Irish Professionals - Brendan McGovern

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Brendan McGovern is recognised as one of Ireland's top golfers and is club professional at the 36 hole Headfort Golf Club in Kells, County Meath. 

After turning professional in 1984 he qualified for the European Tour in 1990 where he played for over five years.

In 1997 he qualified for the 126th Open Championship at Royal Troon and suffered an opening round of 84 in very difficult conditions. On the Friday hefollowed up with a 74 and missed the cut. T

he Claret Jug that year went to American Justin Leonard after Darren Clarke could only finish on Sunday with a round of 71.

Over the past years McGovern has been a regular at the Irish Open. 

Brendan is a Certified PGA Referee and 2003 captain of Irish Region PGA. He is a member of Tartan Golf - Ireland's largest buying group and the Headfort Pro shop supplies all leading brands at best prices.

Brendan offers lessons in all aspects of the game and is regarded as a leading short game specialist in the country with special tuition on pitching, chipping and bunker play. 

In 2016 McGovern returned to the pro circuit to play the Senior Tour qualifiers in Portugal and finished third in the final event following rounds of 67-74-70-73 - to earn a place on the European Senior Tour for the 2016 season.

Career Highlights

Irish Assistant Champion 1984

Southern Professional Champion 1993/2002

Leading Qualifier British Open 1997

European Card Holder 1990/1995

Runner-up Boggi Intl. Open 1990

9th Kenya Open 1995/1996

8th Zambian Open 1994

8th European U 25 (Paris) 1989

Irish Order of Merit Winner 1990/1995/2002

Over 60 pro-am wins

Lowest pro score 63 (9 under) Torrequebreda S.C.

Represented GB/Ire in PGA Cup matches v. USA 1996/2003

FactFile

DOB 07/10/2015

Seniors QSchool 2016

Attachment Headfort Gol Club

Turned Pro 1984

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Lowry Tops Honda Leaderboard

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Shane Lowry signed for an opening round of 67 at The Honda Classic courtesy of a birdie on the 17th and then an eagle 3 on the 18th in the opening round of The Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. .

He shared a threeway lead in the clubhouse with Sweden's David Lingmerth and American George McNeill, who has missed the cut in his last five events and whose last competitive round was an 84 in the Farmers Insurance Open.

"It wasn't easy," McNeill told PGA Tour radio after a round containing six birdies, one bogey and a double bogey. "The wind always blows here, it was the opposite direction to what it was in the practice rounds and the pro-am and a little cooler.

"I putted pretty phenomenal, that's really all I did well. I haven't made a putt in two years so it kind of felt good! To see them consistently go in, I didn't expect to make that many, but it was nice.

"Being back in Florida I feel a little more comfortable being back on Bermuda grass and greens. The stuff out west, I have fits out there just because I can't read it and putt it there. Being back in Florida helps."

Out on the course, the start of Sergio Garcia's round was as spectacular as Lowry's finish, the Ryder Cup star holing his approach to the second from 148 yards for an eagle two.

The world number 19 then holed from six feet for birdie on the par-five third to move into a share of the lead, with playing partner Rickie Fowler a shot behind after birdies on the second and third.

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Irish Trio Struggle at Pebble Beach

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Pádraig Harrington was thebest of the three Irish after a seocnd round 71 at the AT&T Pro- am in Pebble Beach on Friday - seven strokes of the lead.

Harrington is in his second week of a four-tournament stretch leading up to his defence of the Honda Classic at the end of the month, and used a missed cut at Phoenix to work on elements of his game. 

Playing his second round at Pebble Beach, the Dubliner claimed another birdie on the Par 5 sixth, finding the green with a 3-wood approach from 237 yards and two-putting before adding a third birdie on the 10th where he hit a 170 yards approach from the left rough to 20 feet and rolled in the putt. A wayward drive into rough on the 16th proved costly though as Harrington bogeyed the 16th to drop back to two-under for his round (and five-under for the tournament).

As South Korean Sung Kang shot the lights out to grab the clubhouse lead in the AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am, Phil Mickelson provided proof of the old adage that class is permanent.

Kang briefly flirted with posting a magical 59 - before having to settle for a 60 that gave him a midway total of 11-under-par 231 - as Mickelson, a four-time winner of the tournament, reminded everyone of his pedigree with a second round 65 for 10-under-par.

Of the three Irish players in the field, three-time Major champion Pádraig Harrington - benefitting from a couple of chip-ins - led the way as he moved into contention with 71 for four-under 139. But Shane Lowry, coming into the tournament on the back of a tied-13th in Torrey Pines and a tied-sixth finish in Phoenix, and Paul Dunne struggled until late rallies and both face a battle to survive the three round cut.

