Monkstown’s Tom Egan who won the Irish Senior Cup in 1963 pictured members of the 2016 winning team; Manager Martin Walsh, Donal McDonnell, Eoghan Long and Monkstown Captain Carl Toal.
One of Monkstown’s most famous golfers Tom Egan passed away on Friday aged 89. The Irish International dominated the amateur game for two decades in the 50’s and 60’s. TW, as he was known, was Monkstown born and bred, his home was bordering the course and regularly jumped the wall to practice around the old fourth hole as a boy.
Egan’s practice played dividends and it showed when he played in his very first competition. Just short of his 18th birthday he was given a handicap by the club, this normally didn’t happen until juniors turned 18. TW was given a handicap of 12 and went on to shoot s 78 (66 nett) to win the 1947 President’s Prize. His handicap was swiftly cut to six and he was down to scratch soon after.
Outside of Monkstown, Tom went on to win two major amateur titles in addition to a large number of local wins. Having reached the final of the South of Ireland in 1951 he went on to win the Irish Close in 1962. He defeated Joe Brown of Waterford at the fifth playoff hole at Cragivad (Royal Belfast). His greatest performance came ten years later when he won the 1962 East of Ireland. In the third round Egan blitzed the field with eight consecutive birdies on the front nine. That was a record (amateur & pro) that would last over 40 years until Mark Calcavechia birdied nine in a row in 2009. Egan’s wins include the Cork Scratch Cup in 1960 and 1969, Douglas in ‘59, ‘62 and ‘67, as well as wins in Muskerry and Castletroy.
In total Egan earned 54 caps for Ireland and his most celebrated performance in the green came in the final of the European Team Championship in Turin in 1967. The final was nip and tuck until the Monkstown man produced a lengthy putt on the 18th green that saw Ireland win by 4 matches to 3. One of his more recent outings on a course happened in 2004 when Baltray hosted an Irish open. Tom was invited to play a round with Padraig Harrington and received a special award in recognition of that amazing front nine 42 years earlier. Although he played for Cork GC in the Senior Cup in the early 50’s, Egan was always a Monkstown man first and foremost. In 1963 he was part of the Monkstown Senior Cup team who won the Munster title, and he was very proud when the 2016 winning team called to him after the Munster final. Tom is survived by his wife Angela and nine children Paula, Anne, Frank, Denise, Tommy, Michelle, Robert, Michael and Louise.
Monkstown’s Ferghal Collins tees it up in the K Club this week, he’s the only Cork golfer to make it through to the inaugural finals of the All Ireland Gold medal. Collins is among the top 36 golfers, the finalists made it through to play on the famous Palmer Course in the K Club, the host course for the 2006 Ryder Cup. There were three stages to the event, which is a unique to the GUI calendar. It’s the only event that club golfers can participate at individual level in an all-Ireland GUI event. Spread across three different handicap categories, the competition was open to all club members with free entry for all affiliated golf clubs. To qualify for the new competition each club who entered nominated one of their singles competitions as a club qualifier. Entrants on the day competed in one of three handicap categories – 9 and below, 10-17 or 18 and over. The best nett score in each category qualified for the regional final. From there the three golfers progressed to the regional finals hosted by Cahir Park in August. Collins was one of the top three in his category (10-17) and qualified for the All Ireland final this week.
Monkstown Golf Club are hosting a unique challenge on Saturday, two golfers will try and complete 180 holes in one day. Monkstown’s Club Professional Cian McNamara and General Manager Brian Hurley have set themselves the challenge to play ten rounds of golf in one day. Playing under the rules of golf, and counting both scores, the pair will be walking the course adding to the difficulty of the task. Starting at 4.30am on Saturday morning (28 minutes before dawn!), the challenge is expected to last well into the evening, and with no guarantee of success the two PGA Professionals will have a long day ahead of them on Saturday. The only other similar feat in Cork was completed by Lee Valley’s Denis O’Brien who completed seven rounds at the Clashnure course in Ovens well over a decade ago.