Cork’s Peter Hickey congratulating Cian McNamara on his win the Munster PGA Winter Series event in Cork Golf Club Picture: Niall O’Shea
Despite the cold weather, the Munster PGA got the second half of their winter series off to a great start on Monday in Cork Golf Club. Twenty Pro’s braved the cold winds but the course in Cork was in great condition, and benefitted from the recent week of dry weather. Munster PGA Captain Cian McNamara was the winner on the day, the Monkstown Professional shot a one under par 71 to record his second win of the winter series. He turned on two under par thanks to birdies on the second, third and eighth, and he dropped a shot on the index one fourth hole. A bogey also followed on the 10th but he parred the remaining eight holes to remain in the red and sign for a one under par 71. After a break of a few months, David Higgins made his seasonal debut. The Waterville man had a beak towards the end of 2017 and was in Barbados for a pro-am in January. Although he carded an impressive 72 for second place, the form was mixed. He had an uncharacteristic six bogies but that was countered with four birdies and an eagle. David was joined on his team by brother Brian and dad Liam. They returned an impressive Continue reading
CIT Golf Club made a major announcement recently when they partnered with Fota Island Academy. The new partnership between will facilitate student membership at the Academy. The Academy at the famous Fota Island Resort makes an ideal base for the CIT Golf Squad, meeting their requirements with its excellent indoor and outdoor facilities. Along with this, as Academy Members the nine students have a weekly allocation of range ball credit and, most importantly they will have valuable access to on course practice with the inclusion of playing the nine holes on the Barryscourt course in their membership. Fred Twomey, the Munster GUI High Performance Lead Coach & CIT Golf Coach and Fota Island’s Director of Golf Kevin Morris arranged the new partnership together, with the initial approach suggested by CIT student David O’Sullivan, who 
Former Irish International Ada O’Sullivan is looking forward to a busy year, in December she was elected as President in Monkstown Golf Club and the decorated golfer is looking forward to the year ahead. Having played and managed at the highest level, Ada is now taking on a different role and is keen to take on some of the challenges that golf has. In recent years Monkstown have grown their membership thanks to the progressive work of various club committees. “Like all businesses Monkstown Golf club is no different and has had to adapt to the economic change and make the club more attractive to existing members and entice new members through various packages and programmes” explained Ada. “It is recognised nationally that the majority of golf clubs have a missed generation 30yrs -45 years old and the game of golf became less attractive due to expensive joining fees, a round of golf taking up to five hours hence the lowering of fees and the introduction of nine-hole competitions have proven to be successful and we have seen especially in the past three years a large increase in the lady membership at Monkstown. We are also extremely fortunate to have a young, energetic, enthusiastic club Professional in Cian McNamara who along with the Junior Committees have a superb junior golf programme in place and as a result has gone from strength to strength with Boys and Girls in the past three years. The club is 
China based golfer Brian O’Donovan made a huge breakthrough yesterday when he won a tour card for the PGA China Tour. Brian was competing in the second qualifying tournament in the PGA backed China tour at the Mission Hills Haikou course. The former Bandon amateur opened on Friday with a 68 for a share of third place, and a solid second round saw him remain in the top five. However a one over par 73 on Saturday saw him drop to 16th, one place outside the qualifying places. After a shaky start on Sunday morning, he steadied and was one over par for his front nine. After hovering around the qualifying mark he birdied the final hole to move to two under par overall and safely inside the top 15. Now armed with a full tour card, Brian will qualify for the series of fourteen events, all based in China with the top five on the tour qualifying for the Web.com tour. There’s a run of six events starting in May with the second half kinking off in late August after a six-week break. The Bandon native was a member of the very successful team from Bandon Golf Club who won the Irish Senior Cup national title in 2010. It was a family affair for the O’Donovan’s, Brian’s Dad Donal was also on that team in Castlebar when they won the most prized team competition in Ireland.
After winning the top team event, Brian decided to pursue a full time career in golf, and enrolled in the PGA programme. Two years of study followed and Brian was based in Douglas Golf Club under Stephen Hayes while studying for his PGA qualification. Brian moved to China soon after qualifying as a PGA Professional in late 2013. While he hoped to remain competitive on the local professional tours, a knees problem ruled him out of competitive action for the best part of a year. He returned to competitive action via the qualifiers for the PGA China Tour events, while also continuing work develop as a teacher in the Mission Hills Golf Academy.
Kentucky based John Murphy is ready for competitive action later this month as the talented Kinsale golfer prepares to restart his season. The Irish Mens squad member is in his first year in the University of Louisville golf programme and despite an enforced lay-off due to knee surgery he’s really enjoyed the first semester in the US. After moving over to Kentucky in August, it was a slow start for Murphy that ultimately meant minor surgery on a recurrent knee problem. That side-lined John from competitive action but he worked on his rehab plan and will be in contention for a place when the first competition of new year in just a few weeks. The end of the rehab coincided with a return home for a few weeks to catch up with family and friends. “I came back to Ireland on the 14th of December and I was very excited to come back” said Murphy. Christmas didn’t disappoint, I had plenty time to hang out with my friends and family because I would consider myself very 
For most golfers in Cork, Jerry Keohane is the driving force behind Lee Valley. But Jerry says he owes a lot to the original course designer. “There was one man who inspired me to and I learned a huge amount from him in two and a half years. He was the most amazing man I ever met, Christy O’Connor Jnr.” In a time before google maps or 3D modelling, Christy was a traditionalist, walking the land to judge the layout as Jerry explained: “He just had a simple drawing, a layout of the course and nothing else. He walked each fairway when he came down every week, sometimes twice a week. I’d be watching him and you’d ask yourself what’s he’s doing. He had some paint and he’d go around and mark out the greens and the bunkers and I was amazed by the man. He had no drawings or detailed plans, his 
Cork Golf News 