Results: Irish Women's Close Championship Results

You know, I would say that of all the 'big' parkland courses, Fota Island is one of the easier tracks. It's not designed to be really punishing (although the rough can change that easily enough) and that makes it a more enjoyable and relaxing round of golf. But anyone who can pick up 6 birdies in the first 8 holes is just embarrassing the course. I doubt it was done during the Irish Open years in Cork, and here's a 14 year old girl tearing the place to shreds and winning the final of the Irish Women's Close Championship Results, 5 & 4. Congratulations Lisa Maguire.


LANCÔME IRISH WOMEN’S CLOSE CHAMPIONSHIP
FOTA ISLAND RESORT
16 – 20 MAY 2009
LISA MAGUIRE WINS LANCÔME IRISH WOMEN’S CLOSE CHAMPIONSHIP

20th May 2009

Lisa Maguire (Slieve Russell) defeated Mary Dowling (New Ross) by a 5&4 margin in this afternoon’s thrilling final of the Lancôme Irish Women’s Close in Fota Island Golf.
14 year old Lisa Maguire gave an exhibition of golf throughout the final and Mary Dowling could do little to halt her charge. Birdies on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th 7th and 8th saw Lisa play the opening eight holes in a phenomenal 6 under par. Mary produced birdies at the 8th and 9th but found herself 4 down at the turn despite being 2 under par for the first 9 holes. Lisa’s only fault of the day came at the 11th hole where she missed a 6 ft putt for par, however solid pars for the remaining holes saw her seal victory on the 14th hole, to lift the trophy for the first time in her career.
The opening hole of the Championship final was halved in regulation par 5s by both competitors. The short par 5 2nd, saw Lisa begin her run of birdies with a chip that threatened to drop for eagle but birdie proved enough to win the hole after Mary failed to get up and down from the front right of the green. Lisa then hit her tee shot to 8ft on the par 3, 3rd and was duly followed by Mary who was within 15ft. Mary’s downhill effort slid agonisingly past the hole, with Lisa holing to go 2 up.
The par 5, 4th was again won by Lisa thanks to a chip and putt for birdie which resulted in her storming into a 3up lead after just 4 holes. Dowling did well to half the long par 4 5th hole with a terrific chip and a well held 5ft putt for par. The 6th saw Mary miss the green left with her approach as did Lisa. A delicate chip, which looked like going in, resulted in par being conceded to Mary, before Lisa held her 30ft putt from the fringe of the green for birdie, to go 4 up. The 7th saw another blow dealt to Dowling’s title chances. Mary hit a magnificent approach shot to 8ft before Lisa played into 12 ft, however, the glimmer of hope was dashed when Lisa sank her downhill left to right putt and with Mary failing to hole out she found herself 5 down. Dowling remained composed in the face of what can only be described as breath-taking golf by Lisa and after Lisa hit her tee shot to 25 ft at a tight front left pin over water on the par 3 8th, Mary showed her bravery and determination to play a her tee shot to within 15 ft of the hole. Lisa once again held her putt but was followed in by Mary to half the hole, much to the delight of the gallery who were amazed to be witnessing such a display of golf. A downhill right to left putt for birdie on the 9th saw Mary win back her first hole of the morning and make the turn at 4 down. At this point Lisa was 6 under par and had hit just 11 putts on the front 9.
A bogey 5 on the 10th, after missing the green right and failing to get up and down from the green side bunker, saw Mary returning to 5 down, however this was cancelled out when Lisa made her only mistake of the day, missing a 5ft putt for par on the 11th. The par 3 12th was halved in pars before a 3 putt bogey on the par 5 13th by Mary, lead to Lisa going dormie 5 up. Mary continued to battle and played her pitch to 15ft on the par 5 14th, this gave her a chance to extend the match after Lisa made a solid regulation par. Mary’s effort failed to find the bottom of the cup and Lisa Maguire sealed victory by a 5&4 margin.

For further information contact;

Gillian O'Loughlin
T: +353 1 8558500
M: +353 87 9050287
W: hostpr.ie

LANCÔME IRISH WOMEN’S CLOSE CHAMPIONSHIP

So, the two sisters are destined to battle it out again. I'm not excluding any of the other competitors - with golfers from the likes of Baltray and Enniscrone there will be a mighty tournament over one of Ireland's most glamorous parklands - but the Maguire sisters capture the imagination like nothing else. Their age, relationship and abilities make for a fascinating battle, and will do for years to come.

Imagine if women's golf was given the same TV coverage and hype as women's tennis (the Williams sisters...) - the Maguire sisters would be an even bigger phenomenon than they already are. If you're in the neighbourhood, why not drop in and enjoy some great golf and the superb facilities of Fota Island.

