Golfers Jack Murphy and John Doyle Enjoy Bahamas Break

GOLFERS Jack Murphy and John Doyle enjoyed a pretty special early season golf trip last week, the pair were part of the Darren Clarke Foundation Champions Weekend. 

 This was the first time since covid that the event was held, and the former Open Champion brought the young golfers to the Bahamas where he now lives. 

 The trip involved a number of rounds of golf including an informal tournament, a champions dinner and time with the 2011 Open champion.

Murphy was delighted with the experience.

“It was an extraordinary experience to get on the trip. There were so many learnings to take from Darren and his practice rituals. Everyone was so welcoming to us all and really made it a comfortable environment.

“The Bahamas was exactly how I imagined it would be. The water was light blue and the sand was white, the weather was unbelievable. Darren shared a lot of his knowledge too and his words are really inspiring.”

Murphy is currently studying for his Leaving Cert, and while he has confirmed that he’ll be heading to the University of Washington next year, he’s still putting some time into the books.

“I won’t be able to play much leading up to my leaving cert. However I will play in some events when I can, and not take too much time out of school. 

" I’ll play in the Irish Boys at Easter, the Munster Stroke Play because it’s close to home, and possibly the Irish Amateur depending on how my studies are at the time.”

Fota Island’s John Doyle was also on the Champions trip, thanks to his win at the Irish Boys Close in Monkstown last year. 

He too was delighted with the opportunity to take part and learn from the experience. 

“It was great, we played one practice round and two tournament rounds and as much golf as we liked outside of the tournament rounds. 

"I learned to hit shots into the green a bit lower and learned a bit about Darren’s mental game.”

Doyle will have a busy time in the coming months, he’s planning to play in the French Boys, Irish Boys and Scottish Boys which all take place during the Easter break.

Kinsale’s touring professional John Murphy got his 2024 season underway in South Africa last week. 

The 25 year old is entering his third full season on tour and much of his golf this year will be on the Challenge Tour. 

 Murphy was in action in the Nelson Mandela Bay Championship and opened his season with a solid two under par 70, that was thanks in part to an impressive run of 3 consecutive birdies on the back nine. 

He was one shot inside the cut going into the second round but despite shooting a one under par 71 he missed weekend by one shot. 

Overall, despite missing the cut Murphy should be happy with his performance, a double bogey on the 15th on Friday was probably a lower point but he bounced back with birdies on the 16th and 17th, and while he missed the cut his game was in good shape. 

Murphy now has two weeks off before heading to India for two events he's in the field for the Delhi Challenge and the Kolata challenge which take place in the middle of March. 

Murphy missed out on the first three weeks of the challenge tour because the South African events were co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour, but he should have a decent run of tournaments when the tour returns to Europe in April.

Sara Byrne got her final semester with Miami off to a good start with two consecutive top fives in the past two weeks. 

Last week Byrne was playing in the Spartan Sun Coast Invitational and took second place thanks to rounds of 72 and 68. 

The previous week she was playing in the UCF challenge in Orlando unfinished on -7 in fourth place. 

Sara has another three consecutive events in this section of the season, starting this weekend at the Gators Invitational.

Byrne will be looking to continue her very positive NCAA Division one performances as she chases after a Curtis Cup spot the Douglas golfer is positioned in the top 100 on the World Amateur Golf rankings, if reform continues she should be looking at an appearance in Sunningdale in September.

Morgan Kane also recorded a top five finish last week he was playing in the Saint Leo Invitational in Florida.