There was great excitement in Douglas on Monday as the final of the William Dwyer Inter-Society Trophy took place. Midleton CBS Past Pupils Union were aiming to win the trophy for a third year in a row, but in their way were seven other teams who all had eyes on the trophy. Douglas was in great condition for the annual event, two qualifying rounds took place in Mahon last month and the top eight qualifiers lined out for the final. The format is scotch foursomes with each team fielding four pairs. This was the 78th staging of the oldest inter-society event in the country. The winners on the day were Senior Circle, in a very close contest that went to the final card to determine the winner. Barry Ryan and Ray Duane were first out for Mahon’s Senior Circle and they came home with a respectable level par 72. Sean Hosford and Denis O’Sullivan were second out and they shot a very impressive Continue reading
Douglas Golf Club
Douglas win for Greg
It’s a competition that tends to throw up a few first-time winners, and today the Douglas Scratch Cup did exactly that. Greg O’Mahony from Fota Island took the honours, shooting impressive rounds of 68 & 75 to with the Kieran Canty Financial Services Douglas Senior Scratch Cup. O’Mahony’s opened with a four under par 68. After a steady opening nine, the Fota man came back in five under, including and eagle-birdie finish, to take the 18 hole lead. That was one ahead of Peter O’Keeffe and two ahead of Shane Galvin. Crucially there were 11 players within four shots of O’Mahony, and it’s rare enough in Douglas for the leader at halfway Continue reading
Gallery: Douglas Senior Scratch Cup, sponsored by Kieran Canty Financial Services
Pictures from Douglas: Continue reading
No Joy for Cork or Douglas in Senior Cup
Douglas and Cork both made it as far as the semi-finals of the Ladies Irish Senior Cup which took place in Thurles over the weekend. Douglas faced Kinsale in the first round and it was the city side who won. Sara Byrne, Karen O’Neill, Clodagh Coughlan and Jemma Barry all recorded wins while Kate McCann halved her match. While it was a good win for Douglas it should be noted that Kinsale gave up over 40 shots in total in the five matches. In the second round Douglas were up against local opposition again, this time it was East Cork. Douglas led from the start with Byrne, O’Neill and Coughlan winning their matches. That was as good as it would get for Douglas as they lost out to Lahinch in the semi-final. The handicaps were going against Douglas in this match, with 16 shots between the two sides. Chloe Ryan and Sinead Sexton (both playing off +3) won the first two matches, and the contest was over when Lahinch’s Sarah Cunningham won on the 16th. Lahinch would go on to have an impressive win over Killarney in the final on Sunday aftermoon.
Cork had a good start on Saturday with an opening win over Ballybunion in the first round. There were wins for Rachel Thompson, Claire Coughlan Ryan and recently returned Paula Walsh while Miriam Abernethy and Ailish Thompson were Continue reading
Sawgrass Memories for Alex
Alex Newenham embarked on the dream greenkeeping assignment recently when he travelled to Florida for the Players Championship at Sawgrass. Alex attend the PGA Tour event as one of seven representatives from Britain and Ireland, and it was the trip of a lifetime for the Douglas greenkeeper; “Needless to say the whole experience from start to finish was incredible and without wanting to use every cliche going that we hear so much on the X-Factor it was life giving and changing. I found it a worthwhile experience – professionally and personally.” The 12 day trip was a working holiday, with the team of visiting greenkeepers working as part of the 70 plus team on duty, and Alex described the schedule: “The working day was hard, not because of the actual work itself because there is such a team environment that others keep you going when you’re struggling, but because of the length of it and in my case the Continue reading
Alex set for Sawgrass
Alex Newenham
Alex Newenham from Douglas has landed one of the biggest “busman’s holidays” in golf, as he has been selected to work as part of the course team for The Players Championship at Sawgrass in Florida next week. While many golfers would love the chance to attend a tour event, Alex will get an inside the ropes experience at the event that’s known as the fifth major. John Deere, the machinery providers in Sawgrass have worked with the greenkeeping bodies in England and Ireland (GCSAI) to give seven greenkeepers an opportunity to work at the showpiece tour event. Alex, who has worked in Douglas Golf Club for the past 14 years, was selected following an application and interview process completed late last year. His reward is a 13 day trip to Florida, taking in eight days at the Players. “This is the sixth year of this partnership and is open to all members of the GCSAI to apply” explained Alex. “I applied last October and was fortunate enough to be shortlisted along with three others for interview in November. I was so delighted later on that day to receive word that I had in fact been chosen to represent the GCSAI this year in Sawgrass.” Alex is one Continue reading
Busy Times at Douglas Pro Shop
Stephen Hayes and Shane Livesey
There’s quite a bit going on in Douglas Golf Club at the moment, from new members to course developments, and changes to personnel it’s a busy place. The Pro Shop run by club professional Stephen Hayes is also a busy spot with a new member of staff and a new teaching facility now up and running. Stephen, who has been the Club Professional in Douglas since 2010 had a fitting bay at the range for several years until the extreme weather got the better of it. “Unfortunately the old bay got blown down in Storm Ophelia in late 2017” explained Stephen. “I had built this teaching bay with my brother in law and Dad when I was Club Professional in Kilkea Castle in 2009. We had it loaded onto lorry in 2010 and transported to Douglas when I took up position so it’s fair to say it served me well for nine years. The new teaching/fitting bay is addition to the indoor bay. The new bay has Continue reading
Sara Bags Another Award
Roger Russell, General Manager of The Metropole Hotel, presenting the youth sports awards trophy to Sara Byrne Douglas Golf Club with John Buckley, John Buckley Sports, Award Sponsor.
