2025 promises to be a busy and exciting year for Cork golfers and Cork golf clubs. Golf Ireland launched the 2025 calendar recently and four Cork courses will host important events in the months ahead.
Cork Golf Club will host four major events in a busy year for the club.
In addition to the Munster Stroke Play which has been held on the May Bank Holiday weekend for over a decade, the Little Island club will also host the Flogas Irish Boys Amateur Open and the Boys Home Internationals.
The club will also host the Women’s Cork Scratch Cup in early April.
Cork has a habit of being a winning venue for golfers who went on to greatness and with Irish Boys Captain watching over the field, he will be hoping for another winner with star potential when it comes to the Irish Boys.
The last big winner in Cork was Shane Lowry, he won the Irish Close Championship when it was last held in Cork in 2007. Lowry beat local favourite Niall Turner in the final to claim his first Irish title.
He went on to win the West and North, and the Mullingar Scratch Cup the following year, before winning the Irish Open in Baltray to launch himself onto the professional stage.
Eight years prior to that a young Graeme McDowell won the Irish Youth when Cork hosted it. Christy O’Connor Jnr was also a winner in Cork, he won the Carrolls Matchplay while his uncle Christy Senior won the 1963 Irish PGA in Cork.
Elsewhere in the 2025 schedule, Kinsale was also confirmed as the host of the Irish Mens Senior Close and the Irish Senior Women’s Open in Early July. Kinsale was widely praised after it hosted the Munster Mens Seniors in 2024 and club is no stranger to major events having hosted the GUI Cups and Shields finals in 2012.
Monkstown is also on hosting duties next year, in July the course will host the Munster U16 Boys Open.
The course is currently undergoing the second phase of a major upgrade programme with the club completing the bunkering programme on the front nine. In the northern side of the county, Charleville is scheduled to host the Munster Close junior events in August.
The updated full schedule is available on the Golf Ireland website, and entries are now open.
Lee Valley will host their 54 hole Senior Scratch Cup in April and this should signal the start of the competitive season. 2024 winner Jack Murphy is unlikely to be back to defend his title as he is now back in the US in college. There should be a few more senior scratch cups around April and early May, with all of the other scratch cups likely to start in June.
Cork will also have three golfers on the professional tour circuit next year. Sara Byrne will be playing on the LET in Europe and also has playing rights on the Epsom Tour in the US. The Douglas golfer is embarking on her first full season on tour after turning professional in September. After playing a few tournaments she focused on Q Schools in the US and Europe. Finishing her season just before Christmas, she bagged playing rights in the secondary tour in the US, and at the top level in Europe.
John Murphy will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing year on the Challenge Tour in 2024, and his focus for 2024 will be on the Clutch Pro Tour as well as any starts he can get on the Challenge Tour. Murphy will be looking for a quick return to the form that saw him reach the Challenge Tour final and earn a DP World Tour card.
James Sugrue is another golfer who will be focusing on the Clutch Tour this year. Like Murphy, the Mallow golfer had little in the way of success in 2024, mostly down to injury. Sugrue has been working hard to get himself back into tournament shape and after spending some time training in Spain he’ll be looking forward to the start of competitive events.
Fota Island’s David Howard is also planning to take part in Clutch Tour events. He followed a very impressive season on the Irish amateur circuit by heading to the Clutch Tour qualifying tournament. The Cork golfer finished in 10th place on the 2024 Bridgestone Order of Merit. Howard has committed to staying amateur, and will prioritise the key Bridgestone Tour events when planning his year. But he will also get to a number of Clutch Tour events which will provide him with plenty of golf in 2025.
