Peter O’Keeffe

O’Keeffe & Sugrue through in North of Ireland, Murphy opens with 68 in Euro’s

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com

Munster Strokeplay Championship Cork Golf Club Sunday 6th May 2018Peter 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.

North of Ireland Matchplay Draw

James Sugrue continued his good form with a top 13 finish in the strokeplay qualifier.  He shot rounds of 68 and 72 to book his place in the matchplay where he faces Marc Norton from Belvoir Park this morning.  There was disappointment for Cathal Butler as he finished just one shot outside qualification on +3, and there was no joy for Continue reading →

More to do for Cork crew in Rosapenna

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com

Cian McNamara_1Cian McNamara and James Sugrue have a solid chance of making the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open after the opening round of the Rosapenna qualifier. McNamara shot a three under par round of 69 to lie in 4th place at the halfway stage.  After a bogey on the 5th he came back in four under par, with a final birdie on the 17th to get himself back into contention.  James Sugrue is two shots back on -1, and currently in 10th place.  Sugrue had an interesting round, made up of seven birdies and six bodies.  irrespective of what happens tomorrow both golfers will travel to the UK from Donegal to take part in final qualifying for the British Open.

Jack Howard is tied for 15th on +1, Davey Barry and Padraig Dooley are both tied for 25th place after rounds of 75 (+3).  Given that the best scores today were -5 it’s unlikely that Continue reading →

Sugrue and Murphy through in British Amateur

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com
Munster Strokeplay ChampionshipCork Golf Club Sunday 6th May 2018

James Sugrue

James Sugrue and John Murphy have both qualified for the matchplay stage of the British Amateur after the opening strokeplay quaifier.  The hot shots comfortably made it through along with Robin Dawson, Rowan Lester and Conor Purcell.

John Murphy qualified just outside the top ten, he shot a 69 on the Mulcar Links yesterday to close on +2.  Murphy was three under after four holes and steady golf under pressure saw him maintain a solid level of golf.  This time last week, he was still only the fourth alternative on the waiting list.

James Sugrue, who is part of the Irish squad at the event, was three shots back from Murphy in 40th place.  He shot two rounds of 73 on both Royal Aberdeen and Mulcar Links.  Both golfers have proven themselves at the highest levels, Sugrue is the reigning South of Ireland champion while Murphy won the St Andrew’s Links Trophy less than two weeks ago.  A good run in the matchplay stages will help their case for selection for the six man Irish team for the European Championships.

There was disappointment for Peter O’Keeffe who missed out on the matchplay stage, he missed the cut by two shots after a disappointing final few holes in yesterday’s second round.  The matchplay qualifier (for those tied in 64th place) takes place this morning with the first round proper starting later this morning.  James Sugrue is out at 11.08 and John Murphy starts at 13.51.

Major win for Long in Douglas

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com

Douglas SSC 2018_2Eoghan Long claimed his first scratch cup win on Sunday when he won the 36 hole Douglas Senior Scratch Cup.  The Monkstown man posted the best score of the afternoon when he signed for a two under par 70.  Added to his level par 72 from the morning, his total of 142 for the 36 holes was enough to win the title by one shot.  Long had two challengers, both Peter O’Keeffe and Eric Rumley had shot 70’s in the first round, but they both finished with 73’s in the afternoon.

Play in Douglas was delayed on Sunday morning due to heavy rain.  Although the overnight downpour had stopped the course staff needed some time to clear some standing water.  Although the threat of rain was never too far away the course dried out and some good golf was on display.  O’Keeffe and Rumley were the only golfers to break par.  Long along with Stephen O’Neill and Darren Continue reading →

O’Keeffe retains Kerry Scratch Cup title

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com
Peter O'Keeffe Kerry Scratch Cup 2018

Peter O’Keeffe from Douglas being presented with the 113 year old Kerry Scratch up by Frank Hayes (Director of Corporate Affairs Kerry Group PLC) and Kevin McCarthy (Captain Tralee Golf Club). Photo by Domnick Walsh Eye Focus LTD

Peter O’Keeffe claimed his first win of the 2018 season when he successfully defended his Kerry Scratch Cup title in Tralee last weekend.  It was the perfect weekend for O’Keeffe as he fine-tuned his game in preparation for the Irish Amateur Open which started today.  O’Keeffe has been a big fan of the event in Tralee and having finished second in 2016, he won the event last year.  The Douglas man held the overnight lead after 36 holes.  He was tied with Monkstown’s Sean Desmond who Continue reading →

O’Keeffe starts Concession Cup Challenge

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com

Peter O’Keeffe is in action in Florida today, he’s partnered with Scotland’s Matt Clark in the opening fourballs at the Concession Club in Bradenton near Tampa.  Today id the first day of the three day event which will feature the traditional team match-play formats of foursome, fourball and singles. Each team will be comprised of 14 players separated into three categories: six (6) Mid-Am members (age 25 to 54), six (6) Senior members (age 55 and older) and two (2) Super Senior members age 65 and older.

