THE Kinsale Senior Scratch Cup is back and this year it will feature a ladies scratch cup in addition to the men’s event. 

The competitions take place in just over a week, on Saturday, September 3

The idea of a joint ladies and mens scratch cup was started last year by Douglas, with Claire Coughlan Ryan and Peter O’Keeffe taking the honours. Douglas are again running the two scratch cups this year and their event takes place on Sunday, September 18.

Kinsale are the only other club to run a joint event and club President Ann Buckley was delighted with the move. 

“The decision needed very little discussion as we knew that including ladies in our Scratch Cup will certainly inspire our younger lady golfers to reach their highest potential,” explained Anne. 

“The Scratch Cup has been very well supported and enjoyed by all over the years and has become very popular for spectators both from within our club and outside. 

"We had a very exciting playoff between members Kieran McCarthy and John Murphy in 2020. We are very thankful for the excellent support of our sponsor ODG Advisory without the support of the sponsor this event wouldn’t be possible.”

Aside from providing Kinsale ladies with an opportunity play in a senior scratch cup, the club has a very strong ladies section. 

“In Kinsale Golf Club we have a very strong committed group of ladies with many successes; AIG Junior Foursomes All Ireland Champions 2021, our junior members won the Munster East School Champions 2022,” added the President. 

“Kinsale has always had a large number of lady playing members and this in turn has encouraged daughters and granddaughters to join and enjoy our fantastic facilities. 

"The ladies Get into Golf programme has been really successful and as a result we have new girls joining us who are destined to go on and represent our club in many competitions. 

Our Juvenile Officer Aileen Keating is a wonderful support for our aspiring number of girls who came second recently in the Golf Ireland U18 interclub competition.”

The Kinsale Scratch Cup was the first local competition to be played in 2020 when the sport re-opened after covid with Kieran McCarthy winning for the third time. 

In 2022 Macroom’s Padraig O’Connor won and he’ll be back in Kinsale next week hoping to defend his title. 

O’Connor opened with a two over par 74 in his opening round last year but carded a level par 72 in the afternoon to claim the title. 

Anyone interested in playing should contact the Pro Shop. Now that the championship season is almost over there are a number of scratch cups coming up over the coming weeks. 

Cahir Park’s 36-hole tournament was held on Sunday and Mallow’s Brian Attridge was the best Cork finisher taking third place. 

Macroom will host their senior scratch this Sunday while Castletroy and West Waterford take place on the weekend of September 10-11.

Fionn Hickey won the Bruen Youths in Muskerry on Sunday, and the home club member joined an impressive group of two-time winners. 

Hickey shot a one under par 70 to win by one shot from 2021 winner Barry Keane. 

The competition first took place in 1986 and has become an important part of the Muskerry calendar. 

Hickey joins the likes Sean Desmond, Cathal Butler, Aaron O’Callaghan and Dave O’Donovan who have all won it twice.

INTER-CLUB

The last of the AIG inter-club finals took place in Thurles last weekend and there was joy for Cork in the Junior Cup when they beat the hosts 3-2. There were mixed results for East Cork, they won the Women’s Intermediate Cup beating Fermoy, but the men lost out in the Pierce Purcell final to Lismore. 

Fota Island won the Intermediate Cup beating Tramore 3-2. This weekend the finals of the Flogas Mixed Foursomes take place. 

Skibbereen face Thurles in Munster East while it’s Glengarriff and Woodstock in the Munster West final. 

Raffeen Creek are also involved in the final stages of the Munster Country Clubs which take place in Doneraile.

Golf Ireland’s men’s championship season came to an end last week when the AIG Irish Close took place in Headfort. 

Last year's champion Peter O’Keeffe put up a fine defence shooting rounds of 76 and 66 to finish in the top 10 at the qualifier. 

From there he went on to beat Liam Abom, Alan Fahy and Annraoi Collins before losing out in the quarter-finals. 

Although he hasn’t won in 2022, O’Keeffe has had an impressive season. He finished in seventh place in the Bridgestone Order of Merit and took the runners-up spot in the South if Ireland. 

He also reached the quarter-finals of the Amateur Championship in June in what was a busy few months that included representing Ireland in the Home Internationals. 

While O’Keeffe is back to spending more time in his Golf Strong gym in Douglas Golf Club, he’ll also have his eye on the upcoming scratch cups and will be hoping to claim a win or two over the coming weeks.