Cork golfer Clodagh Cloghlan wins big in Ulster

Clodagh Coughlan was crowned Ulster Women’s Senior Champion in Belvoir Park on Sunday. 

Originally scheduled as a 36 hole competition, the searing temperatures meant the Senior tournament was reduced to one round on Sunday. 

It was Coughlan who coped best in the heat to claim her first title at national level. 

The Douglas golfer has been challenging at all levels for the past few years evidenced by her selection for Munster and Irish teams. 

Coughlan has seen plenty of success including winning the Plate competition in the AIG Irish Close last year. 

This however was her first big win and she was delighted to come out on top.

“Absolutely thrilled. I never won a championship before. I won the plate in the Close last year so I feel like I had a win coming for a while. 

"It’s nice to get one over the line eventually today. So yeah I’m thrilled,” said Coughlan.

“Just hit a few fairways and greens and thankfully it went in my favour. It was tight enough out there, Molly O’Hara was playing very good golf next to me. 

" The standard of golf was very good so yeah, delighted.”

Coughlan had a brilliant level par round of 73 to secure her first championship. 

The round included five birdies as she bounced back from opening which might have easily derailed her chances. 

With three bogeys in her first five holes Coughlan left herself with it all to do but two birdies before the turn recovered some of the lost ground and it saw her finish the front nine on +1.

After two birdies on the 10th and 12th she moved to one under but two bogies followed to peg her back again. 

A final birdie on the par three 16th took her back to level par, but she was clear of the field in any case and her final winning margin was three shots over the field. 

 Clandeboye duo Molly O’Hara and Nikki Currie both finished on +3.

The Ulster Junior Championship was also held in Belvoir Park on Sunday and Monkstown’s Mary Bergin finished in third place, just one point off the lead. She was just outside the top two who went on to a playoff.

Muskerry were the team that came out on top in the Barton Shield which was held in Co Tipperary. 

The Cork club rekindles memories of a decade ago when they won both provincial and national honours. 

Prior to getting to Dundrum, Muskerry beat Blarney to make it to the round of 16. 

On Saturday morning they had an impressive win over Macroom and they followed that after lunch when they saw off a challenge from Cork Golf Club to book a place in the semi-final.

They were back in Dundrum on Sunday morning to face Douglas and Muskerry came out on top again, winning by a narrow margin of two holes. On the other side of the draw, Kinsale were making progress with wins over Tramore, Thurles and Monkstown. Muskerry, however got the better of them in the final on Sunday afternoon.

Muskerry now have the benefit of a local venue for the AIG national finals. Douglas is the host venue for the Barton Shield, Senior Foursomes and the Women’s and Men’s Senior Cup. Douglas host the finals over four days at the end of August.

Macroom will play host to the Senior Cup finals this weekend. Kinsale will play Thurles again, and Douglas take on Fota Island in the Men’s Senior Cup. 

In the Women’s Senior Cup Douglas will also face Fota Island, and Cork play Bandon. Both the semi-finals and finals are being scheduled for Saturday in light of the All Ireland hurling final taking place on Sunday.

Castlemartyr had another successful scratch cup weekend recently with a full timesheet for the three days of the competition. 

There were home wins in the Intermediate and Minor Cups with Tommy Galvin and John Ring taking the honours. Dungarvan’s Barry Morrissey won the Junior Scratch Cup after shooting an impressive level par 72. 

The scratch cups were again sponsored by Gabby McCarthy from MCG Financial. 

The clubhouse in Castlemartyr has undergone a recent refurbishment, and as part of the work the Pod has been renamed Kirby’s Clubhouse.