128 of the top ranked young players in the world of golf are coming to County Louth Golf Club tomorrow as the R&A Boys Amateur Championship gets underway.
This is the second time the championship has visited the island of Ireland having been previously hosted in Royal Portrush in 2018.
County Louth Golf Club has a proud history of hosting top level tournaments having held the Irish Open in 2004 and 2009 while also hosting the Home Internationals and the annual East of Ireland Amateur Championship.
But this week it’s the cream of the crop at Boys level and it’s going to be a very exciting occasion for County Louth Golf Club General Manager, Ryan Donagher who is itching to see how some of the world’s best youngsters tackle Baltray.
“The club is honoured to be hosting such an event. The first club in the Republic of Ireland and the only club after Royal Portrush to be hosting such a prestigious event,” said Donagher.
“It’s very exciting especially when you consider the calibre of player coming to play from over 30 countries. The cut off to get in was +3.4 so it shows that not only are they young golfers they are of a phenomenal standard as well. Everyone here is very excited.”
Donagher’s excitement is matched by the members of Baltray who have been eager to chip in and help out in whatever way they can with 150 set to volunteer from Monday to Saturday.
“The members have been fantastic. We had a volunteer information evening and we have over 150 members registered to volunteer and the R&A are delighted because they said they have never seen a club have so many members involved in an event,” said Donagher.
Fota Island’s John Doyle will be the headline Irish attraction. The seventeen-year-old has enjoyed a superb season to date, winning the Munster Strokeplay and Irish Boys while securing senior international debuts for Ireland at the European Team Championships and last week’s Home Internationals.
Donagher is also holding out hope that local boy Louis Goodman can sneak into the field, he is currently fourth reserve despite a staggeringly low handicap of +2.9 as the cut off for the stroke play fell at +3.4 with a certain Charlie Woods also falling short.
“We all have our fingers crossed for an Irish person to be doing well and the members are keeping their fingers crossed for Louis Goodman to get in, he’s number five on the reserve list so hopefully he gets in as well.”
Sergio Garcia and Matthew Fitzpatrick are on the illustrious roll of honour and Donagher is encouraging everyone to get out and lend their support this week as you might just be witnessing the next golfing superstar of the future.
Ireland’s own Leslie Walker is the last winner of the Boys Amateur Championship, the Dundalk based club professional lifted the trophy in 1986.
“When you look at the past winners and see what they’ve gone on to do it’s absolutely incredible. Another nice touch is that Leslie Walker the head pro in Dundalk won it back in the day when he was a young man.
“The standard of golfer and future stars that are coming through is very exciting to see,” added Donagher.
The championship will begin with two rounds of stroke play qualifying on Monday and Tuesday with the top-64 advancing to the matchplay stages.
