25th April 2011: McGrath Captains Ireland & Captures First Irish Open Title

International Challenge 2011 - Ireland v Catalonia
LAST week's festival of Pitch & Putt in Kerry began with the Irish team recording a comprehensive 13.5 to 2.5 victory over Catalonia in the re-arranged International Challenge from 2010. Ireland lined out with the same team originally picked for the previous year with Tracey McGrath from Offaly the team captain and local player Jonathon Goodall the main attraction for the local supporters. Niall Reynolds of Clare lined out in his first international managerial position, in which he was outstanding.

The morning Fourballs were keenly contested, Ireland winning by 2.5 to 1.5 after victories for John Walsh and Goodall over Amador Rodriguez & Albert Girones while Ray Murphy and Geraldine Ward claimed the second Irish point after defeating Marcal More & Marc Lloret. Catalonia's point came courtesy of a victory for Daniel Gimenez & Enric Sanz over the combination of Frank Dineen and Paul O'Brien. The first match out went to the last hole as World Strokeplay Champion Fernando Cano and Paco Salido halved with McGrath and Bryan Delaney.

Ireland took control of the match in the Foursomes winning all four games as Delaney and O'Brien defeated Lloret and More 7&6, Goodall and Ward defeated Rodriguez and Girones 5&4, Walsh and Dineen defeated Gimenez and Sanz 2&1 while McGrath and Murphy defeated Cano and Salido at the last hole with the captain holding a foot putt for birdie.

Ireland needed only two points in the Singles and duly obliged winning all bar one of the eight Singles matches with Girones' 3&2 victory over McGrath the only other point the Catalans took in the rest of the Challenge. Despite the loss of that match Tracey spoke of her delight at the team's victory after the match. "We went out and did ourselves justice after the team was reinstated from the previous year. The Catalans put us under pressure in the Fourballs but we stepped up our games in the Foursomes and the Singles. Peronsonally it is an immense honour to have been given the the opportunity to play and captain such a great team of players, one I will not forget for a long time." she said.
(International Challenge Report supplied kindly by Jason O'Connor, Deerpark Pitch & Putt Club & Irish Open Photos by Pat Tinsley)

Irish Open 2011
Two days following the International Challenge at Tralee Pitch & Putt Club the focus turned to Deerpark Pitch & Putt Club in Killarney for the Irish Open 2011 sponsored by Kerry Phone Centres. The Open which is in its third year of existence attracted the best in the game to Kerry, from Catalonia, Holland, England and Ireland itself. The Open itself is now regarded as the most attractive International event on the International Pitch & Putt calendar. In fantastic weather conditions the scoring was blistering in the gents section with local favourite Damien Fleming setting a 36 hole score of -19 on Saturday, which was closely followed by Cork's Frank Dineen and Paudie O'Sullivan on -17 and -16 respectively. In the final round the local hero Fleming held out by one shot from his counterparts Dineen and O'Sullivan to make it a second Irish Open win in three years; Fleming won the inaugural event shooting -12 in his final round at Clonea in 2009. This time around Fleming shot a final round -4 to finish -23 on aggregate for the three rounds. Dublin's Derek Courtney shot a fantastic final round of -12 to secure fourth position. A number of Offaly players travelled to the Kingdom also with Larry Maher Jnr. finishing best on -1 and Jimmy Scanlon on level par. Amador Rodriguez Fernandez from Catalonia was the International Prizewinner with a total of -7.
Full list of final scores can be found on the PPUI website clicking here »


In the ladies section, the success of the International was topped off for Offaly Pitch & Putt when the Irish Captain, Tracey McGrath, convincingly captured the 2011 Irish Open title by 6 shots. In doing so McGrath prevented the holder Chrissie Byrne from Kildare making it three Irish Open titles in a row (keeping up the Faithful County tradition of breaking winning streaks!. McGrath carded steady rounds of -2, -4, and -2 to finish on -8, 6 shots ahead of Holland's Esther de Schiffart on -2 and a further 2 shots ahead of Tipperary's up and coming star Martha O'Brien on level par. With a final round of -3 O'Brien edged out Offaly great Margaret Hogan for third on the back 18, when both finished on level par for the event.

All in all it was a great 4 days of Pitch and Putt for the Irish who reaffirmed their strength as the leading country in the game. Congratulations to the Irish International team on their victory at Tralee and to Tracey as captain and Irish Open Champion for 2011, and of course Deerpark's Damien Fleming on making it two fantastic Irish Open victories. Tribute must also be paid to the Tralee and Deerpark Pitch & Putt Clubs who provided an unforgettable welcome to all and organised both events to the highest standards!! Well done to all in the Kingdom!!