Cathal Butler (Kinsale/MU)
Two birdies and an eagle on the back nine yesterday saw Cathal Butler (Kinsale) jump back up the leaderbaord at the Flogas Irish Amateur Open in Royal Dublin. Butler had a poor opening nine as four bogies and a birdie saw him on +3 at the turn. He birdied the 10th and 16th and eagled the par five 14th hole on a back nine charge that saw him go into the red and finish the opening day in a tie for 12th place.
James Sugrue (Mallow) was another golfer to benefit on the back nine. Sugrue was +2 at the turn but added five birdies in the second half of his round. Unfortunately for the Mallow golfer he added a double bogey 5 on the par three 13th hole and he bogied the 18th. He still finished on level par just outside the top 20.
Ian O’Rourke who now plays out of Royal Dublin signed for a 74 (+2), the same as Castlemartyr’s Mark Shanahan. John Hickey (Cork) is one back on 75. Munster golfer Eanna Griffin is just one off the lead on -4 while fellow Munster interpro Geoff Lenehan is on +2 and Robin Dawson in on +3. All 120 golfers will play again today and tomorrow with the top 50 qualifying for Sunday’s final round.
Flogas Irish Amateur Open Live Scoring
There was an air of familiarity today as David Higgins clocked up another win, this time it was a play-off win over Michael McDermott to secure the Irish Club Professional Tournament. Higgins was the only golfer in the field to break par and his one under par 70 was enough to stake a share of 1st place. Dunmurry Springs was the venue and it took two tie holes to separate the pair. Higgins needed a good up an down to save par at the first, but he hit the green in regulation on the second when McDermott found water.
Castlemartyr Golf Club held its first Open Weekend competition over the Bank Holiday weekend. The club had Halpenny Golf on board as a new sponsor to support this event, with over 200 golfers playing over the weekend. Recent weather had disrupted preparation of the golf course for the weekend, but the course was in great condition on Friday morning as the first golfers headed out. Conditions for the weekend were reasonable if not a little cold for the time of year. This obviously had no effect on scoring as there were some great rounds posted over the weekend. This was especially true on Sunday where there were a number of scores in the high forty’s.
Cork’s Gary O’Flaherty shot the low round of the afternoon to take a two stroke lead into the second day of the Munster Strokeplay Championship. Cork Golf Club proved to be at tough test for everyone during the opening day of the Munster Strokeplay Championship. Although there were several under-par rounds not a single golfer got through the day without at least two bogies. Indeed there were plenty of eagles on the par fives, but there were also several triple bogies also as the 