Paul Dunne, playing on a sponsor’s exemption, struggled at the famed links and was heavily penalised for finding a number of bunkers. That tendency to find sand was apparent from the first hole when he found a greenside bunker and suffered an opening bogey.

On the second, Dunne’s drive found a fairway bunker and compounded matters by also finding a greenside bunker on the Par 5 en route to another bogey. Further bogeys followed on the fifth and eighth, the only bright light coming with a tap-in birdie on the sixth. Dunne’s homeward run also featured further visits to sand traps, with bogeys on the 12th and 14th. A 10-footer for birdie on the Par 3 17th got him back to one-over overall before an eight-footer on the 18th left him on level-par 143 alongside Lowry.

Lowry - playing alongside Harrington - got off to a good start with an opening birdie but gave the shot back immediately with a bogey on the second, where he drove into a fairway bunker and then compounded matters by finding another trap with his next shot. Although Lowry managed a birdie on the sixth, he then suffered back-to-back bogeys on the eighth and ninth to turn in one-over 37.

Mickelson set the course alight at Monterrey Peninsula with a front nine of 29 that featured five birdies and no bogeys. But such fireworks failed to continue on the run home as he added two birdies and suffered two bogeys, including a dropped shot on the 18th, to finish with a 65 which tied his best low round at the course in 2012. On that occasion, he went on to win the tournament.

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Padraig Ready to Valspar It

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Padraig Harrington returns to action for the first time since his dramatic victory in the Honda Classic in this week’s Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club.

Harrington’s first win on a major worldwide tour since the 2008 USPGA Championship secured his return to the US Masters next month and lifted him back inside the world’s top 100, but did not get the Dubliner a place in the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral.

That at least allowed the 43-year-old three-time major winner the time to reflect on his victory, which came in a play-off with American rookie Daniel Berger after a double bogey on the 71st hole.

“It feels great to have won and now that I have done so I have allowed myself to think of the things that come with it, the Masters, the Players, WGC-Bridgestone and I am exempt for three years on the PGA Tour, but above all that the confidence a win brings,” Harrington explained this week.

“It has been tough at times but the last couple of months, with my two wins (he won in Indonesia in December), have made it worthwhile.

“I never doubted myself, I know a lot of people did and many asked me why I would do things differently, but then that wouldn’t be me.

“I don’t feel any different now that I have won, as I always felt that the win was around the corner.

“Little did I know that it was going to be a nearly seven-year corner and then, like buses, two come along one after the other.

“I feel that I have found the mental solution that I have been searching for and that I will kick on from here. I know that it won’t work all of the time, but that some of the time it is good enough.”

Harrington has been paired with world number two Jordan Spieth and former Masters champion Adam Scott for the first two rounds, Scott finishing joint fourth in the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Sunday in his first start of the season. Fellow AustralianJohn Senden is the defending champion.

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Tiger Just Needs More Time - Clarke

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Darren Clarke has insisted he has "no doubt" that Tiger Woods will again be among the top players in the world once he has had time to adapt his swing.

Woods is currently taking time away from tournament golf as he continues to develop a new swing with biomechanics coach Chris Como following his injury-ravaged 2014 campaign.

The former world No 1 linked up with Como while he recovered from back surgery during the second half of last year, but his two starts on the PGA Tour this term have been blighted by poor form and further fitness problems.

Woods carded the worst round of his professional career at the Phoenix Open, hacking his way around TPC Scottsdale in 82 in the second round to finish joint last after 36 holes.

He showed signs of improvement with his short game at last week's Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, but he managed to complete only 11 holes on the first day before he was forced to withdraw due to pain in his lower back.

Darren Clarke believes Tiger Woods just need’s a bit of time off to recover from his injuries but he will be back

Woods insisted the problem was caused by a lengthy delay due to fog and not related to his surgery, but his wayward long-game was more of a concern and prompted him to announce he would not return to competitive action until he feels he is "tournament ready".

Clarke, widely expected to be announced as Europe's 2016 Ryder Cup captain next week, has much sympathy for his close friend and believes he needs time to find a swing he is comfortable with.

"Tiger’s been the best player in the world for a long, long time and he’s trying to change his swing again through injuries and he’s having to adapt," Clarke told Sky Sports News HQ.

"Those injuries can take a little bit of time to go away and working on his swing is the same sort of thing, so he just needs a little bit of time, that’s all.

"You can get down, it’s quite easy to do, as it’s a pretty tough job out there at times. Whenever you’re trying to perform and you don’t do it, it’s particularly frustrating. But his talent is beyond question so I have no doubt he’ll be back again."

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