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Strong Season for Castlemartyr

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Irish Schools Junior Championship Munster Final 2019This year proved to be another very positive one for Castlemartyr, now 11 years old, the golf course and the club are both thriving.  A growing membership in the club underpins the progress in Castlemartyr and Breffne McKenna is happy to report an impressive scorecard for 2019.  “Membership is doing great we are up to over 460 now.  The club grew from 320 to 460 in 2019, very good growth and we are still open to membership applications at the moment” explained McKenna, the Director or Golf in Castlemartyr.  “The Ladies Club continues to build slowly but it’s the Men’s and Intermediate Categories that are growing very fast (18-25).  Alan Gleeson our resident PGA Professional has classes for new or interested parties who are looking to start golf and not too sure if they want to commit to membership.  This is also great for the ladies who are not 100% sure they will like the game.”

“He also has conducted some club fitting days with Titleist and these proved to be a huge hit with the members during the year.  The Juvenile club is still busy but only during the summer months, so we hope to look for more juveniles in 2020.”  On the Continue reading →

Mairead helps Cardinals to title

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Louisville Womens Golf Cardinal Cup Oct 2019Kanturk’s Mairead Martin took second place in the Cardinal Cup as University of Louisville Womens Golf earned their first win of the season.  Playing as hosts on their home course, Louisville beat the field by eight strokes to come home in style.  Mairead was the best placed Louisville golfer, with rounds of 68, 73, 69 to finish on -6.

Now playing in her second year in Louisville, this was her best finish in a college tournament.  “It was a really great weekend,” Martin said. “I felt really comfortable out here and I enjoyed it a lot.  I felt really proud of my performance, and especially the team’s performance this weekend as well.”  She finished in second place, two shots off the lead on 210.  She carded a final-round 3-under-par 69, which included four birdies, as all of them came on the back nine.  Martin led the tournament in par-3 scoring, finishing with a 2.83 average and 2-under-par.  She was also second in par-4 scoring with a 3.87 average.

“It was an unbelievable day,” head coach Whitney Young said. “The team really came together. Everyone contributed this week, and today especially. They just kept fighting and making birdies. To be able to have my first team victory as Continue reading →

Colaiste Choilm though to Schools Final

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The 2018 Colaiste Choilm winning team

Colaiste Choilm from Ballincollig booked their place in the Munster Schools final on Monday with a hard fought win over De La Salle Waterford.  The reigning Munster champions were back in Castlemartyr, the venue where they won last year.  And they were up against the 2018 beaten finalists in the semi final.  Lee Valley’s Keelan McCarthy led the way for the Ballinollig side, he had a two hole win over Rory Milne to win the first point.  Zak Collins had to go to the 19th before he saw off the challenge from Alex King to win a second point.  Both Stephen Riordan and Jack O’Keeffe lost out to level the match at 2-2, meaning the match would be decided by John Lehane and Alex Browne.  That match went all the way to the 18th before Lehane secured the winning point for Colaiste Choilm.  In the second semi-final Colaiste an Spioraid Naoimh were very unlucky not to make it an all-Cork final.

The Bishopstown students were up against St Josephs Ballybunion and this too was a tight match.  Robbie Walsh and Jack Lucey put points on the board for the Cork side but James Walsh, Ben O’Connor and Eoghan Hallihan all lost out in the later stages of their games to see St Joesph’s advance.  Although the final was scheduled to take place in the afternoon the forecasted rain came early with lasted through the morning and early afternoon.  Unfortunately for all of the golfers, the rain persisted and a heavy downpour around lunchtime made the course unplayable.  Colaiste Choilm and St Joesph’s will now have to Continue reading →

JP McManus Pro-Am Announces Details of Ticket Tender, final 100 tickets available

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Paul McGinley, Rory McIlroy, JP McManus, Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry after the round of golf 20/4/2018

Pictured at the JP McManus Pro-Am Launch in Adare Manor last year were Paul McGinley, Rory McIlroy, JP McManus, Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry. Credit ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

An additional 100 tickets will be tendered this month for the sold-out JP McManus Pro-Am, taking place at Adare Manor on the 6th & 7th July 2020. The tournament reached capacity on August 1st this year; however, due to unprecedented demand, The European Tour have released some additional tickets for public tender ahead of the sixth staging of the charity event.

