The Munster PGA held the third outing of their winter series last week, and there was another two way tie at the top in Douglas with Brady Sherwood and Paul Eivers both returning an impressive score of 43 points.
David Ryan continued his good form with 42 points to take third place and host Pro David Barry was next with 41 points.
There was a three way tie for fifth place with Padraig Dooley, Fraser Thompson and Gavin Young.
Close to 30 professionals played in the event.
It was the second event to take place in November, with Cork Golf Club hosting an event at the start of the month.
Home favourite John Hickey came out on top that day with a score of 41 points to finish two clear of the field.
Monkstown’s Shane Irwin was second on 39 points with Jack Howard and Shane O’Sullivan sharing third place.
The opening event of the season took place in Charleville in October.
Cian McNamara and Timmy Broderick both led the field, the pair from Monkstown and Kinsale respectively both scored 37 points.
The Munster PGA have two more events scheduled for this side of Christmas, with trips to Co Tipperary and Lahinch.
The events so far have attracted an impressive average of 30 golfers and the good numbers should continue with the good courses on the schedule.
John Murphy returned to action last week, the Kinsale golfer was in Italy for the final qualifying event on the Alps Tour.
John Murphy has secured a card on the Alps Tour for 2025.
Murphy was one of over 150 golfers looking to finish in the top 35 and claim a full playing card for 2025.
Murphy opened with a one under par 71 which put him in the top 40 after the opening day. He followed that with a two under par 70 which took him into the top 20 with one round to go.
Although Murphy had a disappointing final day, he stayed inside the top 30.
His closing 76 meant he dropped a few places on the leaderboard but crucially he retained his place inside the top 35 and secured a card for next year.
Liam Nolan and Marc Boucher also finished inside the number and they too will be teeing it up on the Alps Tour next year.
Murphy had a disappointing year on the Challenge Tour and although he will retain some playing privileges in 2025, his starts on the second tier of European golf will be limited.
The Alps Tour now provides him with some structure for the year ahead and means he can plan for his early season tournaments.
The Alps Tour has usually started with an number of events in Egypt in February.
Earlier this week Golf Ireland announce that the Business Energy Upgrade Scheme is now officially live.
The SEAI have confirmed that golf clubs in Republic of Ireland can qualify for these grants which offer up to €120,000 for a range of common building upgrade measures including pumps, solar thermal, automatic controls, heat pumps, ventilation and wall insulation.
This is a major opportunity for clubs to upgrade their power and heating systems which as well as delivering long term efficiency and savings, it will also help the sport to reach its sustainability targets that Golf Ireland laid out at the start of 2024.
In September Golf Ireland announced that 38 golf clubs were set to benefit from a government EV charging initiative. Cobh, Kinsale and Glengarriff were the Cork clubs among the clubs who were successful in getting through to the second stage.
The clubs have been approved to access funding to install EV chargers onsite.
Under the current Business Energy Upgrade initiative up to 30% funding is available for all of the areas above while there is also a separate grant for building management system improvements.
CEO of Golf Ireland Mark Kenneally commented on the announcement: “Golf Ireland welcomes this very significant announcement from the Irish government to assist small businesses, which includes golf clubs, with the Business Energy Upgrade Scheme.”
“As this is Sustainable Golf week, we are delighted to welcome this funding from the government, which will help assist our clubs to make the move from fossil fuels to renewables, reducing emissions and making savings.
“This aligns with the work Golf Ireland’s sustainability team have been doing in 2024, and leading golf clubs on our bespoke pilot programme ‘Sustainable Golf Ireland Leader’s programme’. We are currently working with circa 20 clubs assisting them on all areas of sustainability of which decarbonisation – energy reduction and saving, forms a big part.”
Clubs may apply for a single or multiple measures and applicants are provided with an eight month period from the time of grant offer to complete the works.
Interested clubs can contact Golf Ireland’s Head of Sustainability Ann Courtney and her team.
