ILGU

Mairead Martin wins Irish Girls Close Championship

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2017 Irish Girls Close Championship at Mallow Golf Club

Mairead Martin (Kanturk) with the Girls Close Championship (Blake Cup) trophy after her victory at the 2017 Irish Girls Close Championship at Mallow Golf Club today. Picture by Pat Cashman

Kanturk’s Mairead Martin claimed her first national title today, and did so in front of a huge crowd of supporters in Mallow Golf Club.  Martin claimed the Irish Girls Close title after five days of golf in Mallow, and did so in style – never going beyond the 15th hole in the five matchplay rounds.  After confidently striking her first tee shot down their middle of the fairway, Mairead went 1 up through1 and didn’t ease up from there. Four up at the turn, birdies at the 10th and 11th saw Martin go 6 up with 7 holes to play. The match was finished in style with an eagle from Mairead at the 444-yard par 5 12th to close out the game 7&6.

“I’m delighted to win, my short game was on form this week, I pitched in for eagle on the 12th this afternoon to win the match which was a good way to finish”” said a happy Mairead.  “I was at home in my own bed all week too which was also nice and to have so much support from the club was class! I had my sister on the bag too this week which was entertaining! She doesn’t play much golf but I hope she might Continue reading →

Sara leads the way in Douglas

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Munster Senior Championship_Sara Byrne

Sixteen-year-old Sara Byrne is set to represent Ireland again later this month.  The Douglas golfer has been selected to represent Ireland at the European Young Masters later this month.  Oslo Golf Club in Norway will host the event over three days and Byrne along with Annabel Wilson were selected as Ireland’s two representatives by the ILGU.  Byrne has enjoyed a great season so far, and representing GB&I and Ireland in addition to several impressive individual performances.  On the representative front, Byrne was in Italy last week as the GB&I side took on Europe in the Junior Vagliano Trophy.  She also represented Ireland in the annual matches against Wales.  A large number of notable individual performances has seen her handicap drop from four to one over the first half of the season.  She hit the 1 mark in April while playing in the Munster Senior Open in Cork Golf Club.  That was an impressive result considering that the Douglas member opened with a disappointing 80.  She followed that with rounds of 75 and 73 to take second place overall.  She also captured the Munster Girls trophy as the best under eighteen golfer in the field.

In May she travelled to the Fairhaven Trophy in Lancashire where she finished in third place in the girls competition against an impressive international field.  She also recorded top three placings in the Lahinch and Carlow scratch cups in the early part of the season.  Most recently she had a top ten finish in the Irish Women’s Close.  Last week Sara represented Continue reading →

Girls International call-ups for Byrne, Clancy, Martin & Thompson.

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Sara Byrne Fairhaven 2017

Sara Byrne

Four Cork golfers were selected on the Irish Girls team today, they’ll be heading off to Finland next month to take place in the European Team Championships.  Sara Byrne (Douglas) will be making her debut at this level while Valerie Clancy (Killarney/Mitchelstown), Mairead Martin (Kanturk) and Rachel Thompson (Cork) were all selected on the team for the second time.

It’s a great achievement and a rare case where four of the six team members are from one county.  They will be joined by French U18 Champion Annabel Wilson (Lurgan) and Lauren Walsh (Castlewarden), who holed the winning putt at the Girls’ Home International matches on her Irish debut in last year.  Byrne was also selected for an Under 16 girls team and has posted some very positive results thus far in 2017, most impressively a 3rd place finish at the prestigious Fairhaven Trophy earlier this month.  The Team Captain Gemma Butler said  “the girls have had some fantastic results so far this year and having won the second flight at the 2016 European Championships, we are excited to build on that result this time around.”
Irish Girls’ European Team
St. Laurence, Finland (July 11 – 15)
Sara Byrne (Douglas)
Valerie Clancy (Killarney)
Mairead Martin (Kanturk)
Rachel Thompson (Cork)
Lauren Walsh (Castlewarden)
Annabel Wilson (Lurgan)
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Castlemartyr Drives Ahead with Ladies Offer

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castlemartyr-lady-captains-day_2After the official launch of the ladies club in Castlemartyr earlier this year, the five star resort has launched a very attractive membership offer for the year ahead.  The normal membership fee has been slashed to just €599 as the new club makes a play to attract ladies to the club.  Castlemartyrs’ PGA Professional Brady Sherwood has worked hard for the past two years to build and develop the ladies side of their membership packages.  “There has always been a demand for a ladies club in Castlemartyr Golf Club.” Said Sherwood.  “Due to our golf course originally being so busy with green fee players in the opening years, there was never really a clear focus on the ladies membership until now.   This inland Links style golf course is easy to walk and not too long or over challenging.  It’s also a resort style set up, so it’s always prepared and set up beautifully for enjoyable golf.  The feedback we get from lady golfers is extremely positive and they love the fact being sand based you can twelve months of the year in great condition, the majority of the new lady members that have joined Castlemartyr for the simple fact of accessing the seven-day full membership Continue reading →

McNamara top 10 at Irish PGA, No joy for East Cork at Ladies Senior Foursomes

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Golf_Cian McNamara_Monkstown GC_June2014Cian McNamara shot an impressive 73 today in very testing conditions to stay in contention at Moyvalley.  High winds hampered golfers all day with the later starters suffering the most.  McNamara’s solid round means that he’s in 7th place and just four shots off the lead.  David Higgins also carded a 73 and he’s in 12th place.  David Barry had one of the best rounds of the afternoon, his two over par 74 has him on +1 for the tournament and in a tie for 15th place.

