Good weekend for golfer Sara Byrne, Cork, Douglas and Munster Women Golf

Sara Byrne was one of the stars of the show last weekend as Lahinch hosted the Arnold Palmer Cup. Byrne, the first Cork player to feature in the annual event which sees 48 top college golfers face off on American and International teams.

Byrne was paired with Max Kennedy for the mixed fourball and mixed foursomes and the pair scored two wins in their matches. In Sunday’s singles she faced the recent winner of the Women’s Amateur, Melanie Green. 

Teeing off from the 1st, there was a huge crowd around the clubhouse to follow the Douglas golfer.

Despite losing the opening hole, Byrne went on to win the next three holes and lead by two holes. Byrne went three up on 11 but couldn’t find another birdie after that. Green proved her value on the back nine, reeling off nine single putts in a row, many to save par and four of them for birdies.

Two of them were long range speculative attempts, but they landed in the hole and that gave Green a one up win on the 18th green. Sara’s good form in Lahinch will be another boost as her busy summer continues. 

There was a quick turnaround for Sara, she was headed for Spain for the European Amateur team Championships on Monday.

Cork Golf Club secured a Munster East pennant when they won the AIG Senior Cup in Co Tipperary last weekend. 

They faced Tramore in the final and it was an exciting contest that went to the last hole of the last match.

Franke Walsh and Paddy Quill put the first two points on the board for Cork but with Tramore winning two matches the result came down to Gary O’Flaherty in the final match.

O’Flaherty was one down playing the 17th and birdied the hole to level the match. He slotted home a five foot par putt on the 18th to win the match for Cork. 

In Saturday’s final Cork had a dramatic win over Douglas with O’Flaherty again playing a central role.

Joe O’Sullivan and Frankie Walsh won the first two matches to give Cork an advantage but Douglas responded with wins from Sean Reddy and James Walsh. 

The last match would be the decided and it took three additional holes before O’Flaherty finally got the better of Robbie Walsh.

Douglas Golf Club claimed the AIG Women’s Senior Cup title also in Co Tipperary. 

Wins for Karen O’Neill, Clodagh Coughlan and Shannon Burke meant that Aoife NiThuama and Jemma Barry were called in. In the semi-final Douglas had an impressive win over Tipperary while Cork beat Fota Island.

Douglas along with Cork can now look forward to the All-Ireland finals in Carlow Golf Club at the end of August. In the Women’s Intermediate foursomes, Kinsale had a win over East Cork.

Justin Dennehy won his first Golf Ireland championship last week when he finished up top of the leaderboard in the Connacht U14 Boys. Dennehy started quickly and was three under after six holes. Another birdie followed on the 12th but two bogies saw him finish on -2. 

Justin won by four shots and was the only player to finish under par. The Douglas golfer was back in action in Ulster on Monday where he finished on 4th position.

The interprovincials took place in Slieve Russell last week and there was joy for the Munster Women’s team who had a dramatic win on the final day. Munster had a win over Leinster on the opening day and followed that with an impressive win over Connacht on day two. 

That left them with a winner takes all match against holders Ulster on the final day.

Cork was well represented with Mairead Martin, Clodagh Coughlan and Emma O’Driscoll were all in good form, and Mallow’s Mary Dowling was the team captain with Sinead Enright Manager.

“It means the world, it is just absolutely incredible,” said team captain Mary Dowling. 

“My players were fantastic all week. We were pipped at the post last year. 

“We came out very determined this year and what a dream come true. 

“It was nip and tuck all day, one up one down. We had a few matches well up early but you never know on the course, the way it finishes anything can happen. It’s never over until it’s over. It really was fantastic.”

The news wasn’t as positive for the Munster Men’s side, unfortunately they came out on the wrong side of the result on each of the three days.