Douglas golfer Sara Byrne ready for Irish Open debut in Dromoland

SARA BYRNE is bringing her summer in Ireland to a close in style this week, playing in the KPMG Women’s Irish Open in Dromoland.

Her invitation to play came as a result of her win in the Irish Women’s Close in June, and she will tee it up in today’s first round alongside some of Europe’s leading professionals.

Dromoland has been working hard all summer for the Ladies European Tour (LET) event and the course is in great condition.

With an enhanced spectator village, bigger grandstands and some fine weather forecast, it should be a great weekend at the Clare Resort for the event.

A large number of Cork supporters are expected to travel to support Byrne in her first Women’s Irish Open outing.

Naturally, the 21-year-old Douglas native was excited as she looked forward to the event that is being held in Dromoland for the second year in its history.

“I’m feeling good, I’m really excited for the week ahead. I’ve done a lot of prep for it, so I know all the hard work is done and I’m just kind of waiting for it to come,” she said.

For Byrne, despite it being a professional competition and her national open, she’s sticking with her tried and tested approach.

“I’ve prepped for the event they way I’ve been doing for the whole year.

“In terms of my mentality towards it and my expectations, they are a little different just in terms of I just want the experience of the event. I want to enjoy it and just take it all in.

“Kind of like the Access events I play in this summer, I’m going to be asking loads of questions and just getting a feel of what the pros do and just benchmark myself against them and their game.”

Byrne has had a busy year.

The Miami Hurricanes golfer completed her third year in college in May and had five top-20 finishes during the season.

She is studying accounting in the US, and despite her busy golf schedule she has excelled in the classroom as well, reaching the Provst’s Honour Roll in each of the last two 2022 semesters.

She was named on the WGCA All-American Scholars list as well as gaining a place on the All-ACC Academic Team.

Byrne defied the odds in May by finishing third at the NCAA Palm Beach Regional. Playing as an individual earned her a place in the NCAA Championships in Scottsdale.

Qualified

It was back to Ireland after that and then on to England for the Women’s Amateur where she qualified and won her first-round match before bowing out in the second round.

A week later she was back in action in Connemara where she won her second Irish Women’s Amateur Close.

A thrilling final saw her avenge her 2022 final loss to Beth Coulter.

After that, it was on to Sweden, Finland, and Wales for Irish team duty and two LET Access professional events.

Those LET Access events proved to be valuable for Byrne; she finished sixth in the Vasteras Open and 12th in the Capio Ogon Trophy.

Importantly, her results gave her ranking points, ensuring she will have a category on LET and LET Access when she finishes up in Miami next June.

Although it was a busy summer on the course, Byrne also built in some downtime and enjoyed a few breaks away from the course.

“I enjoyed every second of my summer this year. I was really really busy, but that’s what I like!

“I really enjoyed the five-week stretch of tournaments and travel which is great, I wanted to see if I could handle it for when I do turn pro in the future.

“This summer I just scheduled everything for experience and learning for when I finish college and I really did get a lot of information and learned a lot.

I am itching to get back Stateside now, I miss the team environment a little and just excited to get back to my season over there.”

Byrne will have another Irish golfer in Miami next year when Bangor’s Rebekah Gardner joins the Hurricanes as a freshman.

Miami have four new golfers on the 2023 roster and it promises to be an exciting year ahead.

Although Byrne is looking forward to returning to Miami, she may have another event in Irish colours before the end of 2023.

She is in the mix to be selected on the three-person Irish team that will head to Abu Dhabi in October for the World Amateur Team Championships.

A good performance in Dromoland this week could help the Douglas golfer claim a spot on the team.