Kanturk Golf Club was one of 12 Cork clubs to receive a Sports Capital Programme grant last week. Picture: Niall O’Shea
A dozen Cork golf clubs celebrated last week as they were successful in the most recent round of Sports Capital Programme grants. Over €830,000 was allocated to twelve clubs across the county, and they will now look forward to investing the funds to improve their course and facilities.
Kanturk, Mallow, Kinsale and Doneraile all received grants of more than €100,000 while another eight shared funds from €14,000 to €90,000. While golf clubs have received sports capital funding in the past, the recent announcement is by far the biggest on an individual and collective Continue reading
Mairead Martin recently enjoyed a few weeks at home after an exciting few months in the US on a golf scholarship in Kentucky. The Kanturk golfer who completed her leaving cert in June and in August she moved to start with their acclaimed womens golf programme. It was a great first semester, Mairead finished the second highest ranked golfer on the roster claiming two top ten finishes on her first five tournaments. It was a busy few months for the teenager as she settled into her new home for the next few years. “The first couple of weeks were tough and quite intense it took a while for me to get used to how busy each day was between school, practice and workouts” explained Mairead. “I struggled to find time to even think about home or even be homesick. When I arrived in Louisville the team and coaches couldn’t have been 
Kanturk’s Mairead Martin has been hitting the headlines for two years on the golf course, and she’ll be one to watch in 2018 as she play’s what’s likely to be her final full season in Ireland for a few years. The Leaving Cert student is hoping to take up a US college scholarship next year and will be working hard to make another impression. She spent most of the season playing off +1 and had a number of wins and great team performances for club and country. Just six years after first playing golf, Mairead is in the top echelons of the sport. Now the season has ended, Mairead can look back on another successful season. The big win of the year came in Mallow when Mairead claimed a national title. The Irish Girls close was a huge win, especially when it was played Mallow. There was no let up as Mairead went on to win again 
Gary Ward had a double win last weekend, the Kinsale man scooped two senior scratch cups over the course of two days. On Saturday he headed to Kanturk and went around the North Cork course in one under par to record his second win of the year. On Sunday it was off to Co Clare for the 36 Dromoland Senior Scratch Cup, and Ward topped the leaderboard again after shooting rounds of 69 and 77. Ward won the Cobh Senior Scratch Cup in May, shooting a course record 66 on the way to his first senior scratch cup title. Ward played Kanturk for the first time on Saturday and it was a winning debut as he described. “It was my first time playing Kanturk and all I knew was that it was tight” said Ward. “I hit the ball where I could see it and played really steady golf the whole way around. The pins were very tough, a few hanging off slopes so it was tough to put it close. I never went over par and never went better than -2, my 3rd birdie on the par 3 16th saved my round and took my pars on 17 and 18 for a 70 to win by 1 from Peter Duane.”
Cork Golf News 