The GB&I team is captained by Peter McEvoy.  Both O’Keeffe and his Captain were featured on the Golf Channel’s Morning Drive yesterday, where the pair were joined by David Leadbeater.  O’Keeffe is the second Cork golfer to make the GB&I team, two years ago Tom Cleary was in action when GB&I narrowly lost to the American side.

https://vplayer.golfchannel.com/p/BxmELC/gc_player/select/media/WSftkveErraZ

McEvoy Continue reading →

Douglas academy to open in 2018

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com
CGN_Douglas GC_29th Dec 2017_05

Progress is being made on the new five hole academy in Douglas, while work has also started on the redesign of the two practice greens in the distance.  Picture: Niall O’Shea

2018 promises to be a milestone year for Douglas, the southside club will open a brand new five hole short game facility and work should also conclude on a new practice facility and range.  The five hole short game area is currently under construction, all of the earthmoving and shaping has been completed and the greens and tee boxes have been laid out.  The team from DAR Construction have finished the first and second stages of work, a substantial amount of ground works took place in stage one including the installation of services, and after that several tonnes of sand were laid on the new greens and approaches to provide top quality playing conditions.  The seeding Continue reading →

Douglas celebrate International Success

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com

Douglas Internationals 3Douglas Golf Club recently celebrated the successes of three of their members, all three were capped for Ireland this year.  Sara Byrne, Karl Bornemann and Peter O’Keeffe were the centre of attention on the evening when members, families and friends gathered at the club.  As well as receiving presentation from the club, the trio were also granted honorary membership from the club with Management Committee Chairman Jerry Cronin presenting certificates to all three.  It was a great year for all three golfers.  In addition to being selected for Ireland Girls, Sara Byrne was also selected for the GB&I team that played in the Junior Vagliano trophy in Italy early in the season.  She also Continue reading →

Ireland win Home Internationals, joy for O’Keeffe & Carroll

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com
Home Intls POK JC

Peter O’Keeffe and Ireland selector John Carroll pictured after their Home Internationals win in Moortown this afternoon.

The 17th hole in the final match on the final day will be remembered for a very long time.  That was the hole where Ireland captured the Home Internationals for the fourth time on a row.  An hour earlier things didn’t look great, it looked like hosts England would win as Ireland were losing in six of the last eight matches on the course.  But the tide started to turn and Ireland pulled themselves back into hte match with a series of wins.  In the end it came down to Colm Campbell who was the last man left on the course.  Campbell overturned a five hole deficit (he was four down after five) to take the lead on the 17th, that guaranteed him a half and that in turn guaranteed Ireland a historic fourth title in a row.  Although Campbell lost the 18th and halved the match, that meant that the overall score was a draw with England.  As Ireland won a greater number of matches, they retained the title for the fourth year.  Just 0.5 of a point separated the sides with Ireland winning 26.5 matches against England’s 26.

While it was a great result for Ireland, Peter O’Keeffe was slightly disappointed, despite playing very well yesterday (and claiming two wins) he lost both of his matches today.  Still the very fine margin of victory means that the three points he contributed were invaluable in the final tally.  The Douglas member has more than justified his selection on the team, and this rounds off a great debut for him on the Irish team.

It was a great day too for John Carroll who was a selector on the team and was there in Moortown to witness the epic comeback.   The Bandon member has been a long time servant to Munster and Irish teams and will no doubt relish a great celebration this evening with Tony Goode, Neil Manchip and all of the Irish team.

Home Internationals 2017

The winning Irish team, pic Thos Caffery I Golffile

 

O’Keeffe leads the way in Moortown

/ niall@corkgolfnews.com
Home Internationals 2017

Peter O’Keeffe and Robin Dawson (Ireland) on the 4th tee during Day 2 Foursomes of the Home Internationals at Moortown Golf Club, Leeds, England. 17/08/2017
Picture: Golffile | Thos Caffrey 

There were mixed results for the Cork golfers in action in England and at home today.  Peter O’Keeffe recorded two wins today at the Mens Home Internationals, while Valerie Clancy won her first round match in the British Girls but lost in this afternoon’s second round.

It was a good day for Ireland at the Home Internationals in Moortown today.  Peter O’Keeffe combined well with Robin Dawson this morning to win an important foursomes match against Scotland.  The pair had lost yesterday so this morning’s result was a boost and came as part of a 4-1 win in the morning session.  He followed up this afternoon with another win in the singles.  O’Keeffe was one down at the turn but mounted a comeback and was two up after 12 holes.  He closed out his match on the 16th with a 4&2 win over Scotland’s Sam Locke.  Ireland now have a great chance to create history tomorrow, a winner takes all match with England give’s Ireland the chance to win the title for the fourth straight year.

Valerie Clancy was the only Cork girl to make it through to the matchplay stage of the British Girls.  Clancy made it though on the cut mark (+8) after the 36 hole qualifier and she won her first round match this morning, beating Celilie Nielsen 3&2.  She lost out this afternoon though, losing 2&1 to Mayka Hoogeboom.  Rachel Thompson and Continue reading →