Shorts from the world of golf

Carr, Mara recalled

Two of sport's most charismatic figures, golfer Joe Carr and American football legislator Wellington Mara, will be commemorated in a new transatlantic inter-club golf competition, the first encounter of which takes place at Portmarnock Golf Club next week.

The magnificent Carr-Mara Waterford Crystal Trophy - a replica of the British Amateur championship trophy won by Carr - will be played over two days on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, with teams of all handicap categories representing their clubs.

Portmarnock, Royal Portrush, Co Sligo, Lahinch and Sutton are the Irish representatives, while Pine Valley, Garden City, Oakmont, The Olympic Club and Winged Foot are representing the United States.

Interestingly, former Irish international John Carr, a son of JB, will be representing Pine Valley in the inaugural competition, which will be played biennially at courses on either side of the Atlantic.

Leonard fights back

Rory Leonard, a Banbridge plus-one handicapper and Ulster Interprovincial, staged a remarkable recovery at Shandon Park on Sunday to beat the Knock teenager Colin Fairweather and secure the Co Down club a first win of the Ulster section of the Bulmer's Irish Senior Cup.

The 30-year-old Leonard, who recently gave up a job as a Belfast-based bank official to become Development Officer for Junior Golf Ireland in Leinster, trailed Regent House student Fairweather by three holes with seven to play.

The provincial final, locked at two points apiece, rested on the lead pairing. It seemed holders Knock would progress. But Leonard won the 12th and 14th, squared the match with a winning par at the 18th and went on to lift the title for Banbridge with another winning par at the third tie hole.

Banbridge can look forward to representing Ulster in an All-Ireland semi-final against Portmarnock at Shandon Park later this month. Co Sligo play Castletroy in the other semi-final. Former international Jim Carvill is on course for a third Bulmer's Irish Senior Cup medal, after making a Senior Cup debut this season with Banbridge. Carvill, a 40-year-old former professional, featured in two Warrenpoint national winning teams in 1987 and 1990.

Ennis make history

For the first time in their history, and in their centenary year, Ennis are the toast of Clare having just won the Suzuki Irish Senior Cup for the first time at Milltown GC, also celebrating their centenary.

The southern champions welcomed back the double-Irish champion Tricia McDonnell, unavailable for the quarter-finals, who led by example with a 4 and 3 victory over Irish International Deirdre Smith (Co Louth) in the morning and a 3 and 2 win over Gemma Hegarty (Royal Portrush) in the afternoon.

In the final, Helen Jones levelled matters with a 4 and 2 victory over Pamela Murphy in match two. Ciara Pender was next to register a point with a 4 and 3 victory over Sonya Verschuur in the final match, while girls international Sarah Cunningham clinched the deciding point when she closed out Lisa McMeekin on the penultimate green.

In the quarter-final Ennis saw off favourites Co Louth, while the second semi-final was a much closer affair, Royal Portrush edging out Laytown and Bettystown 3½-1½.

Royal Portrush had lifted the Senior Cup on 22 occasions but Saturday belonged to Ennis, who enter the history books as champions of the blue riband of women's club golf.

Dun Laoghaire to fore

The last few weeks have been a hive of activity for members of Dun Laoghaire Golf Club. First came the move from their home of 97 years at Eglington Park to a new and excellent facility at Ballymahon in south Co Dublin. And with the move came success not seen for many a year at Dun Laoghaire GC.

Not since 1944, when they won the Barton Cup, have Dun Laoghaire members had cause for team celebrations. But with the move to the new club came new success with first a victory over Lucan in the Bloom Cup and last Sunday the club collected its first Leinster pennant in 63 years when they won the Metropolitan Cup with a 10½ to 7½ win over Killen in the final.

Leading 5-4 from the first leg at Killen, the Dun Laoghaire team still had it all to do to get to the magic figure of 10 points on a course unfamiliar to the home team. And so it proved, with three matches going to the 19th before the home side could celebrate victory.

The members of the winning team were Vincent Byrne, Donal Quaid, Alan McGreal, Seán McGreal, Ciarán O'Grady, Paul McGrath, Nessan Kelly, Philip Dwyer and Mike Murphy.

And there could be more celebrations in the weeks to come, with the women's teams qualifying for the latter stages of the AA Junior Foursomes and the Minor Cup.

Waterford take title

West Waterford GC captured their second All-Ireland Junior Foursomes title in three years at Westport GC last week. In the semi-final they overcame Ulster champions Cairndhu, and in the final, willed on by a huge travelling support, they defeated the Leinster champions Dublin's South County GC.

Team manager and captain Justin Spratt kept faith with his semi-final pairings of Philip Walsh and Jamie Glavin and Gary Hurley and Philip Spratt in the final and they repaid him with an excellent display to capture the title by three holes. Other members of the panel were David Curran, Kenneth Kelleher and Aidan Walsh.

Fitzpatrick triumphs

It's not every day that a single-figure handicap golfer wins a Captain's Prize. But in Bray Golf Club the weekend before last Richie Roche's Captain's Prize was won by one-handicapper Brendan Fitzpatrick. He was actually an amazing six-under-par gross for his two rounds in winning.

That score gave him a 36-hole total of 80 stableford points and victory by one point over Ian Barry.

Tied for the lead after round one, where he scored 41 points, Fitzpatrick took charge early in the final round and never relinquished the lead, shooting one under par on each nine for a second-round score of 39 points. His brilliant victory came just one week after he finished in a tie for fourth in the Leinster Mid-Amateur Championship, which was held in Grange Golf Club.

K Club celebrate

Sarah Newmann and Catherine Muldowney won the first All-Ireland title of the year for The K Club when they took the 2007 Australian Spoons All-Ireland final at Naas last Monday by a massive six points.

They fired a superb 45 points to leave the rest of the field trailing in their wake. Their nearest challengers were Patricia Flood and Doreen Bell of Swords on 39 points, while Pauline Thom and Bernie Daly (Galgorm Castle) and Maureen Hanly and Liz Gibbons of (Strokestown) were next best also on 39. The King twins Nicky and Jenny from Enniscorthy won best gross with 25 points.

The K Club are also in the Eastern District final of the AA Championships Challenge Cup, the Miele Ireland fourball semi-finals and the semi-finals of the BMW Irish Mixed Foursomes.

Clontarf Classic

Clontarf Cricket Club will hold their annual golf Classic this coming Thursday, September 6th, at St Anne's Golf Club. The timesheet for the event, which is a four-man team competition, will run from 12.30pm to 4pm. Cost per team is €320, while sponsorship openings are also available at €125.

All teams are playing for the Joe Kyne Memorial Trophy, which will be presented to the winning team on the evening of the golf outing. Anyone interested should make contact with Patrick Lee jnr at 087-9060834.