Neil O’Briain required a birdie on the third extra hole to finally get his hands on the PGA Southern Championship trophy at Powerscourt GC last week. The Old Conna professional, leading by one shot after an opening round 68, fired a second round 66 to reach 10 under par but found that total matched by Michael McGeady.
McGeady’s brilliant best of the tournament bogey-free eight under par 64 saw him leapfrog the overnight contenders to set up a play-off with O’Briain. The pair set off down the 10th again, halving the par four in pars. They moved on to the 18th and here O’Briain was out of position off the tee and couldn’t find the green in two. He pitched and putted for a par while McGeady missed a birdie chance to win.
They returned to the 10th and McGeady’s approach finished five feet away from the flag, while O'Briain’s from the left rough checked up two feet from the cup. On this occasion McGeady’s putt for birdie lipped out leaving O'Briain to hole his for victory.
Seniors hoping to repeat 2013 success
The ILGU Senior’s Team will be hoping for a repeat of their 2013 success when they tee-up in the European Team Championships at Sierra Golf Club, Poland this week. Irish Senior’s Close Champion for the second consecutive year, Gertie McMullen (The Island) will once again lead out the team as they hope to secure first place on the podium.
The Irish team is: Suzanne Corcoran (Portumna), Sheena McElroy (Grange), Gertie McMullen (The Island), Mary Sheehy (Tralee), Laura Webb (East Berkshire) and Carol Wickham (Laytown & Bettystown).
Corcoran, McElroy, McMullen, Webb and Wickham have been consistent members of the team over the past number of years while Mary Sheehy will join the team for the first time as a newly capped Senior International golfer. The Irish team have finished third for the past two years.
Limerick ease to Fred Daly victory
Limerick won the Fred Daly Tropy with a convincing victory over Athenry in the final at Galway. Up against a formidable Kilkenny side in the semi final, Ivan Morris’ charges saw off the Leinster champions with ease. It was comfortable in the end with Ciaran Vaughan and Ross Fitzgerald running up 4 and 3 wins against Kevin Power and James Everard respectively. In the final the Limerick boys faced Connacht’s Athenry who pulled off a fantastic win against Holywood from Belfast. At one point in the match, Limerick were up in all five matches and ran out comfortable 4-1 winners, replicating the margin of victory from the semi final. There were wins for Sean Enright, Ciaran Vaughan and Luke O’Brien in the top three matches to ease the Munster champions to victory.
Wire-to-wire for Neil McKinstry
Cairndhu’s Neil McKinstry carded a final round 72 to complete a wire-to-wire victory in the Irish Youths Championship at Galway. McKinstry made a miraculous par at the penultimate hole and then birdied the last to clinch a three-shot victory. Home favourite Ronan Mullarney was second ahead of Maynooth University teammate Jordan Hood while Maynooth’s A team of Mullarney, Robin Dawson and Sean Flanagan won the Irish Colleges Invitational by three shots from McKinstry’s Ulster side. An opening round 66 put McKinstry two ahead on four under, he added a 72 to maintain his advantage going into the final round but the title was slipping from his grasp as he dropped four shots in three holes. Bogeys at nine and 11 came either side of a costly double at the 10th. McKinstry rallied with birdies at 12 and 13 and birdie from six feet at the 18th sealed the win.
Yates and Fairweather set for Colombia
Irish senior panellists Jonathan Yates from Naas and Colin Fairweather from Knock, travel to Colombia this week to represent the Golfing Union of Ireland at the Fedegolf 70 Years Cup. Los Lagartos golf club in the Colombian capital Bogota will host an international team championship as well as a 72-hole individual strokeplay tournament. Naas star Yates won the West of Ireland in March although it has been a relatively quiet season for Fairweather, whose best result was a top-10 finish at the South American Amateur in January. Both players will be competing for individual honours over four days at Los Lagartos as well as the team title. The opening round takes place on Thursday.
Killeen take home first Metropolitan Trophy
There was an exciting finish to the 2016 Metropolitan Trophy between Clontarf and Killen when Clontarf worked hard to win six and three and tie overall on aggregate in the second leg 9-9. After a three hole playoff got underway between Paul Magee (Killeen) and Gerard Keevey (Clontarf), both sides were still tied. The match then went to sudden death with Magee winning the title for Killeen on the fifth tie hole. The Metropolitan Trophy was first played in 1991 and won by Sutton and while Clontarf have won the title on four occasions, this is Killeen Golf Club’s first time to bring home the trophy.
Mount Wolseley ready for Challenge Tour
The European Challenge Tour returns to Ireland, for the second year in succession, with the Volopa Irish Challenge hosted by Mount Wolseley Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort, on September 8th-11th.
The best of Ireland’s promising young players will be teeing up at Mount Wolseley as they take on the finest young players from across the globe. With few opportunities left until the end of the season, the tournament represents one of the last chances for the players to ensure they finish the season in the top 15 of the Road to Oman Rankings and thereby earn graduation to the European Tour and the chance to fulfill lifelong ambitions.
Working in partnership with the Confederation of Golf in Ireland and Sport Ireland, Tetrarch Capital, the owners of Mount Wolseley Hotel Spa & Golf Resort, have committed to host the Volopa Irish Challenge at Mount Wolseley over three consecutive years from 2015 - 2017.