LANCÔME IRISH WOMEN’S CLOSE CHAMPIONSHIP
FOTA ISLAND GOLF RESORT
16 – 20 MAY 2009
LEONA MAGUIRE DEFENDS IRISH TITLE

Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell) defends her Lancôme Irish Womens Close Championship title when competitors tee off at Fota Island Golf Resort, Saturday 16 to Wednesday 20 May 2009.

As hot favourite to capture this year’s title, Leona has made a remarkable start to the 2009 season winning every event she has entered to date. In late March, she captured the inaugural Woodenbridge Scratch Cup, followed by the French Under 21 Championship at the start of April. A week later, the prestigious Helen Holm Scottish Strokeplay Championship title followed along with boosting Ulster to a fifth successive win in the Girls’ Interprovincials. The month ended with an emphatic victory in the Irish Schools Championships when she partnered her twin sister Lisa to glory for Loreto College, Cavan.

Lisa will be looking to stop her sister in her tracks and prevent a repeat of last year’s performance which saw her finish runner-up. She too has made a solid start to 2009 finishing third at the Helen Holm and will be looking to claim her first piece of silverware of the season when the Championship tees off on May 16th.

Other players keen to capture the coveted crown will be previous champions Deirdre Smith (Co. Louth) and Karen Delaney (Carlow), as well as internationals Niamh Kitching (Claremorris), Gillian O’Leary (Cork), Dawn Marie Conaty (Ashbourne) and Victoria Bradshaw (Bangor). There is also a host of junior internationals in the field, including the in- form Emma O’Driscoll (Ballybunion) and Laura McCarthy (Muskerry) with the talented Patrice Delaney (Birr) and Sarah Helly (Enniscrone) hot on their heels.

With valuable Order of Merit points on offer, all competitors will be looking to impress the Irish selectors ahead of next month’s announcement of the team of four to play in the Under-18 European Team Championships in Finland and the team of six to play in the Ladies European Team Championships in Slovenia, both 7-11 July.

The Championship begins Saturday May 16 with the first round of the Leitrim Cup, a 36-hole qualifying strokeplay event. Sunday sees the completion of round two after which the leading 32 players will go into the Championship Draw on Monday, concluding Wednesday morning. Those in position 33 thru 48 qualify for the Ita Wallace Trophy.


The Lancôme Irish Ladies’ Close was first played in 1894, just one year after the foundation of the Irish Ladies’ Golf Union, the oldest national union or association in ladies’ golf. 2009 sees another consecutive year’s hosting of the event, excluding the war years.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Actually, it should be 'the great, the brilliant and the ugly'

The 'great' happened on Friday evening when I got a call from Liam Kelly at the Irish Independent, who says he'll try and squeeze in a piece on the book in the next couple of weeks. A 'few minutes of your time' turned into 40 minutes and I was buzzing for the rest of the evening and the following morning, until 8.48am.

The 'ugly' started at 8.48am when I knocked an eight inch par putt five feet past, on the 1st at Greystones, and sloped off after 18 with a mind-numbing 17 points.

The 'brilliant' happened on Saturday afternoon when I got home and found a thank you letter in my post box. Among other things was this:
"I can assure you that 'Hooked' will be on our coffee table for many years to come."
Who was the letter from? The mighty Colin Montgomerie. A friend of mine knows his wife and I sent him a book so he could see my review of his Carton House course - which I love.

An interesting 24 hours, that's for sure.

First sighting - Easons is a 'good' bookshop

It's a real buzz when you hear that a publisher is giving you a contract to write a book on something that you've always dreamed about; it's an even bigger buzz when you see the finished article sitting on the shelves of a bookshop.

In all good book shops

After three years, I can finally say that the book is in the shops. Not only that – it is for sale in all ‘good’ bookshops. I have not yet been told when it will appear in ‘bad’ bookshops, or, indeed, what makes a bookshop bad. So if you go to your local bookshop and there’s no copy of Hooked available, you’ll know you’re in a bad place. Please try to enlighten them as to how they can be upgraded to the ‘good’ category.

Of course you can also buy it online. The first day it appeared on Amazon.co.uk, my wife pointed out that you can see where your book is ranked in order of sales. I was ranked at 790,000. I started watching daily and it became addictive. My brother-in-law bought a book (he doesn’t even like golf!) and so did a couple of friends – the book rocketed up the charts to 200,000. I was heading into Harry Potter territory, racing for the top spot. The next time I looked it had dropped to 322,000. Then it was up, then down, then up… then I had to stop. This sort of thing can wreck your head.

Killing Time at Killeen Castle

Three times in 2008 I asked Killeen Castle if I could play and review the course; three times they refused. They didn’t want to be reviewed until April 2009, was the response I received. I explained the book wouldn’t be out until April, but it got me nowhere. So, in 2009 I asked again if I could review the course and put it on my blog, so that it would be the first page when people visited after my book hit the shops. They wished me luck with the book but the email I received had this little gem in it: “They have declined your request with regards to reviewing the course for your blog at this time.”

