Sara Byrne

Byrne takes runners-up spot at Irish Girls Close

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Sara Byrne Jul 2019

Sara Byrne, Picture: Pat Cashman

Sara Byrne came up just short of winning her second Irish Championship today, she was runner-up at the Irish Girls Close at Galway Golf Club.  The Douglas golfer was in a fine vein of form, and had made the final day with relative ease.  On Tuesday she shot a second round 71 (-2) to take second place in the strokeplay qualifier.  That meant she was safely through to the matchplay phase.  On Wednesday she wrapped up her first round match on the 14th, and on Thursday she beat Emily Murray and Lucia Masding to book a place in this morning’s semi-final.

Byrne got off to a great start this morning in the semi-final, going three up against Aine Donegan.  But when the finished out on the 18th it was all square.  Donegan’s comback included a birdie on the 17th and a chip in birdie on the last hole, but on the 24th – the sixth tie hole – it was Byrne who had the rub of the green.  An eagle putt estimated at just over 30 feet dropped in to send the Douglas teenager into the final.

Sara faced leading qualifier Beth Coulter in the final and the 15 year old from Kirkistown Castle got off to a flier.  Coulter was four under for the front nine, continuing a great run of golf in Galway.  She was three up after six holes but Byrne birdied the 6th, eagled the 7th and birdied the 8th to Continue reading →

Deasy dialed in at McGregor, Byrne cruising at Irish Girls Close

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Mel Deasy

Mel Deasy

Lee Valley’s Mel Deasy is in the top ten at the McGregor Trophy, the English Under 16 Strokeplay Championship, and safely through to today’s final 36 holes.  Deasy opened on Tuesday with a level par 70 but it was a mixed round.  Starting on the 10th, Deasy was five under after 12 holes, but he was back to -1 after doubles on his 13th and 15th holes.  He closed out the round with a bogey to finish on level par, that was good enough for 17th place.  Mel’s second round was steadier, two birdies and two bogies along with 14 pars led to his second 70.  That saw him jump into the top ten, tied for 9th place at the halfway stage.  The Lee Valley man is now just five shots off the lead held by England’s Rohan Miah.  Galgorm’s Joshua Hill is in second place just one behind the leader.  The final 36 holes take place today with Deasy on the tee at 9.30m.  The event meant that Deasy missed out on a chance to retain his Munster U16 title which took place this week.  He’ll be back in Munster colours next week when the Boys Interprovincials take place on Athlone Golf Club.

Sara Byrne Fairhaven 2017

Sara Byrne had another good day in Galway at the Irish Girls Close.  The Douglas golfer recorded a 6&4 win over Evelyn Park.  That follows two good rounds on Tuesday when she shot 76 & 71 to finish just one off the lead.  This morning she will take on Emily Murray from Co Louth in the round of 16 match, with the quarter finals also taking place tomorrow.

Sara Bags Another Award

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sarabyrnecorkyouthsportsawardsjan2019

Roger Russell, General Manager of The Metropole Hotel, presenting the youth sports awards trophy to Sara Byrne Douglas Golf Club with John Buckley, John Buckley Sports, Award Sponsor.
Picture: Gerard Bonus.

Sara Byrne was back in the news last week when she won yet another award.  The Douglas teenager won the Cork City and County Youth Sports Award last week at a reception in the Metropole Hotel.  It was a great award to win, beating the 11 other monthly award winners to scoop the title.  This is the second award for Byrne, who was named the Irish Golf Writers Womens Amateur Golfer of the Year Award in December.  For Sara and her family it was a change to reflect on the successes of the year, although Sara was a bit more clinical in her review of the year when she accepted the award.  “2018 was a bit of a rollercoaster year” said the Douglas and Ireland golfer, “there were plenty of ups and downs and feeling frustrated at times, but the adrenaline rush is unreal when you succeed.  Last year gave me some really hard knocks but some magical moments also.  I’ve advanced my goals hugely, Irish Ladies Champion. Irish Girls Order of Merit winner, getting to +1 handicap and getting to into the top 100 in the WAGR rankings”.

There was more than that for the talented teenager.  She represented Ireland at Continue reading →

2018 – Breakthrough year for Byrne

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Sara Byrne Douglas Golf Club June 2018_12018 was a breakthrough year for Sara Byrne, and that was recognised last week when she won the Irish Golf Writers Womens Amateur of the Year award.  The award was a reflection on the results Sara achieved during the year as well representing Ireland at two international competitions.  It was a busy year for Sara, although she committed to playing in fewer events this year, the competitions she did select were higher in profile and the quality of the field was generally stronger.  In terms of other awards, Byrne topped the Girls Order of Merit by a clear margin, and she also finished third on the women’s order of merit.  Sara’s season started in March when she finished third in the Munster Womens Championship in Killarney.  Rounds of 74, 75 and 78 saw her claim a podium finish although she did miss out on retaining her Munster Girls title by one shot.  Despite playing well, she couldn’t manage to claim the top spot until she got to Enniscrone in June for the Irish Womens Close.  She came through two rounds of Strokeplay and five rounds of matchplay golf to win the national title.  Aside from the mental battle of matchplay, she also had to contend with extreme weather as wind and Continue reading →

Byrne & Clancy through in Girls Amateur, Kerry Boys Update

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Sara Byrne IRish Close Course Shot June 2018

Sara Byrne (Douglas) during the Irish Women’s Open Stroke Play Championship, Enniscrone Golf Club, Picture: Golffile | Fran Caffrey All photo usage must carry mandatory copyright credit (© Golffile | Fran Caffrey)

Sara Byrne and Valerie Clancy have made it through to the matchplay stage of the Girls Amateur Open in Ardglass.  Byrne continued her good form on Tuesday with an opening 71 that saw her finish the first round in 6th place.  She finished the second round tied for 12th place, a second round 75 in more testing conditions was more than enough to see her through, although she did describe it as “hanging on”. Valerie Clancy also made it through in the top half of the draw, steady rounds of 73 and 76 saw her finish tied for 19th place from the field of 140 golfers.  Ireland will be well represented in the matchplay with a total of seven golfers qualifying.  The first two rounds take place today.

