Golfer John Doyle signs off his season in Singapore

John Doyle rounded off an impressive season with a trip to Singapore for the World Amateur Team Championships. 

The Mitchelstown native was selected as one of the three man Irish team in the showpiece biennial event. 

Doyle is one of very few Cork golfers to appear at the Eisenhower Trophy. 

Eoghan O’Connell and John Murphy at the only others while Sara Byrne represented Ireland at the Espirito Santo in 2023.

Doyle had been moving along nicely in the opening round when a double bogey 7 took the sine off his round. 

He improved by two shots in the second round and closed with rounds of 75 and 76 to finish in the middle of the pack. 

His teammates Stuart Grehan and Caolan Rafferty finished slightly better and Ireland finished just outside the top 20. 

Doyle also represented Ireland at the European team championships and the Home Internationals, and he represented GB&I at the Jacques Leglise. 

As well as Singapore, Doyle travelled to the US, England, Spain and Belgium in an action packed year.

Doyle won the Irish Boys in Cork Golf Club in April, leading from start to finish, and he followed up that win a week later by claiming the Munster Strokeplay at the same venue. 

The Fota Island member searched for a third win from May and came close in several top ranked events. He was runner up in the St Andrew’s Links Trophy, losing out in a playoff, and was also second at the English Boys. 

He reached the quarter finals of the Boys Championship in Co Louth, and those performances helped him on his way to selection for the Junior Ryder Cup.

It was a huge year for the 18 year old. 12 months ago Doyle was ranked 3,001 on WAGR and now he’s edging towards the top 400 in the world. Although he has the Leaving Cert to deal with in 2026, he already has plans made for college. 

In July, he committed to joining Louisiana State University next August.

Sean Reddy is another Cork golfer to commit to a US college. 

The Douglas member has committed to joining Jacksonville University in Florida once he completes his leaving cert next year. Reddy won the Connacht Under 14 Championship back in 2021 and won a Toro tour event in Spain last year. 

The teenager was also a part of the victorious Douglas team who won the Irish Senior Cup in August. 

He won a crucial match in the semi-final to see his side advance and complete a historic win at home.

Muskerry’s Zak Collins, who is now studying at Wheeling College was named in the Mountain East Conference All-Tournament team last week after finishing 4th in the event. 

He was the best Wheeling player for each of the three rounds, and never dropped outside the top five. Collins is in his second year in the US. 

He played for Davis & Elkins in West Virginia. Collins moved to Wheeling in Ohio at the start of this year and has played regularly in the fall series of events. Collins won a Munster Under 17 title in 2020 and was part of the Munster team who won the Boys Inter-provincials that year.

Sara Byrne finished in 34th place in India last week to add another €3,400 to her prize money for the season. 

The Douglas golfer is well inside the top 70 that will keep their card at the end of the season but will most likely need to make another cut or two to confirm her card for 2026. 

Byrne has entered next event in Chinese Taipei in two weeks time but is still on the reserve list. Byrne is in a similar position for the following week for the $2m China Championship event in Mission Hills. 

Byrne has earned over €40,000 in just over a year on Tour and has made three of her last four cuts. 

Byrne also has playing rights on the second tier Epsom Tour in the US but only played in 7 events this year, spending most of the summer months in Europe. 

The focus for the coming weeks will be to consolidate her rookie year performance by retaining her playing rights for next year. 

It has been a positive first year for rookie who turned pro after helping GB&I to win the Curtis Cup in Sunningdale in September. 

She made nine cuts and a top five finish in Switzerland last month. Her biggest paychecks came in the PIF and Aramco team events.