The Irish Golf Club Gazette

4/03/2016

Golf Club Focus - Greystones

Greystones Golf Club

Founded in 1895 Greystones GC is one of Ireland’s oldest established golf clubs. The 5,337 metre par 69 18 hole parkland course is situated in one of Irelands most scenic locations, surrounded by the Wicklow Mountains, with panoramic views of picturesque Dublin Bay.

Like so many other clubs of the time, there was a strong ascendancy influence. The Right Hon. Viscount Powerscourt was the Club’s first President. Lord Glenavy once Chairman of the Old Irish Free State Senate was also a President of the club. Other famous V.I.P. visitors included Bonar Law, Prime Minister of Great Britain and world renowned writer Samuel Beckett who, according to reports was quite and accomplished golfer.

In 1985 the then President of Ireland Patrick Hillary, a single figure golfer, played the course.

Greystones and neighbouring Delgany are steeped in golfing history. Many top players learned the game in the area, such as Ryder and World Cup player, Jimmy Martin, whose father Jimmy was the Greystones Club Assistant Professional for many years.

Other top players from the locality included the legendary Harry Bradshaw, for years the Professional at Portmarnock, and Miltown’s Christy Green.

The Club was originally set around Jones’s Hill which still provides the feature hole – 7th – of the course. This hole is set high above the seaside town of Greystones, with magnificent views from Lambay Island to Wicklow Head with the Sugar Loaf and Wicklow mountains as the inland back drop.

Greystones GC has been significantly developed in recent years and now boasts a modern clubhouse. In 1998 the club embarked on upgrading the course with USGA standard greens and tees. World renowned course designer Ron Kirby was responsible for the redesigning.

Ron is one of the world’s most respected course designers. His career has spanned five decades, taking him around the globe to fashion some of the games great courses. Over the years he has been linked with many big names including Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones and Gary Player. His impressive portfolio of projects include Sun City, Kiawah Island, the Old Head Kinsale and Dromoland Castle.

Ron was aware of the tradition of Greystones and the course itself. His blend of history and modernity gives an intriguing character to the course and provides golfers with variety and a challenging round.

www.greystonesgc.com

Maguire and Meadows Miss Inspiration

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Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadows missed the cut after they hit respective second rounds of 76 and 78.

The Irish duo had left themselves with considerable work to do after poor opening rounds on Thursday, yet Maguire hit four more bogeys in her second round to finish seven over for the tournament - three shots better off than Meadows who struggled with six bogeys on Friday.

Lexi Thompson’s putter switch helped her surge up the leaderboard to grab a share of the lead at the halfway mark of the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage, California on Friday.

Thompson carded four birdies in her last seven holes, including three in a row from the 12th, to shoot a four-under-68 and jump to seven-under for the tournament in the first major championship of the year.

The 21-year-old joined overnight leader Ai Miyazato atop the leaderboard at Mission Hills Country Club after the Japanese former world number one mixed five birdies and three bogeys on her way to a round of 70.

Six players sit just one shot off the pace, including New Zealand’s world number one Lydia Ko, who shot a 68 to go with her first round 70.

American Lizette Salas (67), Norway’s Suzann Pettersen (67), Koreans Park Sung-hyun (67) and Chun In-gee (69) and South African Lee-Anne Pace (70) also shared third place on a packed leaderboard with 19 players within three shots of the lead.

Thompson, who sat in a similar position in 2014 before going on to win the title, changed putters in the lead up to the tournament after a poor result in last week’s Kia Classic.

“I started practising with it Tuesday and putted with it an hour and a half a day to get comfortable with it but honestly 20 minutes into it I knew it was good,” Thompson told reporters.

“Coming off last week, just how it went for me and I knew where my confidence was I needed a change. It couldn’t get any worse. I tried it here and it felt amazing.”

The seven-times LPGA tour winner was particularly impressed with her finish in tough conditions.

“The rough is the highest I have ever seen it but that is what majors call for, tight fairways, thick rough and firm greens,” she said.

“That’s what you get here. I hit a few wayward shots but I recovered well and that’s what you have to do at majors.”

Spain’s Azahara Munoz, who held the overnight lead with Miyazato, tumbled down the boards with a 78 to drop to one-over and a share of 48th.

3/29/2016

Pro Focus - Brendan McDaid

As a result of growing up in a house where golf was everything I started playing golf just after learning to walk and was hooked on golf at the age of 18 months.

I was lucky enough to be born in Donegal to two parents who were passionate golfers. My Mother was a keen golfer and played golf for Munster, Connaught and Ulster. My mother also represented Ireland.

My father was also a keen golfer and played off a handicap of 6.

As a young child the family moved to Cork where my passion for golf continued. I started to play in competition golf from a young age and some of my golfing achievements include:

Qualified and Played on the European Tour in 1989

Winning the Irish Independent Philishave weekly prize with a score of 44 (aged 11).

