SHAY KEENAN's pick of golf-related stories and events this week
Turner finishes fifth in Indiana
TEAM IRELAND golf’s Niall Turner finished fifth in NGA Hooters Tour event in Quail Crossing Golf Resort in Indiana over the weekend. The Corkman finished on 23-under-par 261 after rounds of 65, 65, 66 and 65, which included three eagles, at the second and 18th in round one and at the 18th again in round three.
The winner, Indiana native and former Iowa State University Cyclone player Chris Baker from Brownstown, finished with a final round of 10-under-par 61 to claim his first professional win.
Baker carded rounds of 66, 67, 63 and 61 to post a 27-under-par total of 257 giving the former Cyclone a two-stroke victory over Ben Briscoe from Wales and Michael Lavery from California, each finishing at 25-under-par 259.
Ireland’s Chris Devlin finished on 17-under-par 267 and compatriot Seán McTernan from Sligo finished on five-under-par 279.
* GUI National Coach Neil Manchip will give a series of clinics at the National Academy at Carton House over the summer.
These clinics are for Category One golfers only with handicaps of five or less.
E-mail academy@gui.ie or
call 01 5054040 for more information.
Harrington and McIlroy aim to hit $1 million hole-in-one
IRELAND’S two leading golfers, Pádraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy, will each try to win $1,000,000 for a Fermanagh-based charity at the Lough Erne Challenge, taking place at Lough Erne Golf Resort in Enniskillen on July 22nd.
The initiative will see each golfer hit six balls at the par-three fifth hole, with each ball earning a cash denomination for one of 12 selected charities from the Fermanagh region. In the event that a hole in one is achieved, the first golfer to do so will win $1,000,000 on behalf of the charity that has been assigned to that particular ball.
Twelve local charities – Make-A-Wish, Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice – Horizons West, Macmillan Cancer Support (Fermanagh), Stroke Unit, Erne Hospital (Enniskillen), Fermanagh Trust (Enniskillen), RNLI, Goblusk Bay (Ballinamallard), Ellie Walsh Memorial Fund – Children’s Ward (Erne Hospital), Aisling Centre (Enniskillen), Fermanagh Women’s Aid (Enniskillen), Fermanagh Access and Mobility Group (Enniskillen), Home Start (Enniskillen) and Fact – Friendship and Caring Trust, (Lisnaskea) – will each draw lots to see which of the golfers will be representing them on this hole and in which order their particular shot will be hit.
The green on the fifth hole will be set out with target rings indicating separate monetary amounts that they will receive depending on where their ball lands.
Great offers from Dublin Tourism
DUBLIN TOURISM have announced the arrival of The Dublin Golf Pass, designed to make the county’s varied venues more accessible.
Visitors can play three rounds of golf on some of the most challenging courses in the country at special rates over some of the most testing parkland and links venues.
Programme One offers golf in the backdrop of the Dublin mountains at South County, Slade Valley and Citywest Lakes courses for €99. Programme Two offers offers Luttrellstown Castle, the links at St Anne’s and Castleknock for €160.
Programme Three is centred in the north of the county taking in St Margaret’s, Portmarnock Hotel Golf Links and Roganstown at a cost of €195.
The Dublin Golf Pass can be booked online at www.visitdublin.com/golfpass or at any of Dublin Tourism’s four Tourist Information Offices: Suffolk Street, O’Connell Street, Dublin Airport and Dun Laoghaire Ferry Terminal.
Ireland run Rule over St Andrews
THE PRESTIGIOUS St Rule Trophy takes place next weekend at St Andrews in Scotland and Ireland will have a five-strong contingent playing. Competitors will play one round over the New Course on Saturday, followed by a further two rounds over the Old Course on Sunday, in the 54-hole strokeplay event. Ireland will be represented by Karen Delaney (Carlow), Niamh Kitching (Claremorris), Danielle McVeigh (Royal Co Down), Gillian O’Leary (Cork) and Deirdre Smith (Co Louth).
Kitching, McVeigh and O’Leary will represent Ireland in the Team event, in which the two best scores count each round.
Hayes does well on her own
A KILLINEY golfer took part in one of Britain and Ireland’s top amateur pairs events on her own – and still managed not to finish last.
Julie Hayes, a member at Glencullen GC, qualified for the grand final of the Sky Sports-televised Matchplay Championship in Egypt with her partner David Kelly.
But he was unable to make the trip, meaning Hayes was accompanied by her father, Seán, instead, with only her score to count in the competition.
Remarkably she avoided coming last, scoring 102 points over the 54-hole event at the Marriott Taba Heights Beach Resort on the Red Sea coast, to finish seventh in the mixed event.
Hayes was just 10 points behind the winners, Steve Aylott and Lesley Mifsud, from Cheshire.
The men’s event was won by Gordon Livingston and Ian Brandon from Vale Royal Abbey GC in Cheshire, England, with a good score of 119 points.
Tomlin celebrates Rush victory
CORRSTOWN’S JOHN Tomlin was celebrating last week when he won the North Dublin Golf Club Captains’ Association Captain’s Prize at Rush. Playing off a handicap of nine, Tomlin fired an impressive 38 points to win by one from The Island’s Humphrey Kelleher (10) and Liam Canning of Malahide, playing off 19, with Donabate’s Tony Fetherston (17) next best on 36 points. The Seniors prize went to Portmarnock’s Vincent Sex (12) with 34 points; Leo Hickey (The Island) won the Veteran’s prize with 33 points, while Denis Hegarty of the host club, Rush, won the Senior Veterans with 32 points. Next up for the association is Pat Comerford’s President’s Prize at Corrstown on August 28th.
THE Irish Association of Golf Club Secretaries held their annual match against their English counterparts The Golf Club Managers Association at Cork Golf Club recently and were successful by virtue of a 9-3 scoreline.
Leading 5-1 after day one they also won the second day’s play 4-2 to emerge clear winners.
Representing Ireland were Hilary Madden, Michael Corry, Derek Williamson, David Curtin, Matt Sands, Michael Moss, Donard McSweeney, Jim Meldoy, Hugo Gallagher, Michael Power, Declan Mangan and Paul Wisniewski.
