October

John Hickey (CIT) and Chloe Ryan (UCD) winners of the Irish Intervarsity Championship, Lahinch Golf Club, Clare, Ireland. 21/10/2016 Picture: Golffile | Fran Caffrey All photo usage must carry mandatory copyright credit (© Golffile | Fran Caffrey)

John Hickey won the Inter-Varsity Championship at Lahinch.  An opening 73 was followed by an impressive 68.  He kept the best for last however and a six under par 66 followed on the final day and Hickey won his first national championship by one stroke.  John Murphy enjoyed a great weekend in Portugal thanks to the Darren Clarke Foundation, the Kinsale golfer was selected after his win in the Munster Boys.

Sara Byrne, Mairead Martin, Rachel Thompson and Valerie Clancy were all named on ILGU high performance panels for the off season, while Kinsale’s Cathal Butler and John Murphy were both named on GUI national panels.  David Ryan shared the honours at the opening event of the Munster PGA winter series, he shot a 70 on a testing day in Dooks.

Fernhill members were dealt a blow when course owner Michael Bowes informed them that he would not be renewing memberships in 2017.  The was a huge disappointment for the 400+ members which had steadily built over the previous five years.  With no alternative Continue reading →

July
Castlemartyr formally launched their Ladies club and after a lot of hard work from the officers and from Brady Sherwood, they commenced club and open qualifying competitions.  The ladies club was the final piece of the jigsaw for the East Cork resort as earlier in 2016 that launched a junior club.  Muskerry claimed another AIG Jimmy Bruen pennant after some dramatic golf in Douglas.  While Mickelson and Stenson did battle in Troon, Muskerry survived a scare against Killarney and booked their place in the final on the third tie hole of the semi-final.  In the final they faced Nenagh, and after a shaky start they bounced back like true champions.  Muskerry’s Michael O’Callaghan and Jack Taylor closed out the match on the 17^th green in front of a huge Muskerry crowd Continue reading →

January
Weather was the main talking point for January as persistent rain hampered the start of the golfing year.  The Munster PGA were already playing catch-up from November and December, and they had three events planned for January but only one took place.

That was in Adare and it marked the final competition on the Robert Trent Jones Jnr designed course as it closed for major renovations.  The winner on the day was Cian McNamara who shot an impressive 68 to take the win.  McNamara credited his work with coach Eddie Doyle and Peter O’Keeffe’s TPI training programme as the keys reasons why his game was so good.

Niall Turner made a positive start to his season as a full card holder on the Asian Tour.  He finished his first event in Singapore in 23^rd place Continue reading →