strokeplay in Cork Golf Club in early September.  The traditional May date for the competition was lost but it was great that it was included in the reduced schedule for the Continue reading →

Funding Boost for Cork Clubs

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Fermoy Golf Cub

Cork Golf clubs got a big boost over the weekend when Golf Ireland announced the recipients of a new grant scheme.  Sixteen clubs received almost €300,000 in funding from Sport Ireland.  The Club Resilience fund aims to provide short term financial help to golf clubs to support business resilience and sustainability after Covid 19.  Fermoy were one of the clubs to be successful in this round of funding and Manager Denis Twomey was delighted with the news.  “This resilience grant will help greatly towards a few key projects and the club is very grateful for the assistance.  We are planning to develop our terrace area to cover the full length of the clubhouse overlooking the first tees.  This will give Continue reading →

Barrett’s the new man in Muskerry

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Pat Barrett, General Manager of Muskerry Golf Club.

While last year brought many challenges for golf, it gave Pat Barrett an opportunity.  Pat took up the role of General Manager in Muskerry Golf Club last year and despite the interruptions from the lockdowns the Limerick man has been busy settling into his new role.  Having previously worked at other courses, Barrett was delighted to get the opportunity in Muskerry.  “Being from South Limerick I grew up playing Golf in Charleville North Cork so I was well aware of Muskerry being one of the established Cork clubs” explained Pat.

“I had played the course a few times Continue reading →

Byrne settling into life in Miami

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University of Miami’s Sara Byrne

While there’s still no golf action in Cork, Sara Byrne was in action in Orlando last week.  The Douglas golfer is in her first year at University of Miami, and despite being in Florida since August, this was her first event for the Hurricanes.  It was an impressive debut for the 18 year old, she finished in the top twenty and helped Miami to third place in the team competition.

Having spent the past 6 years on the Irish scene and working with the ILGU high performance squads, moving to Miami in August was a big change.  Covid meant the cancellation of the Fall series of tournaments so it was a quiet for the 2018 Irish Close winner.  “When I arrived in August it certainly was very different to what I had Continue reading →