Short Game

By SHAY KEENAN

O'Hanlon in top 15 in Spain

FORMER Irish Close champion Paul O’Hanlon finished in the top 15 at the Spanish Hi5Tour in the Altorreal European Open tournament last week.

There was a four-way play-off for the title and top prize went to Sweden’s Niklas Bruzelius, who carded 67, 71 and 71 after a quadruple “deadheat” on seven-under-par 209.

Sharing second place were Lasse Jensen from Denmark who fired 73, 68 and 68, Sebastian Buhl from Germany (69, 68, 72) and England’s James Busby 67 67 75.

O’Hanlon finished six shots back on 215 after rounds of 71, 70 and 74.

Forest Pines to host SkyCaddie

LINCOLNSHIRE’S Forest Pines will come under the radar later this year when it plays host to the one of the PGA’s most popular tournaments. The SkyCaddie PGA Fourball Championship, supported by Sunderland, and carrying a prize fund of €32,000, moves to the course after two successful years at York’s Fulford Golf Club.

It will be the fourth successive year that Forest Pines has staged a PGA final, having successfully hosted the PGA Super 60s event for the past three years.

This year’s 54-hole final will be contested from October 7th to 9th and will bring together 60 professionals pairs from across Britain and Ireland.

The event was the first to trial GPS measuring devices and led to the landmark decision to allow the use of all GPS devices in all PGA events last year.

Last year’s event was won by the Essex duo of Andrew Pestell and Jason Levermore, who completed a wire-to-wire victory.

A date for your diary is the Ford Ladies Cork Scratch Cup on Saturday April 4th. The top women amateur golfers will take part and national order of merit points will be awarded on the results. This is a prestigious event and spectators on the day will see some great golf.

Mernagh joins strong bid

Woodenbridge’s Louise Mernagh and Aedin Murphy from Carlow will join the Maguire twins, Leona and Lisa, as Ireland’s representatives at the French International Lady Juniors’ U-21 Amateur Championships, from April 9th to 13th.

Thirty six holes strokeplay will be played over the first two days of competition to determine the top 32 qualifiers to progress to the matchplay stages of the event.

The next 16 players who are under 18 years of age, and do not qualify in the top 32, will take part in the under-18 matchplay event.

Leona Maguire won the under-18 section last year, while sister Lisa was narrowly beaten in the semi-finals of the under-21 event.

THE Irish Development squad will get its first experience of International competition when they play in the Scottish Under-16 Open Strokeplay at Craigielaw GC in East Lothian on April 9th and 10th.

The Irish players are: Jessica Boal (Larne), Amy Chambers (Dunfanaghy), Eadaoin Cronin (Bantry Bay), Paula Grant (Lisburn), Jenny Hennessy (Ennis) and Emma Murphy (Wexford). They will be looking to emulate the success of Leona Maguire when she won the event in 2007. The format consists of 36 holes strokeplay, with one round being played each day by competitors. Combined with the individual strokeplay competition is an International Team Event for which the ILGU has nominated two teams of three players.

THE Offaly School for Special Education will hold its Golf Classic at Tullamore GC on Friday, April 17th. Phone 086-1734584 or 0579320537.

Leona Maguire leads the field

FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD Irish champion Leona Maguire led the field of internationals to win the opening Women’s Scratch Cup of the 2009 season at Woodenbridge Golf Club on Sunday.

Having trailed halfway leaders Danielle McVeigh from Royal Co Down Ladies and Anne McCormack from Roscommon by one stroke at the halfway mark, Maguire hit the birdie trail in the afternoon on her way to a course record-equalling five-under-par 67 and a two-under-par total of 142.

McVeigh had to settle for second place on 148 after a second successive 74, while local favourite Louise Mernagh beat Lisa Maguire from Slieve Russell to third place on countback after both finished on 149.

Daryl Conroy from Castlebar fired an impressive 66 nett in the afternoon to win the best nett over 36 holes, while Anne McCormack from Roscommon and Seapoint’s Carla Reynolds won the individual 18s.

Woodenbridge was once again in impeccable condition as it prepares to host numerous events in 2009 in celebration of its 125th Anniversary.

Next up for the Wicklow club is the ILGU’s Under-18 Girls Interprovincial Championships at Easter.

Par threes leave Fahy in seventh heaven

These are the sort of rounds we all dream of. The day we show real accuracy at the short holes. It is never an easy thing to do, but recently in Bray there was one lady golfer who was able to show everyone how to pick up the points on the short holes and at the same help her to victory.

It was a real birdie blitz at Bray when Kay Fahy, a 16 handicapper, had a exceptional day on the club’s par-three holes. Fahy, who was Lady Captain at the club in 1980, birdied all four of the Co Wicklow club’s par threes – the second, fourth, 13th and 16th.

And to add further excitement to her day, she also had another birdie on the par-five fifth to make it an incredible five birdies on the day. The five birdies alone earned her 18 points on the way to a superb score of 36 points for the 15-hole competition.

Not surprisingly with golf, and in particular accuracy like that, her score gave her a comfortable winning margin as she had four points to spare over her closest rival, Rita Staunton (23), with Bernie OSullivan back in third place on 30 points.

Dungarvan Classic down for April

THE Dungarvan Seniors Pairs Classic, which was a huge success last year, will again be staged at the three Waterford courses – Dungarvan, Gold Coast and West Waterford – on April 14th, 15th and 16th.

It is a team event for golfers aged 55 years and over, open to men, women and and mixed pairs, with a different format each day.

Entry forms and inquiries from the tournament directors on 058-44055.

Meanwhile, West Waterford sees the start of the scratch cup season on Sunday with the Pat Geaney-sponsored Senior Scratch Cup. The timesheet is in operation from 9am to 11.30am with a maximum handicap of four, entry fee is € 25 including a meal.