National win for Barry & Coughlan, ILGU Australian Spoons

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com
Australian Spoons at Co Longfort Golf Club

Winners of the 2017 Australian Spoons Claire Coughlan Ryan and Oonagh Barry (Cork) after the 2017 Australian Spoons All-Ireland Final at Longford Golf Club. Pic: Jenny Matthews (www.cashmanphotography.ie)

Claire Coughlan Ryan and Oonagh Barry win the Australian Spoons at Co. Longford Golf Club earlier this week.  Despite wet and heavy conditions the Cork pairing of Claire Coughlan Ryan and Oonagh Barry were a model of consistency with 19 points on both the front and extremely tricky back nine at Co. Longford Golf Club in a round that had birdies at the par 3 8th and par 4 15th.  Last years winners Helen Jones and Vivienne Houston (Royal Portrush) won the best gross.  Presented to the ILGU in 1967 by the Australian Ladies Golf Union to support players representing Ireland at International Competitions, the Australian Spoons is contended for by clubs across Ireland.  Clubs hold an 18 hole stableford greensomes qualifier, in which their nett and gross winners progress to the District Finals.
Results:
​​1st  38 pts  Claire Coughlan Ryan (1) & Oonagh Barry (14) – Cork

Gross  30 pts Helen Jones (3) & Vivienne Houston (5) – Royal Portrush
2nd 36 pts Christina Rush (19) & Hannah Grant (20) – Claremorris
3rd  35 pts  Caroline Delaney (21) and Mary Dolan (30) – Mountbellew
4th  35 pts  Carmel Mullan (33) and Maura Ryan (25) – Elm Park

Sugrue 3rd heading into final round at Irish Students

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com

Sugrue5James Sugrue shot the low round of the day today in Bray, as he jumped up to 3rd place in the Irish Students Championship
The Mallow man had a back nine – included four birdies that saw him sign for a three under par round our 67. Sugrue is just three shots of the lead which is held by Alan Fahy from Maynooth.
Five other Cork golfers made the cut for tomorrow’s final round. Mark Healy is tied for 21st position on +3 while fellow Kinsale member Cathal Butler is two back just outside the top 30, Butler is also second in the team event. UCC duo Darren Hourihan and Sean Desmond also made the cut while Adam McSweeeny was one shot outside the cut mark.
Aoife Ni Thuama (UCC) also made the cut, the Douglas golfer is in Continue reading →

Fernhill course set to close

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com

fernhillTomorrow will be the last day to play Fernhill golf course, as the course is set to close for the last time on 31st August.  Owner Michael Bowes has confirmed his intention to close the course at the end of the month, citing an ongoing trading loss as the reason.  This follows the winding down of the golf club in Fernhill in 2016.  The owner did not offer members the option to renew their membership after December 2018 and since then the course operated under a pay and play basis over the past eight months.

Fernhill is the latest casualty in the industry.  Ringenane, Blarney, and Harbour Point all closed over through the past decade.  Many golfers questioned Fernhill’s ability to reverse trading losses with the loss of the club revenues.  Last year in an email to members the ower cited extensive losses in the off peak season and intimated that these were unsustainable in the long term.

A few months ago Bowes put the hotel in Fernhill up for sale with a guide price of €4.5m.  The golf course and clubhouse was not included at that time.  The entire property which covers approximately 80 acres was designated as a Strategic Land Reserve in the recent draft Local Area Plan, indicating potential for housing development in the future.

Fernhill Closing tweet1

Top Ten for Davey in Derry

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com
Golf_Davey Barry_2 2016

 Davey Barry

Davey Barry was in the top ten at the 36 hole Waled City of Derry pro-am over the weekend.  Davey shot a two under par 69 to finish on three under in a tie for 7th place.It’s Davey’s first top ten since May although the busy Douglas professional has been playing on a reduced schedule.  Davey has been a busy man this year, he completed his PGA studies earlier this year and he’s been busy coaching and teaching in Douglas over the past three months.  He’s made the cut in all 14 events that he has play in, and has earned prize money in nine events.