Youngest player to reach the last 16 in the South of Ireland Championship in 1976

Youngest winner of the Irish Youths Championship (aged 16).

Member of the first Irish Youths Team to leave the country and play in the Youth Championships (which Ireland won)

Qualified and Played on the European Tour in 1989

Winning the Irish Independent Philishave weekly prize with a score of 44 (aged 11).

Youngest player to reach the last 16 in the South of Ireland Championship in 1976

Youngest winner of the Irish Youths Championship (aged 16).

Member of the first Irish Youths Team to leave the country and play in the Youth Championships (which Ireland won)

Winner of the Kerry Boys Championship in 1976, 1977 & 1979.

Member of the School Golf Team which won the Aer Lingus National Championship in 1978 & 1979

Winner of the Munster Boys Championship in 1978 beating Ronan Rafferty in the final

Member of the School Golf Team which won the Aer Lingus International Championship in 1979

Leading Individual in the Aer Lingus International Championship in 1979 which meant I qualifies for my first European Pro Am at the age of 18

Winner of the Munster Youths Championship in 1980 & 1981

Played for Castletroy in 1980-1981 and won Aer Lingus Clubs Championship and runner up in the International Final.

Represented Munster on the Senior Interprovincial Team for 4 years.

In 1984 I qualified as a PGA Pro European Tour Coach and for five years I combined playing golf with teaching golf.

However it was in 1989 that I decided my true passion was teaching golf. A combination of touring and trying to teach made me realise that I loved teaching golf more than playing on the tour.

Since then I have focused on my passion of providing golf lessons across the full spectrum of golfer from beginners to members of the European Tour.

Head coach to PGA Pro and European Tour winner Peter Lawrie when he claimed his maiden European Tour victory at the Open de España in 2008, defeating home favourite Ignacio Garrido in a play-off.

Provide golf lessons at some of the countries finest golfing facilities and use all the latest golf technology to cater for all your tuition needs.

Regardless of whether you are learning to play golf for the first time, want to improve your handicap or win more on the European Tour, I can improve your golf game and increase the pleasure you get from your round of golf.

Providing golf lessons in:

Dublin

Limerick

Naas

Athy

Contact: info@brendanmcdaidgolf.com

Twitter @BMcDaidGoll
www.brendanmcdaidgolf.com

[If you wish to include your club in the Pro Focus email news to irishgolfclubgazette at gmail.com]

3/26/2016

McIlroy Beats Na in Sudden Death

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Rory McIlroy relishes the mano a mano combat of raw matchplay, and the Northern Irishman – seeking to defend his title – was forced to demonstrate all those survival instincts to see off American Kevin Na in the WGC-Dell Matchplay Championship in Austin, Texas.

It required a sudden-death playoff to move on out of the group, but McIlroy ensured his progress into the last-16 and a match with British Open champion Zach Johnson. McIlroy, unbeaten in his last 10 WGC matchplay matches, is trying to become the first player since Tiger Woods (2003 and 2004) to win back-to-back titles.

“I had to dig pretty deep, Kevin’s a very good competitor and he wasn’t giving me much out there, so I holed a few long putts and I kept it together when I needed to . . .for the most part, I played pretty good. I responded to some of his good shots with good shots myself and that gives me some confidence going into the weekend,” said McIlroy afterwards.

In a way, McIlroy got the worst of any swing glitches out of the way early: a double-bogey six on the 446 yards Par 4 second – when his tee shot was pushed into the right rough and his approach found a greenside bunker from where he failed to find the putting surface – gave Na the impetus.

And the American went two-up on the world number three when his lob wedge approach to three feet on the fifth set up a birdie three. McIlroy responded with a tee shot to eight feet for birdie on the seventh and then won the ninth to level matters at the turn.

Again, McIlroy was forced to play catch-up when Na won the 10th and the Northern Irishman showed he was up for the battle when he rolled in a 30-footer for birdie on the Par 3 11th and then assumed the lead for the first time in the match when he rolled in a four-and-a-half footer.

However, he played the Par 5 16th poorly and almost salvaged a half when his pitch for birdie hit the hole but stayed out as Na levelled affairs.

Both McIlroy and Na halved the first playoff hole in pars but the match swung in the Ulsterman’s favour when his opponent pulled his tee shot into the hazard and was forced to take a penalty drop. He then put his third shot into a greenside bunker and a par was sufficient for McIlroy to close the deal.

Of facing Johnson, McIlroy said: “This is a course that sets up well for Zach, a precision sort of course and if he gets the ball in play he will be hard to beat. My matchplay game is pretty good and no matter what he does I will have to respond to it.”

Shane Lowry’s disappointing campaign finished with a 4 and 3 defeat to British Open champion Johnson, who won all three of his matches.

