Kinsale Golf Club

Kinsale delivers for Irish Seniors Championships

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Kinsale Captain Gavin Farrissey pictured with club officers and the winners from the Irish Seniors Championships.
Picture: Kinsale Golf Club.

Kinsale Golf Club hosted two major competitions last week and the mature parkland course at Farrangalway was in pristine condition for the Irish Seniors Championships.  Close to 150 Ladies and Men teed it up on over three days.  Kinsale was in great condition for the event, it was clear that the greenkeeping team had left nothing to chance as plenty of competitors commented on the quality of the course and in particular the greens.

The only negative to the week was that there wasn’t a home winner.  Shane Kenneally was the holder coming into the event but couldn’t match last year’s feat.  He battled all the way and finished in 17th place.  Fellow Kinsale golfer Kieran McCarthy was also in the mix, trading shots with Bandon’s Dave McCarthy in the final round.  The Bandon golfer shot a Continue reading →

Byrne set for Irish pro debut

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Sara Byrne 

Sara Byrne will tee it up for the first time as a professional in Ireland this week as she takes part in her second KPMG Irish woman’s open the Douglas golfer is in her first year in the professional ranks having turned pro after the Curtis cup last Sept.  Sara is one of nine professionals and seven amateurs playing in Carton House this week, a record number of Irish golfers to feature at the event.

The event attracted over 34,000 spectators last year in it’s first visit to Carton House and this year’s numbers are likely to be bigger, especially if any of the Irish are still in contention going into the weekend.  Tickets for Saturday and Sunday are just €25 and under 16’s are free with a paying adult.  The KPMG Women’s Irish Open returned in 2022 after a ten year gap, with Continue reading →

Exciting 2025 ahead for Cork Golf

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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 →

Success for Byrne, Cork, Douglas and Munster Women

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Sara Byrne teeing off the 18th in Lahinch on the final day of the Arnold Palmer Cup

Sara Byrne was one of the stars of the show last weekend as Lahinch hosted the Arnold Palmer Cup.  Byrne, the first Cork player to feature in the annual event which sees 48 top college golfers face off on American and International teams.

Byrne was paired with Max Kennedy for the mixed fourball and mixed foursomes and the pair scored two wins in their matches.  In Sunday’s singles she faced the recent winner of the Women’s Amateur, Melanie Green.  Teeing off from the 1st, there was a huge crowd around the clubhouse to follow Continue reading →

Bornemann Playoff win at Munster Seniors

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Karl Bornemann receiving the Munster Seniors Trophy from Michael Coote, also included are Kinsale’s Derry Coughlan (Captain), Carol Deeney (Lady Captain) and Hal McElroy (President). Picture: Niall O’Shea

Karl Bornemann won the Munster Seniors in Kinsale last week, winning in dramatic fashion with a sudden death playoff win.  Bornemann, who has suffered with injuries for much of the past two seasons, saved his best golf for the end.  He birdied the 17th and 18th to force a playoff with David Mulholland, and he beat his fellow Irish International on the second playoff hole.

Bornemann led the tournament after the opening round on Wednesday, he was the only player to go under par posting a two under 70.  Two early birdies were offset by two dropped shots but an eagle on the last saw him hold the overnight lead by two strokes.

He battled on Thursday and crucially birdied the final two holes to reach a playoff Continue reading →

Murphy Enjoying Well Earned Break

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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 →

Pro Shop Challenge Cheques Presented

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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 →

Poucher wins Kinsale Scratch Cup

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Partin Poucher receiving the Kinsale Senior Scratch Cup from Tim Smyth from sponsors ODG Advisory.

Martin Poucher claimed his first scratch cup in almost a decade when he won in Kinsale on Saturday.  The Limerick native was the only one to get around Farrangalway in level par in what was a very testing morning for golf.  The winner found himself three over par after 12 holes, but a massive 40 foot birdie putt dropped to start a charge to the finish.  Three more pars and two birdies followed, he birdied the last to get to level and that proved to be the winning score.

West Waterford’s Mark Shanahan was one behind the winner on +1 and Cork’s Jonathan O’Sullivan took third place with a 74.  James Walsh rounded off the prize winners in fourth place, he also shot a two over Continue reading →

ProShop Challenge raises €30k

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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 →