Golfer Mark Gazi wins second Douglas Senior Scratch Cup

Mark Gazi won the Douglas Senior Scratch Cup last weekend, posting rounds of 68 and 71 on the black course in Douglas. 

The Tralee golfer was two under par after the first round, edging previous winner Peter O’Keeffe by one shot. Jack Murphy was next best on 71 with James Walsh, David Howard and John Dolan on 72.

Both Gazi and O’Keeffe added rounds of 71 in the afternoon, meaning Gazi claimed his second Douglas title. He won it back in 2024 when he bridged a gap of over 30 years to the last winner from Kerry. O’Keeffe picked up second place and the PJ O’Hea Cup for best Douglas player, with Jack Murphy one shot back on +1 after a level par second round.

Barry O’Connell shot the low round of the afternoon with a one under par 69, and that moved him up to 4th place while Shannon’s John Dolan took fifth place with +3. The event was sponsored by Dave Clehane from Corporate Life.

The next senior scratch cups take place in Kanturk and East Cork. Kanturk hold their scratch cup weekend from the 10 -12 July while East Cork’s senior scratch cup takes place on the 11th July. The Macroom scratch cup weekend takes place the following week on the 18th and 19th of July.

 Sara Byrne has another solid week’s work at the Czech Ladies Open last week. The Dromoland Castle touring pro finished inside the top 40 and crucially added to her total points on the Order of Merit. 

Sara is now in a comfortable position in the order of merit, she’s currently 40th after missing the first eight events of the season due to an arm injury.

Since her return in mid-May, she has made four out of five cuts and one of those included runners-up finish at the Ladies Open de France. Sara returns to action this week in Belgium at the Hulencourt Ladies Open.

At a minimum Byrne will be looking to retain her tour card with a top 70 position at the end of the season. 

There’s also plenty of time left in the 2026 calendar for a few top fives and maybe even a win.

David Howard received a late call for final qualifying for the Open week. Howard was 5th reserve after regional qualifying at the Island last week, he finished on -2 and was tied for 8th place, but a good countback score boosted his position on the reserve list.

He got a call that he was in the field for Dundonald Links on Sunday so it was back on the road for David and his dad John. 

There are 20 places at The Open available from final qualifying but as there are four venues the qualifiers from Dundonald will be limited to the top five after 36 holes have been played.

Howard had a busy month in June, it started with his defence of the East of Ireland in Co Louth and from there it was on to St Andrews for the Links Trophy. 

His next event was the Amateur qualifier in East Lancashire before heading to The Island for the Open Qualifier. He also managed to put on the Fota Island jumper for their AIG Senior Cup match against Mallow, and finished in the top ten at the Douglas Senior Scratch Cup last weekend.

Muskerry will be a busy place this weekend as they host the finals of the AIG Women’s and Men’s Junior Cup. 

16 teams will compete in the Men’s competition with four rounds taking place over Saturday and Sunday, and in the Women’s it’s down to the last four after the qualifying rounds were held in East Cork a few weeks ago. 

Mallow face Tipperary on Sunday morning in the first semi final while Fota Island take on Monkstown in the second match.

In the men’s competition play gets underway at 7am on Saturday morning with eight matches taking place that morning. 

First out is Mahon who face Tramore, and that’s followed by Waterford Castle v Templemore. The first all Cork clash sees Cork face Mallow at 8.20 and that’s followed by Bantry Bay v Lismore. 

There are two more all Cork clashes with Macroom facing Kinsale and Bandon taking on Fermoy. The last match of the morning sees 2025 All-Ireland champions Monkstown take on Goldcoast.

The round of 16 is immediately followed by the quarter finals on Saturday afternoon and the semi finals and final will take place on Sunday. 

By then, just two teams will remain and they will be headed for an All-Ireland quarter-final.