Well, if they didn’t want to be on the blog – too bad because they’re on it! It makes them one of only four courses I didn’t review:
• Mount Ober: refused to be reviewed unless they could see and edit what I wrote. No thanks.
• Bunclody: was still too young (i.e. mud and sand) when I visited, but it is beautiful by all accounts.
• Harbour Point: closing very shortly.
• Killeen Castle: unaware that there’s a recession on and that positive publicity for the club would be a good thing. Shame, as I hear it’s impressive.

I suspect that I may never get an invitation now, but I was fairly hacked off by the attitude.

A little magic at Macreddin

I forgot to put up a blog about Macreddin the first time I played, but I went back recently to enjoy its charms again. One of this course’s great advantages is that it is part of Brooklodge, with an excellent hotel and the Strawberry Tree restaurant. There’s a pub and a couple of shops too, so it’s almost a destination, and the day I played (with my mate, Charlie) there was a wedding on. Probably one every weekend.

I’ve heard one complaint about this course: the lengthy walks to the first and tenth tees. Certainly, for the latter, you have to keep your eyes peeled to find where you’re going, but McGinley had to divide the course up, and this is how it fell.

The back 9 will hit you with a few climbs, but it also gives you the 12th, a superb par four dogleg that just happens to be Index 1. Charlie and I both got a par, but in completely different ways, and it illustrates the easy and the hard way to play the hole. The drive is captivating, hitting from a high tee to a flat fairway below, across Ballycreen Brook. Because it’s Index 1 you have to smash it as far as you can – or so you’d think. If you can cut the corner then you’re a seriously big hitter and I envy you; if not, the ideal route is to play a shorter tee shot that lands just over the brook (as Charlie did). This then gives you a straight shot into the green (over the brook again) which is clearly visible. If you drive too far and too straight, you’ll discover that there are two large pine trees on the brook’s bank which block your route entirely (as I discovered). And if you’re playing from the forward and middle tees you could drive too far and go up the bank.

With the changes in elevation, doglegs and trees, the back 9 is more enticing and more difficult. But the front 9 has views of the valley and some magical holes (2, 6, 7). It also has the beautiful and unbelievably towering par three 4th. It is miles below you and takes several minutes to walk down to it. It’s worth noting that the path to the 5th is about three-quarters of the way down, so leave your clubs and conserve your energy.

Charlie had an interesting encounter with the par threes – he hit a 7 iron at all four and landed on each green (and got par). I left my 6 iron on the tee box at the 7th and asked Dave – in the shop – to keep an eye out for it. He called me later to say it had been handed in. When I turned up to collect it, he was very impressed that I had hit a 6 iron to a 204 yard hole. I nodded graciously, flexing my biceps so they rippled under my tee shirt – as you do – too embarrassed to mention that we’d played from the forward tees, some 40 yards closer.

These are difficult times and it will be interesting to see how Macreddin endures. A clubhouse is planned, but for now you need to get a swipe card from the office to let yourself into the leisure facilities (which you pass on the walk back from the 18th green). And, as you play the front 9, you will see tall pillars sticking up. Initially I thought they were for a bridge of some description, but when you walk to the 10th you realise these are the chimney stacks of houses yet to be built. They’re a bit unsightly and they might remain that way for some time. That said, the houses that have been completed are very impressive indeed.

The book is raring to go

Two weeks ago I was slaving away over proofs, correcting numerous little things and missing hundreds more. Thanks to the eagle eyes of Paula, at Collins Press, and Jonathan, my agent, all of these have been identified and are being corrected as I write. It's a difficult thing, though, going through all the pages, thinking about changes you'd like to make, scores you want to revise, that sort of thing. The word 'undulating' appears all over the place and because I was reading all 349 courses in one go, it was unavoidable finding words that are repeated time and again. After all, you can only describe a golf course in so many ways.

There's also the matter of the recesssion. Since I submitted the manuscript, Luttrellstown Castle has announced its closure, Tulfarris and Blarney have gone into receivership, and who knows what the summer will bring. I imagine another horrible summer will see a few more courses fall by the wayside. Green fees are changing too, which is excellent news for golfers everywhere. And, as I say in my book, there's never been a better time to negotiate.

The book is out there, available for pre-ordering (published in April), if you're interested. It appeared yesterday on the Collins Press website
Collins Press
and on
Amazon.co.uk


PRICE
The price is €15.95 and if that isn't value for money I don't know what is. Think about it: a book on Irish golf courses or 16 Mars Bars. And to think I can remember when Mars Bars were 12p!

It was a real rush seeing it on the sites, but I have to confess that I am extremely concerned by one particular thing: if you go on to amazon.co.uk and type in 'Kevin Markham', my book appears, but it's second on the list. What's first on the list? Baywatch. No, I'm not kidding. And The Hoff isn't even holding a golf club. Still, mustn't grumble.