JOHNNY WATTERSONwatches Ireland's next generation of golfing heroes throw a tee party in Portmarnock
DYLAN IS clutching his putter in the practice area. Blinged out in his Pings and Calloways, he’s not showing much sign of nerves for a nine-year-old. His grip has a familiar red trim and badge stamped into the top. “You’ll never walk alone with Liverpool,” he chirps. What can you say to that?
He is part of a vista that would bring a smile to the most curmudgeonly of golf crusties. Kids as far as the eye can see. Kids on the tees. Kids in the bunkers. Kids on the putting green. Kids smashing balls into the practice nets beside the first hole. Ireland’s golfing future bumping and running, girls and boys, 8-12 years old, all here to play tournament golf. And you know, it’s not hell on earth – not at all.
“Dylan has been playing since he was three years old,” says his mother Valerie Keating, from Termonfeckin. Josh, her younger son chips in “Termonfeckin has a bad word in it.” See how canny these kids are?
“He watches golf all the time,” says Valerie about Dylan. “We have a garden in the front and he pitches balls up and down all the time. He’s been doing that since he was three.”
Today Portmarnock Links is the venue for the US Kids Golf competition. A gentle breeze coming off the sea pushing the balls of the Tiny Terrors, Mini Marvels and Wee Wonders inland, this could be Florida.
That Wee Wonder himself, Rory McIlroy, started his world domination in this competition, ending up in the finals in the US. Naturally, McIlroy won the event at Doral for his first significant international victory in the nine-to-10 age group.
Charlie Swan is on the putting green with little Henry Swan. Charlie is looking as relaxed as he always has, observing Henry’s stroke and poise. It’s difficult to read the former champion jockey’s thoughts. Does Henry, a deft left hander, have the conformation of an Istabraq? Charlie should know. He rode his first winner at 15, three or four years older than Henry is now.
Henry bangs it down the first fairway. They’re off. Playing off the red tees some of the under-12s are launching the ball 20 or 30 yards short of the dyke running across the first hole, approaching 250 yards out. Because they are sponges they all seem to know what the best gear is, who is using the driver with the snow white head, what the most classy irons are in a bag.
Michael McGuirk, from the well-known golfing family who are sponsoring the event, is chaperoning his son Evan in the under-eight section.
“His great grandad was a pro. His grandad was a pro and I’m a pro as well. But I just want him to enjoy it. He plays lots of different sports,” says Michael. “In some sports – and golf is no different – some parents can be over-enthusiastic about their kids. The majority of people here today are here to have fun.”
Chloe O’Connor from Roscommon GC won the presidents prize for under-18s last week. Chloe is 11 years old and up for the day with her dad Albert. The under-12 age group play 18 holes while the younger groups compete over nine. Boys and girls play together. All are quietly nervous but burning to get out and away.
There have been no sightings of the stereotype, a father shouting at a child who was just missed a putt: “Didn’t I tell you it was inside the lip, didn’t I?”
“Just by competing here they feel like little winners already,” adds Michael. “They are brave enough to come and play in it. It’s not an easy thing. I just want him to play the game in the right spirit and understand that golf is made up of good shots and bad shots and to try and treat them all the same. It’s just a little milestone in life. That’s all.”
The winners qualify to go to Scotland and play Gullane, a former qualifying course for the British Open. For under-12s the course is set at 5,600 yards, 15-18 year olds play over 6,400 yards. Gullane is the launch pad to America and North Carolina’s Pinehurst for the World Championship.
Today though it’s off out in the sun-kissed links with mum or dad or the grandparents. They are all winners, especially Alan Hill and Pádraic McNelis. Three over gross in the 12-year-old age group for Hill and a hole-in-one on the 11th for McNelis is no bad way to spend a day off school.
US KIDS GOLF (at Portmarnock Links) – Boys – Eight-year-olds (nine holes strokes): 1 Evan McGuirk 46; 2 Shaun Mulryan 49. Nine-year-olds (nine holes strokes): 1 Tom McKibben 37; 2 Jamie Hughes 39. 10-year-olds (nine holes strokes): 1 Ryan McNelis 42; 2 Dylan Keating 44. 11-year-olds (18 holes strokes): 1 Seán Carroll 88; 2 Matthew Crumlish 96. 12-year-olds (18 holes strokes): 1 Alan Hill 74; 2 Pádraic McNelis 94. Girls – 10-year-olds (nine holes strokes): 1 Sorcha Ringland 63. 11-year-olds(18 holes strokes): Chloe O’Connor 117 12-year-olds (18 holes strokes): Kate Cummins 119.
