A round-up of golf news
Island’s Moran wins Hilary outing at European Club
ON A windy day and on a testing European Club course, a fine 72 by Declan Moran from The Island was good enough to take the honours in the latest Hilary Society outing.
Moran, despite a triple bogey on the difficult seventh hole, won by two shots from Seán Conroy from Forrest Little, with Dara Curran from St Anne’s third with 74.
The gross prize was won by Cathal Conaty of Royal Dublin with 75. The professional’s prize went to Gary Cullen of Beaverstown with 71, while an excellent score of 60 won the team prize for Shane Gaffney of Sutton, John Keogh of Forrest Little, Paddy Walshe of Royal Dublin and Lloyd O’Rourke of Naas.
The final outing takes place at Sutton on April 17th.
** NIAMH KITCHING from Claremorris defends her Munster Championship title at Shannon this week. Fresh from her nine-shot win in the Royal Co Down Ladies Scratch Cup, Kitching will be joined by Danielle McVeigh, the runner-up at her home course of RCD, and a top-class field which includes Gillian O’Leary, Victoria Bradshaw, Anne McCormack, Sarah Cunningham, Emma O’Driscoll and Senior International Valerie Hassett.
The Senior Championship (handicap 9 and under) begins with 36 holes of strokeplay tomorrow, with the top 16 qualifying for the matchplay.
The Junior Championship (handicap 10-18) has 120 entries.
Win a slot in Irish Open Pro-Am
PLAYERS FROM across Ireland now have a chance to play with Europe’s top professionals in the 3 Irish Open Pro-Am at Co Louth on May 13th.
Each club in Ireland has been invited to stage a qualifying competition, from which two teams of three players, one men’s and one women’s team, will be nominated to represent the club.
The men’s team must include players from the categories 0-9, 10-16 and 16 and over; the women’s team must come from players in the 0-19, 20-29 and 30-36 handicaps.
The competition will ultimately produce a men’s and women’s team from each of the four provinces, who will then play in the 3 Irish Open Pro-Am.
The Dungarvan Seniors Pairs Classic takes place next week. This competition, which was a huge success last year, will again be staged at the three local courses of Dungarvan, Gold Coast and West Waterford next week on Tuesday April 14th, Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th.
It is a team event for golfers aged 55 years and above and is open to women, men and mixed pairs, with a different format each day.
Last year’s event was fully subscribed and inquiries for this year’s competition are available from the tournament directors on 058 44055.
GAA clubs queue up for Challenge
OVER 120 clubs are expected to enter the 2009 FBD All-Ireland GAA Golf Challenge.
Organised in partnership with Dunhill GAA Club, Co Waterford, the challenge is open to all GAA clubs.
The competition is run as a fourball and events take place throughout June, July and August before the final in September.
Both men and women are invited to compete, with the handicap limit set at 20 for men and 28 for women.
The qualifying rounds are:
Munster: at Dundrum GC, Friday, June 12th. Leinster: at Naas GC on Friday, June 26th; Connacht: at Roscommon GC on Saturday, July 4th. Ulster: at Concra Wood Golf and CC, Castleblaney, on Friday, July 24th.
The All-Ireland final is at Faithlegg House Hotel and GC, Waterford, on September 12th and 13th, when the four Irish qualifiers will be joined by the New York and Chicago winners.
Three ‘ocean’ courses in top 10
THREE IRISH courses – Tralee, Ballybunion and the Old Head of Kinsale – have been honoured by being named among the top 10 ocean courses in the world.
In a survey compiled by the Golf Channel, Tralee was named at number seven, Ballybunion a place below, while the Old Head of Kinsale was at number nine.
The top 10 list of ocean courses is headed by Pebble Beach, and the next nine, in order, are: St Andrews, Turnberry, Bandon Dunes, Kiwi Island, Cypress Point, Tralee, Ballybunion, Old Head of Kinsale, Royal Dornoch.
Boyne CS claim Leinster matchplay
BOYNE COMMUNITY School from Trim are the new Leinster Schools Matchplay champions after a 3½-1½ win over Scoil na mBráithre, Kilkenny, in the final at Portarlington.
Despite Ciarán Boggan losing the top match to Sam Dunlop, wins for Diarmuid Higgins, Dudley Regan and Seán Fitzpatrick secured the victory for the Meath school.
Higgins was a 6 and 5 winner over Eoin Cantwell, Regan scored a 3 and 2 victory over Eric Cantwell and Fitzpatrick won on the 17th against David McNamara.
Warren Wallace and Peter Walsh halved their match.
Murphy best in Cork Scratch Cup
CARLOW’S AEDIN Murphy emerged victorious on Sunday in the prestigious, 36-hole Ford Ladies Scratch Cup at Cork. In a tight contest, Murphy emerged top of the field, winning on the afternoon’s play after she, Danielle McVeigh from Royal County Down and Muskerry’s Laura McCarthy all tied on 153.
Local hopeful Gillian O’Leary was third on 156, while defending champion Niamh Kitching from Claremorris was fifth ahead of Ennis’ Sarah Cunningham.
** THE MUNSTER Senior Alliance season came to a close over the Killeen Course in Killarney last week with their final outing being won by Kinsale’s Dave Keating.
The scratch golfer was victorious with a score of 74, three better than Dungarvan’s John Reynolds, playing off a plus one handicap, with Peter O’Flynn (4) from Monkstown third on 78, while West Waterford’s Alan Harty was fourth on 79.
The win by Keating in Killarney also enabled him to claim second spot in the season’s overall standings, where the winner was Cork’s Tom Cleary (scr), with a total of 128 points, just edging Keating on a countback over the season’s events. Muskerry’s Dave O’Donovan was third on 127 points.