Ciaran McKenna is tied for 36th place after a second round 78.  He’s on +8 for his first 36 holes.  David Ryan looked like missing the cut after a second round 78, but the afternoon scores saw him jump a few places and he made it through to the weekend right on the cut mark of +11.  Padraig Dooley, Stephen Hayes, Ronan Collins and Conor Coyne all had round in the 80’s and missed the cut which was limited to the top 50 plus ties.  Daniel Crowley and Peter Hickey also missed the cut after poor opening round yesterday.  The lead in the Continue reading →

Noleen Duffy wins inaugural Castlemartyr Lady Captain’s Prize

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castlemartyr-lady-captains-day_1Lady Captain’s Kate Heffernan’s Day  Results 11th September 2016

1st Noleen Duffy 35pts (24)
2nd Marguerite O’Brien 30 pts (24)
3rd Patricia Kearney 26pts (28)

4th Kay McNamara 26pts (24)

Best Beginner Claire McHugh
Front Nine Jacqui Daly 16 Pts (32)
Back Nine Lesley O’Leary 14 (35)
Nearest the Pin Maeve Troupe Kelly

castlemartyr-lady-captains-day_2

East Cork win Eileen Murphy Foursomes

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Eileen Murphy Foursomes East Cork 2016East Cork won the Eileen Murphy Memorial foursomes at Cork Golf Club yesterday after a great score of 39 points saw them finish two ahead of the field.  A full timesheet saw 40 clubs from all over Munster take part in the event.

East Cork’s Fran Fitzpatrick and Deirdre O’Mahony had the best score on a day when the course at Cork was in great condition.  The regional final of the Revive Active Fourball takes place in Castletroy today.  Unfortunately there are no Cork clubs involved, Fota Island lost out at the semi-final stage, having beaten Macroom in the quarter final.  Today’s final will see Thurles take on Cahir Park.

Eileen Murphy Foursomes, Cork Golf Club

 1: East Cork Golf Club, Deirdre O’Mahony (8) &  Fran Fitzpatrick (29) 39 pts
2: Blarney Golf Club, Marie O’Sullivan (19) & Anne O’Driscoll (24) 37 pts
Gross: Cork Golf Club, Michelle Tobin (8) & Irene Rafferty (11) 22pts
3: Lahinch Golf Club: Lynn Slattery (17) & Mart O’Brien (21) 34 pts

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Byrne loses out on 23rd hole in Irish Close Plate

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2016 Irish Girls Close Championship at Kilkenny Golf Club

Sara Byrne (Douglas) competing in the semi final of the Plate (Pat Fletcher Trophy) at the 2016 Irish Girls Close Championship at Kilkenny Golf Club.. Picture by Pat Cashman

Sara Byrne from Douglas was the unlucky loser in a titanic battle at the plate final in the Irish Girls Close at Kilkenny yesterday.  The 23 hole battle was Byrne’s second time that day going to additional holes.  In the morning semi final she beat Cork’s Rachel Thompson on the 19th.

Byrne got off to a good start in the final, with 2 birdies and a par to bring her 4 shots clear after 8 holes.  Sara’s opponent Beth Coulter wasn’t going to be put off and clawed back the deficit with a number of birdies.  It took 23 holes for the match to come to an eventual conclusion in which the Douglas member lost out.

Byrne had finished in the top ten after the first two strokeplay rounds.  Mairead Martin was third in the strokeplay qualifier and Rachel Thompson and Valerie Clancy were tied for fifth place.  Martin made it through to championship semi- Continue reading →

Clancy & Thompson in Top Ten at Lahinch

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Valerie Clancy

Valerie Clancy

Six of the nine Cork golfers in the Women’s Close have made it through to the matchplay stage which starts tomorrow morning.  Mitchelstown’s Valerie Clancy finished the 36 hole stroke play qualifier in 8th place.  A one under par 73 in he second round saw he jump up the leaderboard.  Cork’s Rachel Thompson recorded a 75/76 to also finish on +3.

Kanturk’s Mairead Martin was the third Cork golfer to finish on +3.  Paula Walsh (Doneraile) finished in 16th place and Sara Byrne and Gillian O’Leary (now representing The Island) also made the cut to get into the matchplay.  Lahinch’s Sinead Sexton led the way with a -4 total, three strokes better than second placed Chloe Ryan.  Olivia Mehaffey, Maria Dunne and Mary Doyle are all safely through to the next round.

 

The top 32 now face off tomorrow which Continue reading →

Brid Cronin (Fota Island) through to Q/F in Waterville

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Brid Cronin (Fota Island) is the last remaining Cork golfer in the ILGU Munster Junior Open at Waterville.  Cronin will face Christine Carroll tomorrow morning in the quarter final.

Catherine Kavanagh (Mitchelstown), Fidelma O’Connor (Kanturk) and Mary Bergin (Monkstown) lost their secound round matches this afternoon.  Mary Crowley (Skibbereen), Geraldine Walley (Cork) and Marie O’Driscoll (Fota Island) all lost out in the first matchplay round this morning.

2016 Munster Junior Open Championship – Matchplay

Jemma Barry from Douglas was runner up in the Stableford P Continue reading →