Johnson’s form was such that he never got beyond the 15th green in any of his matches and, so, after defeating Lowry, the American decided to finish off by playing the 16th, 17th and 18th holes on his own. “I hadn’t seen those holes since Tuesday,” explained Johnson.

“Shane didn’t have his best but rallied at the end and gave it a fight,” he added.

For Lowry, it is a case of moving on to next week’s Houston Open, his final preparation tournament ahead of the Masters.

Hot streaks can turn cold, as Adam Scott – after two wins on the Florida Swing – discovered in failing to escape from his group, after the Australian was trumped by Bill Haas who won by one hole to advance into the last 16.

“I can’t be upset I lost the match playing like that,” said Scott after his exit, shaking his head at what had been an unpredictable match in which no hole was halved from the seventh to the 18th. Over the last seven holes, the pair factored in five birdies and an eagle between them.

Haas, who had only required a halved match to move on to the knockout phase, duly secured a morale-boosting win when he rolled in a 12-footer for birdie on the 18th to rub salt into Scott’s wounds.

There was a much smoother transition from the group stage to the knockout phase for Jason Day who recovered from the back injury that flared up on Wednesday and which had threatened his participation.

He made it three wins from three in the group when his opponent Paul Casey withdrew after just six holes of the final group match. Casey had been battling an upset stomach all week. Although the Englishman won the opening two holes, Day had levelled the match by the sixth when Casey decided to call it a day .

SATURDAY ROUND OF 16 TEE TIMES

12.30pm Bill Haas v Chris Kirk

12.41pm Rory McIlroy v Zach Johnson

12.52pm Matt Kuchar v Brooks Koepka

1.03pm Jason Day v Brandt Snedeker

1.14pm Byeong-Hun An v Rafael Cabrera-Bello

1.25pm Patton Kizzirev Ryan Moore

1.36pm Dustin Johnson v Patrick Reed

1.47pm Jordan Spieth v Louis Oosthuizen

3/25/2016

McIlroy All Smylie After Second Austin Win

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Rory McIlroy, if not exactly firing on all cylinders, made it two wins from two matches in his defence of the WGC-Dell Matchplay championship with a 3 and 1 victory over American Smylie Kaufman in the second day of group play.

As McIlroy marched on in pursuit of back-to-back wins in the championship, with a final group match against Kevin Na set to decide who progresses, there was only disappointment for Shane Lowry, who went from a position of strength in his match with Australian Marcus Fraser, three up at the turn, to collapse on the back nine and end up with only a halved match that ended any chance of progression into the knockout phase.

“Is there any point me coming down?” Lowry enquired forlornly to his caddie Dermot Byrne after hitting his tee-shot on the Par 3 17th into the hazard.

There wasn’t, the ball was never found, and despite Byrne’s best efforts, the ball was never found and that poor tee shot in effect – leading to a bogey on that hole for the second day in a row – ended Lowry’s hopes in the championship a day early. His final group match against Zach Johnson will be purely a matter of pride.

Lowry had started like a train – a birdie-birdie start giving him a two hole lead – and he turned three up and seemingly in total control only to lose the 10th and 11th to birdies and the match was back to all-square after Fraser holed from off the green on the 14th.

For McIlroy, there was again a doggedness about how he went about his business in his pursuit of defending the title. Just as his opening group match with Thorbjorn Olesen swung his way late on, he benefitted from the travails of his opponent, Kaufman, who hit one water ball after another on the homeward run.

McIlroy was one up through the turn but lost the 10th and 11th in what appeared to be a momentum- changer to go one down. He didn’t need to produce any heroics of his own, however, to regain the initiative as Kaufman was twice in the water on the 13th and again found water on the 14th for McIlroy to go all-square and then move one up.

Kaufman’s woes were evident again on the 17th, where a pulled tee shot into the same territory as Lowry ahead of him had found resulted in a concession of the hole and the match to McIlroy. The Northern Irishman will complete his group stage against Kevin Na in a winner-takes-all conclusion to see who advances to the last 16.

“It was nice not to go down the last but then it was a little scary at the start of the match, but I’m happy Smylie did concede there at 17 and I move,” said McIlroy, adding: “I certainly feel now after these two days that the longer the match goes on the better my chances are . . . the pleasing thing over the last couple of days is that when I needed to play some of my best golf, I have been able to do that.”

McIlroy made it two wins from two, as did Patrick Reed with a comprehensive 4 and 3 win over England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick to set up a showdown with Phil Mickelson.

Jordan Spieth also made it two wins from two with a 5 and 4 win over Victor Dubuisson.

Graeme McDowell’s involvement came to an early end, as he halved his match with England’s Paul Casey.

Jason Day, who suffered a back injury in defeating McDowell on Wednesday, received intensive physiotherapy to enable him to play and confirmed his well being with a 5 and 3 win over Thonghai Jaidee that has the Australian set to move on to the knockout phase.

4/03/2016

Golf Club Focus - Greystones

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