Three Leaders at Fota Island Audi Masters

A gripping final day of play is in store at Fota Island Resort in Cork as three golfers share a one-shot lead ahead of the concluding round of the Audi Cork Irish Masters.

Rita Batibasaga, Stuart Manley and Elliot Saltman are all four under par after 36 holes of the seventh event of the 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour season.

Five players are just one shot behind the leaders, setting up an exciting final round on Friday - 

final round tee times

Rita Batibasaga (Indoorphilly GC) made birdie six times in his second round but was pegged back by four bogeys. Starting at the 10th tee he picked up back-to-back birdies at his opening two holes before bogeying the 12th.

Three successive birdies from the 16th saw him move up the leaderboard and a birdie four at the fifth further improved his score. However, he concluded his round with three consecutive bogeys and signed a two-under-par 69, equalling his first round to moving to four under for the tournament.

Stuart Manley (Machynys Peninsula) carded a five-under-par second round of 66 with the help of an eagle three at the fourth. He had been one above par overnight but that eagle and three birdies saw him finish day two with a share of the lead.

Elliot Saltman, who qualified for this year’s Open Championship earlier in the week, started at the 10th and made four birdies on his front nine. He added to that with a four at the par-five fourth but bogeyed the seventh to sign for a 67.

Portstewart’s Paul Cutler is among the five golfers tied for fourth, one shot off the lead. His round didn’t get off to the best start when he double bogeyed the second but an eagle at the 10th pulled those dropped shots back and he added two birdies to his card at 12 and 18, and despite a bogey at the 13th he signed for 70.

Duncan Stewart (Grantown on Spey), Zane Scotland (Woodcote Park GC/Princes GC), Dan Seymour (Newbury Golf Centre) and Darryn Lloyd (Acrabuild Ltd/W.Ash & Sons) are also just one shot off the leading trio.

Overnight leader Michael Collins (Mallow Golf Range) shot a second-round 74 and is three shots off the pace.

Ahead of Friday’s final round a cut of the top 50 and ties has been made. Golfers with a total score of four over par or better will play another 18 holes to determine the winner. 

Leaderboard

Collins Masters First Day at Fota

Michael Collins leads the way on four under par at the end of the opening day of the Audi Cork Irish Masters at Fota Island Resort in Cork.

Dan Seymour is second, one shot behind Collins in the seventh event of the 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour campaign. Seymour won the season opener at Wensum Valley in Norfolk in April and is well placed to build on that victory at Fota Island.

Collins (Marlow Golf Range) began his round at the par-five tenth and got off to a superb start with an eagle.

He continued to build his score with a birdie two the following hole and added another at the par-three seventeenth. Turning home he registered a third birdie at the first before making a bogey five at the eighth to sign for a 67.

Seymour (Newbury Golf Centre) opened with two birdies on the front nine; at the first and ninth. Another birdie at 13 saw him move to three under par but bogey fives at 14 and 16 looked to have forced him down the leaderboard. However, an eagle at the par-five 18th restored Seymour to second on the leaderboard with a score of 68

Seven golfers are tied for third, two shots off the lead. Among those to have carded an opening round of 69 are Cian McNamara and Paul Cutler.

McNamara (Team Ireland/Limerick GC) made birdies at one, 10 and 12 but dropped a shot at the par-five fourth.

Northern Irishman Paul Cutler (Portstweart) started with a birdie at the tenth and picked up further shots at 17 and two before bogeying the third and completing the remaining holes to par to sign for a 69. Behind them four golfers are one shot under par.

The second round of the Audi Cork Irish Masters gets underway at 8am on Thursday morning. After all golfers have played 36 holes a cut of the top 50 and ties will be made ahead of the final round on Friday.

Audi Cork Irish Masters leaderboard

CLIC Collects 100K at 2012 Irish Open

Photo:European Tour

CLIC Sargent, the UK’s leading cancer charity for children and young people, will benefit to the tune of £100,000 from the record-breaking 2012 Irish Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club last week.

All funds raised from the event will go to support CLIC Sargent Northern Ireland’s ‘Homes from Home’ appeal to help young cancer patients and their families in the form of two free self-catering houses close to the two main Belfast hospitals. At present CLIC Sargent helps more than 200 families a year in Northern Ireland.

Several initiatives during the week of the Irish Open, which drew enormous crowds to the Co. Antrim venue, resulted in the final total reaching the six figure mark.

The Tour Players Foundation, the charitable arm of The European Tour, and the Darren Clarke Foundation, joined forces to support CLIC Sargent NI through a Birdie Pledge in which £10 per birdie, £20 per eagle and £50 per albatross made by the players over the four rounds, raised a total of £35,620 - £17,810 from each foundation.

