John Murphy, winner of the Clutch Pro Tour event at Crondon Park Golf Club last week.
Photo Credit: Andy Crook
John Murphy capitalised on his recent good form with a win on the Clutch Pro Tour in Essex last week. Murphy was two shots behind the leader going into the final round, and five birdies in his final 11 holes got him into a three-way playoff. After a 6th and 11th place finish in previous events, Murphy took the top prize after a textbook par in the Continue reading
Longer days are on the way
Pic: Niall O’Shea
The slow but steady stretch in the evenings has been welcomed by golfers, as has the lower levels of rainfall. Although summer golf and firm ground is still not here, there has definitely been a large increase in the numbers of golfers getting out for a few holes. 2025 was a good year for Cork golf, and it might be hard to top some of those successes this year. There were national inter-club titles for Douglas, Monkstown and Lee Valley and on the individual front David Howard captured a championship win in Co Louth and John Doyle won the Irish Boys in Cork Golf Club.
There was success on the tour front also as Sara Byrne retained her LET tour card after an impressive rookie season, and James Sugrue won a Continue reading
Jack Murphy got his 2025 off in good fashion last week with a top ten performance in his first event of the new year. Murphy closed the 54 hole Southwestern Invitational in California with an impressive four under par 67, which included five birdies after an early bogey. After an opening 74, Murphy scored his first under par round of the year with a 70 in the second round. He bettered that again on Wednesday with his 67.
Jack’s head coach Alan Murray was delighted with the performance. “Jack played sensational and to be so competitive in a field this strong is something that should give him huge confidence and self-belief,” Murray said. “His four-under round today was one of the most impressive rounds I have seen from a college player. The guys battled hard again today and it was a step forward for us.” Continue reading
Cork Golf Club which wil host a number of national events in 2025. Pic: Niall O’Shea
2025 promises to be a busy and exciting year for Cork golfers and Cork golf clubs. Golf Ireland launched the 2025 calendar recently and four Cork courses will host important events in the months ahead.
Cork Golf Club will host four major events in a busy year for the club. In addition to the Munster Stroke Play which has been held on the May Bank Holiday weekend for over a decade, the Little Island club will also host the Flogas Irish Boys Amateur Open and the Boys Home Internationals. The club will also host the Women’s Cork Scratch Cup in early April.
Cork has a habit of being a winning venue for golfers who went on to greatness and with Irish Boys Captain watching over the field, he will be hoping for another winner with star potential when it comes to the Irish Boys. The last big winner in Cork was Shane Lowry, he won the Irish Close Championship when it was last held in Cork in 2007. Lowry beat local favourite Niall Turner in the final to claim his first Irish title. He went on to win the West and North, and the Mullingar Scratch Cup the following year, before winning the Continue reading
Sara Byrne pictured back at Douglas Golf Club with the Irish Women’s Close Trophy.
Picture: Niall O’Shea
2023 was another great year for golf in Cork. It didn’t hit some of the highs of previous years but there was a lot of success. There was just one national title added to the honour roll in 2023, that was when Sara Byrne won the AIG Irish Women’s Close in Connemara in June.
It was a second win for Sara, particularly impressive when you consider she’s only 21. She previously won in 2017 in Enniscrone, three years before she headed off to University of Miami. The win this year in Continue reading
John Murphy in action at the Horizon Irish Open in September.
Pic: Niall O’Shea
John Murphy is enjoying a well earned break after a long season on tour. The Kinsale golfer recently completed his third year as a tour professional, and had a punishing schedule of 27 tournaments which brought him to 21 different countries over three continents. 2023 was undoubtedly Murphy’s toughest year on tour, but the 25 year old battled until the end and will tee it up on the Challenge Tour in 2024.
Murphy made the season ending Challenge Tour final in 2022, but after a disappointing performance in the grand final he reversed his form and won at tour card for 2023 at the final stage of qualifying Continue reading
Rory Best, Ian Stafford, Ger Broderick and John Murphy pictured after completing the Pro Shop Challenge in Kinsale. Pic: Niall O’Shea
The proceeds from the 2023 Pro Shop Challenge were recently presented to the beneficiaries, with two local Cork charities benefiting from over €20,000 each. Cork ARC and Breakthrough Cancer Research were both selected as the charities that would benefit from the event, and both have strong links to the core of the event which was held in memory of Darragh Ryan. Darragh was involved in the original Kinsale Pro Shop Challenge when he was raising funds for Special Olympics. Sadly Darragh passed away in late 2022 after a battle with cancer. Darragh’s uncle, Ian Stafford set about creating a special Pro Shop Challenge for 2023. Firstly he managed to sign up Irish International Rory Best along with Kinsale tour Continue reading
Pictures from Kinsale: Continue reading
Kinsale’s Pro Shop Challenge takes place today, and the even has raised almost €30,000 for two Cork charities. A large crowd is expected in Kinsale this afternoon for the skins match that will see John Murphy and Rory Best take on Kinsale PGA Professionals Ger Broderick and Ian Stafford.
ARC House and Breakthrough Cancer Research are the beneficiaries of this years event and organiser Ian Stafford is thrilled with the response so far. “We absolutely delighted with the total of €28,000 so far. Our initial hopes going into this was that we could match what me made from the previous four events which was around €15,000 so to nearly double Continue reading
Sara Byrne (Douglas) in action in the AIG Irish Womens Close in 2022.
Picture: Niall O’Shea
Sara Byrne wrapped up her third year in the US with a solid performance at the NCAA National Championship. Sara was one of nine individual golfers who qualified for the finals in Greyhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale Arizona. She booked a place in the finals thanks to a second place finish in the Palm Beach Regional which should have been her final event of the college schedule. Byrne was just the second Cork golfer to make it to the NCAA finals, John Murphy played with Louisville in 2019 and again in 2021 in his senior year. It’s been another very positive season for the Douglas golfer, she recorded three top tens in the very competitive ACC conference and the third year led the Miami Hurricanes on a number of occasions. She played in 37 competitive rounds this year and had an impressive stroke average of 72.9, an improvement of over Continue reading
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