James Sugrue in action in the South of Ireland last year
James Sugrue and John Murphy were today named on a 26 man extended panel for the Walker Cup, and both will be hoping for a good summer of golf to boost their chances of making the ten man team for September. The Walker Cup takes place in Royal Liverpool (Hoylake) later this year, and both will hope to follow in the footsteps of John McHenry (1987) and Jimmy Bruen (1938/49/51) in making the final team. Mallow’s Sugrue (22) was disappointed two weeks ago when he had to withdraw from the European Nations Cup due to injury. Now he’s back at full strength he’ll be looking forward to the squad practice in Hoylake next week prior to playing in the Lytham Trophy the following weekend. Kinsale’s John Murphy (20) is currently in Kentucky with Continue reading
This year could be summarised as a game of two halves for John Murphy. The Kinsale golfer spent the first half of the year playing well but struggling to get results, but the second half saw him hit some key milestones. These included an international win, an Irish cap and get finish to the season back in college in the US. While 2018 may have been his best year, Murphy didn’t feel like that at the beginning of the year a he explained. “The college semester was difficult for me” recalled Murphy. “I didn’t feel like I was competing as I had in the past. I wasn’t producing results that were reflecting how I was playing. In all honesty, I was worried, I was shooting some poor scores and I was getting very frustrated with myself. It was tough. I remember having a call with my parents at regionals where I just shot 7 over par. I told them I was playing well but I just couldn’t score, and then we all realized that I had been saying that all semester, and maybe I was being delusional. The week I got back 
ames Sugrue and Peter O’Keeffe were both named in the Irish team for the Home Internationals which take place in Wales in less than two weeks. For the first time in well over a decade, Cork will be represented by two golfers in an Irish Mens team. After missing out on selection for the European Team Championships in July, Sugrue finally gets his first senior international cap after coming close earlier this year. The Mallow man earned several caps at boys level and after a three year gap, he’ll be back in Irish colours in Conwy, Wales. Ireland won an unprecedented fourth title in a row last year, and this year they’ll be hoping to retain the title.
Kinsale’s John Murphy was named on the three man Irish team to play in the World Amateur Team Championship in Carton House next month. Murphy is joined by Tramore’s Robin Dawson and Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell. The team, which is captained by Bandon’s John Carroll will play in the Eisenhower Trophy which is played over four rounds starting on Wednesday 5th September. Dawson, who is ranked number six in the world rankings, secured his place as the top Irish golfer in the WAGR rankings, the Tramore man played on the Irish team in European Championships last month and won the Irish Amateur Open in Royal County Down at the start of the season and he was runner up at the Amateur Championship last month. Murphy and Purcell were both selected on their form this season, it’s Purcell’s second year on the Irish Mens team, a former junior tennis champions he recorded five top ten finished this year is addition to reaching the semi-final at the AIG Irish Close this week.
The Amateurs reclaimed the bragging rights in the Pro Shop Challenge last week, as Cathal Butler and John Murphy beat Ger Broderick and Ian Stafford in Kinsale. It was the third staging of the unique event and while the amateurs won on the course the real winner was the charity partners. Over €4,000 was raised for Marymount and the RNLI. Organiser Ian Stafford was delighted with the results of their fundraising event. “We’re absolutely delighted with the amount of money that we have raised to date which is in the region of €4,500” said Stafford. “To surpass our target of €3,600 by nearly €1,000 is phenomenal and much of this is down to the hard work of our captain Brian Doran who has been a huge help in securing sponsorship to the event. This year we had local businesses sponsoring each hole as well of a number of sponsored challenges throughout the round. To think when we first discussed this event three years ago that we would have raised nearly €11,000 from the first 3 events is hard to believe and we are absolutely delighted with the support we have got.”
Cathal Butler was delighted to win back the title they lost last year, although they may have had some assistance from 
Peter O’Keeffe and James Sugrue are safely through to the matchplay stage of the North of Ireland, comfortably finishing in the top 64 from the mammoth field of 300 golfers. O’Keeffe carded rounds of 68 and 70 over both courses in Royal Portrush to finish on -5 and in a tie for 4th place. The Douglas man fired in eight birdies and an eagle over the two rounds and if he can continue in that form he should extend his time in Portrush. He’s currently in action against Haryey Byers from Walton Heath in the first matchplay round.