Fionn Hickey (Muskerry), Jack O’Donoghue (Bandon) and Ross Higgins (Douglas) have all mande it through to the matchplay stage of the Kerry Boys Championship. Hickey finished third in the qualifier after rounds of 73 & 79, and he’ll face Ross Higgins in the first round.  Jack O’Donoghue will face Glasson’s Conor Gleeson who was the top qualifier on -3.  Cork is well represented in the plate with six Continue reading →

Irish call up for three Cork golfers

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2017 Irish Boys Under 14 Amateur Open Championship at Ballina Go

Zak Collins

Zak Collins and Eoghan Cassidy have been named on the Irish squads to play in the Reid Trophy (Under 14 English Championship) in Reading next week.  Collins from Douglas and Cassidy from Kinsale have been playing well all season and both golfers featured on the successful Munster team who won the Under 14 interprovincial championship last week.  The event is a great opportunity for the cork duo, it attracts a top quality field of English and international players whose playing handicap is 7.4 or better.  The 54-hole stroke play championship is played over three days.  The full field plays 18 holes on each of the first two days with the leading 70 competitors going on to play the final 18 holes on the third day.  The Cork pair will be joined by two Limerick golfers, Ballyneety’s Morgan O’Sullivan and Iestyn Winn in a strong Munster line-up.  Faithlegg’s Alex King Continue reading →

Super Sara is Irish Champ

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Sara Byrne IRish Close Course Shot June 2018

Sara Byrne (Douglas) during the Irish Women’s Open Stroke Play Championship, Enniscrone Golf Club, Picture: Golffile  Fran Caffrey

Teenager Sara Byrne is the new Irish Women’s Close Champion.  The Douglas golfer beat all before her in Enniscrone over the past three days to claim the prestigious national title.  A 2&1 win over Louise Coffey this afternoon meant that another national title is headed back to Douglas Golf Club.

“This is just amazing, I knew I could do it” said a delighted Byrne.  “When Louise won the 3rd I knew that it was better to be up at the end of the match than at the start, I knew that a one hole difference was nothing so I stayed patient.  This is definitely my number one achievement to date, on the final few holes I got a bit nervous but I told myself that I had worked too hard to give this one away.  This brings my golf career up a step and any event now I play in I can tell myself that I can win because I am Irish Champion!”

The Irish and GB&I capped golfer now joins an elite group, Continue reading →

Byrne takes 3rd in Munster Senior Open Championship

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Sara Byrne GB&I 2017

Sara Byrne 

Sara Byrne finished in 3rd place after the final round of the Munster Senior Open Championship in Killarney.  It was a positive start for the Douglas member, she shot rounds of 74,75 and 78 to finish on +5.  While Byrne took third overall, she just missed out on retaining her Munster Girls title, she was beaten by Aine Donegan who finished second overall.  Meadhbh Doyle from Portarlington was the run away winner, she had a winning margin of ten shots closing with another under par round today.

Claire Coughlan Ryan (Cork) finished in 5th place and Clodagh Coughlan (Douglas) was also tied for 5th on +11.  Muskerry’s Jean O’Driscoll was just outside the top ten while Michelle Tobin (Cork) finished inside the top 25.  Aoife Ni Thuama, Carmel Kearney and Jennifer Hickey all made the 36 hole cut but finished down the field on the final day.

Cork’s Irene Rafferty finished as runner up in the Munster Junior Open Championship which also concluded today.  She was beaten by one hole by Ballykisteen’s Lauren Kelly.  Rafferty beat Mallow’s Maire O’Sullivan in the semi-final.  Macroom’s Continue reading →

Douglas academy to open in 2018

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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 →

Sara set for another super year

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Sara Byrne GB&I 2017Sara Byrne might only be 16, but in the past two years she blazed a trail on the golf courses of Cork and further afield.  The Douglas member has represented Munster, Ireland and GB&I in 2017, and more importantly she has seen her golf game improve on several levels.  While Sara has been used to winning, and she has ben part of the IGU coaching programmes for a few years, 2017 was a breakthrough year and she’s planning to build on that through the winter and into next season.  “I have some great memories this year including winning the Munster girls championship, getting my first cap for Ireland, becoming an honorary member of Douglas Golf Club and shooting the course record of five under 67 in Douglas” said Sara.  “But my best memory was seeing the Irish tricolour being raised and the Irish anthem being played when I was playing for Great Britain and Ireland at the Vagliano Trophy in Italy.”  Those experiences and performances didn’t happen by accident, they were a result of a very strong work ethic and a focus on constant improvement.  And the young Douglas golfer saw the results on the course.  “I think my ball striking this year has Continue reading →