Monkstown’s Shane Irwin held his overnight lead to claim the PGA Assistants title in Nuremore yesterday, winning by a margin of five shots over the field. Rounds of 76 and 72 yesterday were more than enough to keep a healthy distance between himself and the pack as the Limerick native went on to claim his biggest PGA win to date. Irwin’s impressive 69 and 67 on day one gave him a great start, he had a six shot lead at the halfway stage.
“I didn’t expect to win but I expected to do well. I went for a lesson with coach Eddie Doyle a couple of weeks ago and I did feel confident,” said the 24-year-old. “The first day was very good. I played some solid golf in round one. The second round was very similar and I managed to pick up a few birdies.” Holding the top spot was a new experience for Shane, but he retained a comfortable margin despite much tougher conditions on day two. “It was tough over the final 36-holes. I had never led a PGA tournament or anything like that. I tried to stick to the game plan and Continue reading
Cian McNamara is just two shots off the lead in the PGA Professional Championship at Little Aston. The Monkstown man produced rounds of 67 and 69 to reach the halfway stage on -8 and tied for 4th place. McNamara is on a run of good form and had 13 birdies over the two rounds to put himself in a position to claim the £10,000 top prize. McNamara has finished in the top ten last year and will be hoping for another decent payday this year. David Higgins is just outside the top ten on -6 and Headforts Joe Dillon is just one off the lead on -9.
Monkstown Head Professional Cian McNamara has an exciting event next week, he’s heading to France for stage one of the European Tour Qualifying School. McNamara has spent well over three years in Monkstown and the Limerick native was appointed as Head Professional two years ago. Prior that he was effectively a full-time player on the Irish PGA circuit. After a year in Monkstown an opportunity arose to become head pro, and in the past two years Cian has grown into the prestigious position. It was a big change for Cian but one that has worked out. “Things have changed dramatically for me over the two years. I have far more responsibility now than I ever had in my life but I feel I am growing into the position and hope that members of the golf club feel that I am improving in the role more as time is going on” said Cian on 
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