Spectators also played a substantial role with a £1 donation from every Official Programme and Drawsheet sold going to CLIC Sargent. Combined with other donations on the Site, the generosity of the general public contributed £30,000 the very worthy cause and thanks go to Walton Media for their assistance in this initiative.

Tournament sponsor Brewin Dolphin made a donation of £5000 while the Caddie Experience with Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey raised £6000. A further £4000 was raised from other fundraising activity in and around the venue. Due to the overwhelming success of the event, The European Tour made a significant contributing through its charitable arm, the TPF, to guarantee a grand total of £100,000.

David Park, The European Tour’s Charity Executive, said: “Everyone involved in the 2012 Irish Open can be proud of the difference their generosity will make to children who have cancer in Northern Ireland. It is wonderful to know that the Championship will leave a lasting legacy through CLIC Sargent’s Homes from Home Appeal.”

Teresa Sloan, Appeal Director at CLIC Sargent said: “We are overwhelmed by the final total which will make a massive difference to our Homes from Home Appeal, and to the lives of children with cancer in Northern Ireland.

“We are very proud to have been associated with such an excellent, world class event and would like to thank the organisers as well as the many spectators for getting behind CLIC Sargent during the tournament. In particular I would like to pay tribute to The Tour Players Foundation, the charitable arm of The European Tour, and the Darren Clarke Foundation.”

On average, families in Northern Ireland have to travel 95 miles, up to five times a week to access the cancer treatment they need for their sick child. CLIC Sargent’s aim is to build two Homes from Home close to the two main Belfast hospitals to ease this financial and emotional burden on families at an already difficult time.

Higgins Misses Lytham Open....Just

David Higgins narrowly missed out on qualifying for the British Open on Tuesday.

Higgins' total of five-under was one shot short of the qualifying mark at St Annes Old yesterday as former Ryder Cup pair Barry Lane and Paul Broadhurst, aged 52 and 46 respectively, both made it in.

Broadhurst, whose round of 63 at St Andrews in 1990 has still to be bettered in any major, won the 36-hole final qualifying event with a seven-under-par tally.

And with only three of the 72 players going through to Royal Lytham in a fortnight, Lane's second-round 70 enabled him to finish joint second on six-under with Argentina's Rafa Echenique.

Young amateur Gavin Moynihan of The Island finished joint 23rd with a level-par aggregate.

At Hillside it was an English trio who came through -- former European Tour winner Warren Bennett, 2009 Walker Cup player Dale Whitnell and Kent's Steven Tiley.

Steve Alker won at West Lancashire on seven under, but fellow New Zealander Michael Campbell, US Open champion seven years ago, shot level par -- five too many to be in a play-off

Steven O'Hara and Scott Pinckney survived the play-off at West Lancs, while at Southport and Ainsdale the winner was Dane Morten Orum Madsen, but there was disappointment there for former Tour star Nick Dougherty.

The Liverpudlian lost his card last season and was still in with a good chance after an opening 70, but followed it with a 74. Glasson's Colm Moriarty could only finish in a tie for 10th.

A play-off was needed here as well and saw Elliot Saltman and Hoylake professional Ian Keenan through.

Fota Island Hosts Cork Irish Masters

The 888poker.com PGA EuroPro Tour heads to Cork this week for the Audi Cork Irish Masters at Fota Island.

The event will be played on the resort’s Deerpark Course and below Fota Island’s Director of Golf Kevin Morris picks out five of its key holes.

Three

Par: 3; Yards: 165

“The third is a tricky par three with water short on the right and left and a bunker at the back of the green.”

Eight

Par: 4; Yards: 478

“This is a great par four. It’s a left-to-right dog leg with a ditch running up the left hand side for your second shot, turning into a lake on the left-edge of the green. Then you have four bunkers left of the green, so it is a really good hole where your second shot will probably be about 200 yards.”

Ten

Par: 5; Yards: 500

“Ten is a short, downhill par-five which has out-of-bounds off the tee on the right and trees down the left and the green is surrounded on three sides by water. It’s quite a short shot in there - I reckon the professionals will be using short to mid irons - but it is one where, even after hitting the fairway, you could still run up seven.”

Twelve

Par: 4; Yards: 428

“There are no bunkers on the 12th but it has a water hazard on the left which runs across the fairway at about 300 yards.”

Eighteen

Par: 5; Yards: 507

“The 18th is the only genuinely tight driving hole on the golf course but a drive to the top of the hill is going to leave you a long to mid iron into the green. The green is a small green which is surrounded again by water on three sides. It is a good, strong finishing hole.”