Picture: Gerard Bonus.
Sara Byrne was back in the news last week when she won yet another award. The Douglas teenager won the Cork City and County Youth Sports Award last week at a reception in the Metropole Hotel. It was a great award to win, beating the 11 other monthly award winners to scoop the title. This is the second award for Byrne, who was named the Irish Golf Writers Womens Amateur Golfer of the Year Award in December. For Sara and her family it was a change to reflect on the successes of the year, although Sara was a bit more clinical in her review of the year when she accepted the award. “2018 was a bit of a rollercoaster year” said the Douglas and Ireland golfer, “there were plenty of ups and downs and feeling frustrated at times, but the adrenaline rush is unreal when you succeed. Last year gave me some really hard knocks but some magical moments also. I’ve advanced my goals hugely, Irish Ladies Champion. Irish Girls Order of Merit winner, getting to +1 handicap and getting to into the top 100 in the WAGR rankings”.
There was more than that for the talented teenager. She represented Ireland at Continue reading
Busy off-season for O’Keeffe
Peter O’Keeffe (Douglas) rejoins the Munster team for the first time since 2007 when he was part of the winning team. Picture: Niall O’Shea
It’s been a busy off season for Peter O’Keeffe, while many golfers have put the sticks away until January, O’Keeffe is still working hard. The Doulas elite amateur was in Spain last week, and he finished sixth in a Gecko Tour event. The Gecko Tour is a mini-tour based in Spain, generally featuring emerging professional golfers. O’Keeffe shot a final round 67 to jump up the leaderboard and finish on -4 for his 54 holes. It was a good finish for Peter, he was +3 halfway though his second round so his strong finish was a real positive. Peter has had another good year at the top level. In March he retained his Kerry Scratch Cup title, and while he didn’t repeat his 2017 feat of winning a national championship, he was competitive in almost every event. He reached the quarter final of the Irish Close and finished in the top eight on the Bridgestone Order of Merit. He retained his place on the Irish team for the Home Internationals, a team that narrowly lost out to England. O’Keeffe has risen up the international rankings also, he started the year at 752 on WAGR, but he Continue reading
2018 – Breakthrough year for Byrne
2018 was a breakthrough year for Sara Byrne, and that was recognised last week when she won the Irish Golf Writers Womens Amateur of the Year award. The award was a reflection on the results Sara achieved during the year as well representing Ireland at two international competitions. It was a busy year for Sara, although she committed to playing in fewer events this year, the competitions she did select were higher in profile and the quality of the field was generally stronger. In terms of other awards, Byrne topped the Girls Order of Merit by a clear margin, and she also finished third on the women’s order of merit. Sara’s season started in March when she finished third in the Munster Womens Championship in Killarney. Rounds of 74, 75 and 78 saw her claim a podium finish although she did miss out on retaining her Munster Girls title by one shot. Despite playing well, she couldn’t manage to claim the top spot until she got to Enniscrone in June for the Irish Womens Close. She came through two rounds of Strokeplay and five rounds of matchplay golf to win the national title. Aside from the mental battle of matchplay, she also had to contend with extreme weather as wind and Continue reading
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