Anybody wishing to submit a bid for a ticket cap, or number of ticket caps, is asked to now email tickets@jpmcmanusproam.com with their offer, full name and phone number. The highest bids will each receive the opportunity to purchase the cap or caps at the offer price they submitted.  The news comes as the no.10 ranked golfer in the world, Xander Schauffele, Ryder Cup stars Tommy Fleetwood, Tony Finau, Matthew Fitzpatrick & Tyrrell Hatton and former world boxing heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko join the field today.  Indeed, Fleetwood and Finau went head to head in Continue reading →

Winning 63 for Murphy in Cincinnati

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Murphy Bearcat_2

John Murphy

John Murphy claimed his first win on US soil today, winning the Bearcat Invitational in Coldstream Country Club. His 54 hole total of -17 (196) was a result of three rounds in the 60’s.  Murphy finished his summer with a win in the Mullingar Scratch Cup, and he continued his good form with an impressive start to the college season.  Yesterday he shot rounds of 67 and 66 to lead the tournament on nine under, and there was no let up today.  A birdie on the second was followed by an eagle three on the fourth hole, and another birdie on the sixth saw him turn on four under.  Another eagle followed on the tenth and he went par, birdie, bogey, birdie to get to -7 on the 14th green.  A final birdie on the 18th saw him sign for a 63 on the par 71, 7,111 yard course.  It was Murphy’s lowest competition score, beating the several impressive scores he posted on his home course in Kinsale over the summer.  The 17 under total contained 17 birdies and two eagles, and beat his previous 54 hole score of -15 from Hawaii when he finished in second place.

Murphy Bearcat

Murphy’s Louisville Cardinals also won the team event, with the first second and eighth places, Louisville finished on -37, an amazing 26 shots ahead of second placed Arkansas.  The Cardinals have a break next week before they are back in action in Tennessee in the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate.

Irish Mid-Am title for Peter O’Keeffe

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Peter O'Keeffe Irish Mid Amateur Sept 2019_2

Peter O’Keeffe (Pic: Golffile)

Peter O’Keeffe scooped a second national title today, winning the Irish Mid Amateur in Royal Belfast.  The Douglas golfer had a wire to wire win following rounds of 68,70 & 71.  His winning score of 209 was the only score to break par on the Harry Colt designed course.  O’Keeffe jumped into the lead after an opening 68 on Saturday morning, the two under par round had four birdies and one double bogey in the opening round to lead the field by one.  He followed that with a level par 70 in the afternoon, again closing with birdies on the 16th and 18th.  The 2017 Irish Open winner had a one shot lead going into today’s final round.  Rathmore’s Ben Best was one behind but two bogies on the first and second gave Peter a lead of three.  O’Keeffe went out in a steady level par, made up of seven pars, one birdie and one birdie.  The back nine was even steadier, eight pars and just one bogey on 17th say him sign for a 71.  Playing with the two nearest competitors, O’Keeffe knew he was in the lead and closed out the win with ease.  Colm Campbell and France’s Christophe DeGrancey were one back on level par for the tournament.

Kinsale’s Kieran McCarthy finished in the top ten, he finished on eight over for 8th place.  Mark Collins was one shot back and finished in 11th place.  Lee Valley’s Jason Galway was the Continue reading →

Deasy wins Cobh Senior Scratch Cup

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Mel Deasy

Mel Deasy

Lee Valley’s Mel Deasy signed off on another strong season with a win, the Ballincollig teenager won his first senior scratch cup in Cobh last weekend.  It was a solid round from the one handicapper.  Deasy turned on level par after a single birdie and bogey.  He bogied the signature par three 10th hole but went on a run of three birdies from the 11th.  That got him to two under, and after one more bogey on the 15th he finished with a one under par 71.  That tied him with fellow Lee Valley member Ian Bohane but Deasy had the better back nine and became the first winner of the newly named Morgan O’Donovan Senior Scratch Cup.  Ian Bermingham (Douglas) finished in third place with a level par 72 and Stephen O’Brien was fourth.  Conor McDowell was the best Cobh finisher, he took fifth place with a 74.  David Howard, and Dean O’Riordan also finished with 74.

It was a busy weekend in Cobh with three other scratch cups taking place.  Shane Geasley won the Junior Scratch Cup, now named after Paul McGee Snr.  Geasley signed for a 74, beating Fota Island’s John Howard on the countback.  Stuart Meredith was third with a 77.  The Intermediate Scratch Cup was won by Owen O’Connell and the Minor Scratch Cup was won by Fergal Continue reading →