The Irish Golf Club Gazette

12/03/2014

GMAC Ready to be a Hero

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Graeme McDowell tees off this week at the Hero World Challenge, an event where he has twice upstaged his host - Tiger Woods - winning in 2010 and 2012. The new venue, too favours McDowell as Isleworth has seen the 2010 US Open winner produce some of his best golf during the Tavistock Cup.

Woods, who has played only seven events in 2014 due to a nagging back injury, will make is comeback starting Thursday at the Hero World Challenge, an 18-player invitational event that benefits his charity foundation.

Seven of the world's 11 top players will compete, including eighth-ranked Australian Jason Day in his return from a back injury and 11th-rated Jordan Spieth, coming off a victory in last week's Australian Open, but not world number one Rory McIlroy.

"We're thrilled about the depth and talent of our field," Woods said.

Woods, ranked 24th, moved the event this year from California to the same neighborhood where he drove into a fire hydrant in late November of 2009.

That began a series of revelations unveiling a sex scandal that led to Woods' divorce from wife Elin in 2010 and damaged his once-perfect image with major sponsors.

Woods, a 14-time major champion chasing the record 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, has not captured a major title since the 2008 US Open.

Back, knee and leg injuries have hindered his pursuit of Nicklaus in recent years and Woods turns 39 later this month. No player has ever won more than three majors beyond his 39th birthday, something Woods must achieve if he is to catch Nicklaus.

The Challenge will be the first tournament for Woods since he named Chris Como as his new swing consultant last month following a split with swing coach Sean Foley in August.

"I'm excited to be back competing," Woods tweeted two weeks ago when he announced he was working with Como.

Woods underwent a microdiscectomy on March 31 to ease pressure on a pinched nerve, a surgery that caused him to miss the Masters and US Open.

This year, Woods missed two cuts plus a secondary cut at Torrey Pines and withdrew from two other events. He has finished 72 holes only twice this year -- sharing 25th at Doral in March in his final event before surgery but wincing in pain at shots and when bending to pick his ball out of the hole and taking 69th at the British Open in July.

Woods has not played since missing the cut at the PGA Championship at Valhalla in August a week after tweaking his back in a stumble at a World Golf Championships event.

Nedbank Tees of Lowry Season

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Shane Lowry wants to kick off the 2015 season with a bang when he makes his debut in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa.

The Irishman finished fifth at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai – one of seven top tens in 2014, which also included second place at the BMW PGA Championship – and he is targeting one more strong performance before packing away the clubs for a well-earned break.

Lowry feels that a win is just around the corner, so to do it at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, where a world-class field has assembled to contest the US$6.5million prize fund, would certainly make the Christmas turkey taste even sweeter.

“It’s such a big event and a big purse, it’s a great chance to get a good start to the new season,” said the 27 year old. “I’m really looking forward to giving it everything this week and then taking some time off over Christmas and New Year. Going into the break off the back of a win would obviously be fantastic.

“When you’re playing well in the last few months of the season, you earmark this tournament on your calendar as one you’d really like to get into. I’ve never been here but I’ve always watched it on television and hoped that I’d play in it one day.

“I’ve been playing really well lately and I feel like a win shouldn’t be too far away if I keep doing what I’m doing. This would be a great week to do it, no doubt about that.”

The two-time European Tour winner added: “This is only my fourth time to South Africa, believe it or not. We have a lot of tournaments here but I’ve only played a few times. Sun City is a beautiful place and everything – the hotels, the food, the people – is great, so I’m looking forward to a very enjoyable week.”

Another player hoping to take advantage of recent fine form is Brooks Koepka, who last week was announced as the 2014 European Tour Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year.

The young American won his maiden title at the Turkish Airlines Open by the Ministry of Youth and Sports last month, and after spending some time back home in Florida celebrating Thanksgiving, he is eager to add to his haul at the first opportunity in the 2015 campaign.

“I was hoping for a win before the end of the year and I felt like I’d knocked on the door a few times,” said Koepka. “I would’ve been disappointed to finish the year without a win, so to be coming here with the chance to get two is great. It would be a nice way to end the year and a great way to start the 2015 campaign.

“It was nice to go home for a few days and celebrate with my family. We had the whole family and some friends over for Thanksgiving. It was nice to have some time to relax and unwind, and I really enjoyed it, but now I’m ready to get back to work.

“It’s a neat course and I think it will suit my game. I like it. There are some very small greens so you’ve got to be accurate with your irons. It kind of plays to some of my strengths, so it’ll be interesting as the week goes on.”

Kearney Wins in Antalya

Niall Kearney became the first Irishman to be crowned PGA No 1 following his wire-to-wire victory in the play-offs.

The Irish PGA champion rose to the occasion over the Sultan Course in Antalya with rounds of 65, 67 and 67 to finish on 14-under par - two shots clear of the pack.

Kearney's main reward is a place in next year's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and he can also look forward to playing on the GB & Ireland PGA Cup team as well as pocketing a cheque for £2,000.

Kearney, who won with his dad Joe on his bag and his mum Fiona watching from the sidelines, said: "I played really well all week. I led from day one which was difficult at times as I felt a bit of pressure, certainly today. My game was there and it was just one of those weeks.

"I've never played the BMW PGA Championship and that was my goal coming out here."

12/02/2014

Lowry Looks Forward to 2015

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Shane Lowry wants to kick off the 2015 season with a bang when he makes his debut in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa.

