John Hickey pictured during the Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup.
Cork’s John Hickey was the best placed Cork golfer at Mullingar over the weekend. Stuart Grehan won the prestigious title with a wire to wire win following two 67’s which saw him hit the halfway point on -10.
An opening 79 on Sunday morning hampered Hickey, and that return featured two triple bogies on his front nine. Hickey recovered with a one under par 71 on Sunday afternoon and another two 71’s followed on Monday. That saw him rise up the leaderboard and eventually finished in 9th place. Hickey will be a key member of the Cork team that will be aiming to retain their AIG Barton Shield Munster title in Tralee this weekend.
Peter O’Keeffe (74/75/74/73) was just inside the top twenty (18th), O’Keeffe is currently preparing for his Irish Senior debut in Moortown next week. James Sugrue and John Murphy both were tied for 24th place, that was likely to be Murphy’s last competitive event in Ireland as he’s moving to Kentucky next week to take up his place with Aaron O’Callaghan’s University of Louisville golf programme. Kinsale duo Gary Ward (T37) and Cathal Butler (T41) both made the cut but Mallow’s Conor Dowling missed the cut for the final day.
Peter O’Keeffe was today named on the Irish Mens team to play in the Home Internationals. O’Keeffe narrowly missed out on selection 10 years ago when he was competing at elite amateur level, and now he’s finally ticked that box. The Douglas golfer was added to the international mens panel after winning the Flogas Irish Amateur Open, and he followed that win with some solid performances through the months of June and July. Last week he finished as a semi-finalist in the South of Ireland, and many felt that would be more than enough to get the call up for August. For O’Keeffe its marks the achievement of a key long term goal, and it’s also a target he set himself. “I decided at the end of last year that I was going to work my ass off to make the Irish team” said O’Keeffe after the announcement of the team. “I’m delighted to achieve it now. I’m looking forward to preparing for the home internationals so I can have a great performance.” O’Keeffe put a huge amount of work into 
Today started with five Cork golfers still in contention in Lahinch, however as play came to a close that was reduced to just two. The draw meant that there were two all-Cork clashes this morning, and one more this afternoon. Tomorrow will see another all-Cork match with Peter O’Keeffe taking on James Sugrue.
Weather conditions in Lahinch were slightly better today as the opening two rounds of the matchplay got underway. After two rounds there are still five Cork golfers involved, with two all-Cork clashes set for tomorrow morning.
A dozen Cork golfers will be hoping to bridge a 13 year gap and win the South of Ireland Championship this week. Mallow’s Meryvn Owens was the last man to bring the famous trophy back to Cork in 2003, when he beat the holder Colm Moriarty on the 18th green in Lahinch. Cork winners have been few and far between, John McHenry won in 1986 and before that there’s a 22 year gap to W A Kelleher’s win. The statistics would suggest that a few more years should pass before the next Cork winner, but given the strength and depth of the Cork golfers competing this year, don’t rule out a good run from a few of the form golfers.
Peter O’Keeffe overcame a one shot deficit in the final nine holes in Tralee today to claim the prestigious Kerry Scratch Cup. O’Keeffe was joint leader going into the final round but Tralee’s Fergal O’Sullivan led by one shot after 45 holes. It was a tough day for the players in Tralee, O’Sullivan was +3 at the turn and O’Keeffe was +4 as high winds and squally rain did its best to wear down the competitors.
Tough weather conditions meant that the scoring was high in Tralee, but Peter O’Keeffe finished his 36 holes tied for the lead. Rounds of 76 and 75 from O’Keeffe were matched by Tralee’s Fergal O’Sullivan. The Tralee man has won already this season, he retained his Ballybunion Scratch Title a few weeks ago and will be fancied by locals. Both O’Sullivan and O’Keeffe are on 151, three shots ahead of second placed John Murphy who had two rounds of 77.
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