A QUARTERLY DIGEST OF MONKSTOWN GOLF CLUB NEWS Q3 2019

THE MONKSTOWN EAGLE

Monkstown’sSeanDesmondhadanoutstandingvictoryincapturing

theSouthofIrelandChampionshipatLahinchonSunday28July.For

afullreportreadBrianKeoghintheIrishTimes.TheSouthofIreland

ChampionshipalongwiththeEast,WestandNorthof IrelandCham-

pionshipsarethefourmajorsthateveryamateurgolferstrivestowin.

Achieving such awin is very rare andMonkstown has to go back to

1962 when the great Tom Egan won the East of Ireland when he

spreadeagled the field in the third roundwith eight birdies in a row

from hole 2 to 9. Tom Egan was runner up in the South in 1951.

PaddyO’SullivanwhojoinedMonkstown1960wontheSouthinthat

same year but had declared for Kinsale prior to the championship.

Sean now joins an illustrious group of golfers who have won this

wonderful championship; John Burke (11 victories from 1928 to

1946); Joe Carr (1948, 1966, 1969); John McHenry (1986); Darren

Clarke (1990); PaulMcGinley (1991); David Higgins (1994); Graeme

McDowell (2000); James Sugrue (2017). Padraig Harrington was

runnerupin1994and1995.OurownCianMcNamarawonin2004.

TheSouthisSean’ssecondgreatwinthisyearasinJunelasthecap-

tured theMunster Students Trophy at Tipperary - seen abovewithJimLongChairmanMunsterGolf.AllatMonkstownaredelightedfor

Sean andwish him con]nued success as he sets out on his golfing

career.

SeanDesmond-KingoftheSouth

ThecuparrivesinMonkstown30July

A QUARTERLY DIGEST OF MONKSTOWN GOLF CLUB NEWS Q3 2019

Shane wins PGA Assistants Championship

AdelightedShanepicturedwithhisDadBilly,ourGeneralManagerBrianandCian.

WhataweekthelastweekinJuly

turnedouttobeforMonkstown.

OnJuly25Cian’sassistantShane

Irwin had a great victory when

winning the PGA AssistantsChampionship at Nuremore in

Carrickmacross. For a full report

read Cork Golf News. Shane is a

hugely popular member of the

Pro Shop and all the members

are delighted for him. We wish

Shane every success in the up-

comingBirdie]mePGAAssistants

Championship being staged at

Pleasington,BlackburnUK.

Ger Moloney receiving Maurice McGrath’s prize

Jane Morgan receiving Carol Murphy’s prize

TheMajors-todate

MichelleSharkey

JuniorgolferMichelleSharkey(age15)goesfromstrengthto

strength. Michelle began in 2017with a handicap of 36. In2018shewontheMunsterjuniorschoolsandPresidentAda’s

prize to the juniorboysandgirls.Herhandicap in2018went

from21to11.InthecurrentyearMichelleplayedinthegirlsIrishclosechampionshipinGalway and was selected for the Munster Under 18 team for the inter-provincials at

MountWolseley.Herhandicapisnow4.5–Watchthisspace!!!Congratula]onsMichelle.

AnneDugganwinsinKillarney.Ladies’CaptainMarySheehypresen]ngher

prizetoMonkstown’sAnneDuggan.Manycongratula]onsAnne.

A QUARTERLY DIGEST OF MONKSTOWN GOLF CLUB NEWS Q3 2019

The180holechallenge.

OurmanagerBrianandprofessionalCianaccom-

plishedanextraordinaryfeatonSaturday13July

whentheyplayed180holesofgolftoraisefundsforourteams.Guidedbythetorchlightfrom

JohnMurphy’smobilephonetheyhitthefirstball

at4.30amandwalked!offthe180thgreenat9.30pm.Muchhasbeenwrieenaboutthistestof

endurance–seecomprehensivereportinCork

GolfNewsbutthefollowingsta]s]csalsoshouldbenoted.

1.Lengthtraversed:46.45miles

2.17hoursdura]on

3.Cianhittheball738]mes4.Brianhittheball782]mes

5.Theydrankc.30litresofwaterlacedwithsalt

tables-thankyouDrRichardsonfortheadvice. 6. And amazingly only ate: 10apples.4hardboiledeggs

4sandwiches

2marsbars

ArelievedBrianwithhiswifeKayandsonSeamus

A]redCianwithhisMumandDad

Thefuture:AbemusedDonalMcDonnell(III)withPresidentPeterandCaptainMauriceatthe180holegolfchallenge

CiantoBrian:“PleaseBrian-nomorebrightideas”

TheTitanswiththePresidentandCaptains

A QUARTERLY DIGEST OF MONKSTOWN GOLF CLUB NEWS Q3 2019

Ladies’ClubinCompeIIonOur Intermediate Team had a great win in the Munster

Semi Finals at Dun-

drum on 28 Julywhen they saw off

Kanturk. Many con-

gratula]ons to theteamand theirman-

agerHilaryHarte.

The 2018 All IrelandChampions Minor

Cup Team were also in the 2019Munster Semi Finals at

Dundrum and despite a brave display alaswent down toCastletroy.

The senior foursomes team is through to the Munster

Quarter Finals to be played at LimerickGolf Club on 10th

Augustnext.

CourseOfficerUpdate(Q32019)

The spirit of volunteerism is alive andwell inMonkstown.Aside from the recent President’s Meitheal a number of

members haveonce again taken it upon themselves to do

somecleanuparoundthecourse.ThankstoJonathanBar-riscale, Mark O’Sullivan and Mick McGuire for their work

behindthe16th teeandthesurroundingareas. I’dalso liketothankPeterCarr,JoeMurphyandKenHealyforcleaning

the old Parkgariff Estate

entrance gate behindtheblueteeonthe1st.

As many of you will

know Parkgariff Estatewas the family resi-

dence of Charles Lynch,

one of Ireland’s leadingconcert pianists over

manydecades.

Theoriginal residenceon theestate (whichwas located inthevicinityof the current clubhouse)burntdown in1956,

an event witnessed by some of our current members.

Charles Lynch himself died in somewhat ‘reduced’ circum-stances in1984and isburied inMusician’sCorner inSaint

Finbarr’s Cemetery beside Aloys Fleischman and Joan

DeniseMoriarty.Ifyouwanttoknowmoreaboutthehisto-ryof the course and theClub (and the ghosts) I can’t rec-

ommend highly enough the book by Alicia St. LegerMonkstownGolfClub-ACentenaryHistory1908to2008.

History aside, you may have noted the recent rolled out

Adopt-A-Green ini]a]ve. We have terrific greens inMonkstownandwe’dliketokeepthemthatway.Theini]a-

]ve is that every member is assigned a par]cular green

basedonthefirstini]aloftheirsurnameandwe’dencour-ageeveryonetomakeanextraeffortinrela]ontorepairing

pitchmarksontheirassignedgreen.(FC)

Men’sClubinCompeIIonMany congratula]ons to our stalwartMick Cashman teamwho beatBandoninround5 onaweteveninginBandononJuly29.Thesquad

is now through to

the Munster semifinal which will take

place in Tramore

versus Tramore on11th August. The

best of luck to thisdeterminedteam.

Congratula]ons to

our senior leaguet e am who b e a t

Muskerryinthefinal

on7thJuly