“I’ve been playing really well lately and I feel like a win shouldn’t be too far away if I keep doing what I’m doing. This would be a great week to do it, no doubt about that.”

Another player hoping to take advantage of recent fine form is Brooks Koepka, who last week was announced as the 2014 European Tour Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year.

12/01/2014

Golf Club Focus - Castlebar Golf Club

All-Ireland Youths Championship Trophy in 2004 - from left are: Regina Kerr, Lady Captain,
Albert Lee,GUI President 2004, Rory McIlroy (Now a headlining professional golfer) and
Denis Gallagher, Club Captain 2004.

In 1970 the landlord offered to sell land to the Club, either the existing nine hole course for £6,500 or sufficient land for an eighteen hole course for £13,000. An E.G.M. was held to discuss this offer at which a decision was made to purchase the nine hole course for £6,500 and to take an option for the other nine holes. However it seems that this purchase did not go ahead for in 1971 it was reported that Mr. Carson had sold all the land to Mr. Harry Jennings.

In 1970 also Mr. Frank O’Brien, Club President and former Captain and Trustee as well as former Delegate and Chairman of the Connaught Council of the G.U.I. died.

1972 saw the introduction of the Junior and Juvenile categories of membership which have proven immensely popular and beneficial to the Club in attracting young people to join the Club and take up the game.

In 1972 also Castlebar Golf Club won the Connaught Shield and also won the Connaught Pierce Purcell title.

In 1979 a fire destroyed the men’s locker room which was located in the old house.

The 1980’s got off to a flying start for Castlebar Golf Club: there were back to back County Cups in 1980 and 1981 and Stephen Munnelly won the Scratch Cup in 1980. The Club won the County Cup again in 1984.

The early years of the 1980’s were dominated by plans to expand and develop the course. Among the options explored to finance the development was the selling of sites along the main road. Planning Permission was sought but was not granted and the Club just sold one site – The Orchard.

Work was however on-going on the development of the course, culminating in 1985 with the Official Opening of the new eighteen hole course. The Official Opening was the centrepiece of the Club’s 75th Anniversary celebrations.

Once the new course was opened the Club turned its attention to the development of a new Clubhouse. Plans were submitted by an architect and construction on the new Clubhouse started in early 1990.

As it started so too the decade finished on a winning note! Castlebar won the Connaught Junior Inter-Club Match-play in 1988 and followed that up in 1989 by winning the Connaught section of the Pierce Purcell Shield.

For Castlebar Golf Club the 1990’s was an exceptionally busy decade, with major improvements and changes taking place. At the very start of the decade a new Clubhouse was built. This was opened in July 1990.

In 1991 Joe Langan set up the “Phembers” society for high handicappers in the Club. Michael McDermott was the first captain of this new society which today is known as the “Phyxers” and is going as strong as ever.

Associate Membership was abolished in 1991 with the result that ladies became full independent Members.

On the competitive front, 1993 saw the most successful year ever for Castlebar Golf Club in Inter-Club competitions. Under Club Captain, Jim Tiernan, Castlebar won a total of seven pennants, made up of one All-Ireland Pennant (Junior Foursomes) and six Connaught Pennants. Jim Tiernan is rightly very proud of this achievement, referring to it as “The Magnificent Seven”.

In 1994 Castlebar Golf Club finally purchased the remaining land being leased for the course. The Club and Mr. Harry Jennings reached an agreement and the deal was completed. After 84 years in existence Castlebar Golf Club finally owned all the land.

The end of the 1990’s saw the Club embark on its most ambitious project to date. Due to on-going issues with drainage and green problems it became necessary to undertake corrective measures. In 1998 the Captain, Jimmy Broderick and his Committee engaged the services of Peter McEvoy and Craig Cooke to carry out an assessment of the course and to submit recommendations for improvement works. This was the starting point for the development of the new layout complete with 18 new USGA specification greens and 18 new tees, work on which began in 1999.

The 1990’s for Ireland finished on a high note with the country enjoying a boom time and for Castlebar Golf Club the decade similarly finished on a high!

For Castlebar Golf Club the decade started off with the redevelopment of the course in full swing. Eighteen new tees and greens complete with an entirely new layout were being built. The newly developed course was officially opened in 2001.

In 2002 Castlebar Golf Club won the Kenny Cup and in 2003 won the Connaught Junior Foursomes. In 2007 and 2008 respectively the Connaught section of the Junior Cup and the Connaught section of the Pierce Purcell Shield were won.

The Winter League was started in 2003 and this has developed into a very popular league with over 200 golfers entering it each year.

Fund-raising became even more essential in the 2000’s. The 2004 Captain, Denis Gallagher, introduced the Club Lotto, which ran for just over two years and raised over €40,000!

2004 was a huge year for Castlebar Golf Club. The Club hosted the Youths All-Ireland Finals with the finest young golfers from all over Ireland playing and a certain Rory McIlroy winning the title!

Also in 2004 Jim McGovern became the third Castlebar member to be elected to the Connaught Council of the Golfing Union of Ireland and in 2007 Jim became the first Castlebar member to be appointed Honorary Secretary of the Connaught Council.The decade ended as it began with construction work on-going. This time the Clubhouse was being extended and renovated, a job overseen by Val Jennings and completed in early 2010, leaving Castlebar Golf Club with a very fine Clubhouse as well as a very fine course!

www.castlebargolfclub.ie