It has been a quiet year for Cork golfers, Michael Collins and Wayne O’Callaghan cut back their schedule in 2016 and this year both Cian McNamara and David Ryan have also reduced their number of events.  Davey will be back in action next week in the St Margaret’s and then it’s on to Rosslare where he’ll defend the title he won last year.  After that the PGA season will start to wind down, the last pro-ams on the schedule are Lutrellstown, Tulfarris and Galway Bay with the season closing with the €20,000 Connemara pro-am in late September.

Damien McGrane continues to lead the PGA Irish Region Order of Merit, the Wexford based professional has a sizeable lead over David Higgins and looks likely to win the Order of Merit at this stage.  Simon Thornton is in third place and David Ryan is the best placed Cork golfer in 15th place.

 

 

Clancy & Martin help Killarney to Senior Cup title

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com
Killarney ILGU Senior Cup

Killarney who won the ILGU Senior Cup on Saturday.  Pic: Pat Cashmn

Mairead Martin and Valerie Clancy played a key part in Killarney’s Irish Senior Cup win over the weekend.  The Cork girls were playing in the ILGU finals at Royal Curragh and they helped Killarney pick up their first national Senior Cup pennant.  Mairead who is playing out of Kanturk and Valerie who is from Mitchelstown have been attached to Killarney for several years and while both have had plenty of individual success, this team win was their first at national level.  Both have been capped at international level this year so the Senior Cup winners medal is a great finish to a very busy summer season for the pair.  Kilkenny were the quarter final opponents and the Cork girls led the playing order with both girls winning their matches.  There was more of the same on Friday afternoon when another two wins helped Killarney overcome The Island.  On Saturday morning they faced Continue reading →

Butler & Sugrue bow out in Irish Close, Egan & Costello make the cut in Irish Boys U16

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com
Munster Boys Under 16 Open Championship 2016, Nenagh Golf Club, Wednesday 29th June 2016, Jack Egan

Jack Egan (Muskerry)

Cathal Butler and James Sugrue both lost out in the first matchplay round at the AIG Irish Close Championship in Galway yesterday.  They were the only two Cork golfers to make it into the top 64 after the 36 hole strokeplay qualifier.  Butler was up against West of Ireland winner Barry Anderson and the Kinsale man was one up after 14, but Anderson won three holes on the trot to close the match on the 17th.  Sugrue brought his match to the 18th, but crucially couldn’t win the final hole and lost by one hole to Portmarnock’s James Fox.

Muskerry’s Jack Egan made the cut for the final round at the Irish Boys Under 16 Open in Rockmount.  Egan was going around nicely today until he found trouble on the 17th and had to sign for an 80.  Still he ended up two inside the cut mark, just inside the top 25.  Kinsale’s Jody Costello shot rounds of Continue reading →

Bornemann named in Irish Seniors Team

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com

Karl Bornemann July 2017_2Karl Bornemann was today named in the Irish Seniors team that will take part in the European Seniors Championship next month.  Bornemann, who is also Captain of Douglas Golf Club this year has been on the selectors radar for two years, and his selection is a result of some solid performances over that time.  This year he was 6th in the Irish Seniors Close in Malone and he recorded a top ten finish in the European Seniors Individual Championship in Austria in June.  Last year he took third place in the same event.  Bornemann previously missed out on an Irish cap although he was named as a non travelling reserve for one Irish squad.  The team which will be managed by Mahon’s Sean O’Leary  has three changes to the 2016 team, Bornemann is joined by Eamon Haugh (Castletroy) and John Mitchell (Tramore), with Cork’s Tom Cleary one of the three that missed out.

The team will be taking part in the European Seniors Team Championship which takes place from 5-9 September at PGA Sweden National.

Irish Seniors Team

Jim Carvill, Banbridge
Karl Bornemann, Douglas
Eamon Haugh, Castletroy
Garth McGimpsey, Royal Portrush
Adrian Morrow, Portmarnock
John Mitchell, Tramore
The team is captained by Sean O’Leary and the team manager is Brian Hutchinson.
walker_01