James Sugrue made the most of a good start in his latest event on the Clutch Pro Tour.
The Mallow man was in Oman for the second of three events in the opening swing of the season.
Sugrue had finished down the field in the opening event a week earlier.
Rounds of 70,68 and 70 didn’t look too bad but he found himself ten shots behind the winner in a tie for 43rd.
The golfer who five years ago played in the Masters Tournament in Augusta went low on the opening day in La Vie.
He carded seven birdies in a round that saw him sign for a 65.
Sugrue carded two birdies in his opening nine, but four more birdies in a row from the 13th to the 16th saw him jump from -2 to -6.
That left Sugrue two shots off the lead, which held by his friend Robert Brazill.
The second round wasn’t as kind to Sugrue, an early birdie was more than offset by a run of four bogies that threatened to derail his round.
He did gain two shots on the back nine, including a crucial birdie on the last hole.
In the final round Sugrue made some ground back with three birdies, but a bogey on the 16th saw him sign for a two under par 69.
Sugrue finished on -7 which had him tied for 11th place and he took home over £1,000. He is now in the top twenty in the order of merit with the third event in the current swing taking place this week.
The tour moved a few miles north to the coast to the highly rated Al Mouj Golf Club.
Sugrue has the company of a number of Irish golfers including Brazill, Mark Power and Paul McBride and the Irish crew will be hoping for a good week in Oman.
Morocco will host the next two events in the series which take place later this month. Al Houara Golf Club outside Tangiers will host the two events.
David Howard is another Cork golfer with a Clutch Tour card for 2025, but this week the Fota Island golfer elected to play in Ireland at the Laytown and Bettystown Scratch Cup.
Howard carded two level par rounds of 72 to finish in a tie for 4th place, three shots behind the winner Darragh Flynn.
Howard dropped in nine birdies which is a positive sign heading into a busy season.
James Walsh is in action this week in Scotland where he is representing Maynooth in the R&A Student Series final.
Walsh joined the Harrington Scholars programme in September and he has featured in the student series events in Belfast, Portugal, Spain and England.
The 19 year old is in St Andrew’s this week and played the Jubilee Course in the opening round of the 54 hole tournament.
Walsh recovered from an early double bogey by adding four birdies to finish on two under and in the top five.
The famous Old Course is the venue for today’s final round.
Walsh along with Howard were among a dozen Cork golfers who were named on the start list for the West of Ireland which takes place in two weeks time.
County Sligo will play host to the famous championship over Easter, and as usual a qualifier takes place before the event offering seven place in the championship field.
Paddy Quill, Greg O’Mahony and Eoghan McCarthy are among seven Cork golfers who will be hoping for a top seven finish to see them advance to the West.
Entries for the Munster Stroke Play will close this week and already there has been strong interest with a large number of golfers entering. Everyone will have the aim of taking home the Cork Scratch Cup, one of the oldest trophies in Irish golf.
Karl Bornemann is among a number of previous winners who have entered. Barry Anderson is a two time winner and he is now representing Cork Golf Club.
A third win would be impressive, and he would be the first home winner since Dermot Costello’s win in 2005.
The holder Paul Coughlan is returning to defend his title, with the hope of matching Peter O’Keeffe’s exploits in 2021 when retained his title.
