As some of you might know, my dearly departed Mother was from Ireland.. and I first played there in the 1991 Walker Cup at Portmarnock (which was unbelievable)…the public came out in the droves and it was my first real experience of playing in front of big crowds. After turning professional, I visited the country twice a year playing the Irish Open and European Opens between 1992 and 2006. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met there, nor how many pints of Guinness I’ve consumed with the locals, but I can tell you it’s one of the best places you could ever visit.
A few of the locals at Flynn’s of Termonfeckin
Last week, we ventured to Seapoint Golf Club in County Louth, which is located on the East Coast and approximately 40 miles north of Dublin. Having got off to a slow start to the season (with a T29th and a T25th finish in the first two events), I was hoping to get build confidence and post my first top 10 of the year. I’ve been hitting the ball well but putting very poorly and making one or two poor swings at the wrong time in the round to compete at the top of the leaderboard. Well, I’m sorry to say that for the third tournament in a row, I remain consistent!
My pro-am team made up of Eddie, Stephen and Colm - what a great bunch of lads!
I played the first two rounds with Ryder Cup Legends, Philip Walton (which is always a pleasure) and once again I got off to a shocking start. Now the wind was pumping hard but given the fact that I grew up in the wind, I should be able to handle it fairly well (should being the operative word). The one thing I wasn’t prepared for was the thickness of the rough. Wow it was juicy thick and volunteer spotters were warmly received by all of us. So I started off Par, Bogey, Double…three over after three holes, not good! I got the head down and birdied 6 and 8 to get back to plus 1 for the day and then tragedy struck. A pulled 6 iron at the right to left cross wind par 3 ninth hole, I saw my ball disappear into knee high rough, never to be seen again, which culminated in me making a 6! I played the back nine in par and posted a 4 over 76. Completely gutted.
Me, Philip Walton, Conor Purcell and his lovely Mother on the bag.
Round two was a similar story. I started at the 10th hole and played the back nine in level par again for the second day in the row. I was still level par with just 5 holes to play and then disaster struck. At the tricky 5th hole, I pulled a 3 iron off the tee a foot into the thick rough and could barely see my ball. I moved it 10 feet with a full swing wedge! I then hit an 8 iron for my third shot out of the semi rough, tugged it a tad and saw it plop into the green side lake on the left. I posted a triple bogey 7. I felt sick! I then pared the sixth and at the long par 4 seventh, I hit my second into a green side trap, splashed out to 4 feet and missed. Another bogey. I birdied the eighth and went to the ninth at +3 for the day (this was the hole that I had made a triple on day 1). This time I blocked my tee shot into the right trap to a tight right flag. NOT the place to hit it. In trying to be deft with my touch, I left the ball in the bunker with my first attempt and then managed to get to to 5 feet with my second…needless to say I missed the putt for bogey and made double. I posted a second round 5 over par, 77.
I got to the course on Sunday morning, I was due to tee off the tenth at 9am and it was howling and raining straight into my face. You can imagine the look on my face…the excitement…the joy…the “here we go again”! Well your imagination would be wrong. I actually saw it as an opportunity to grind out a score and move up the leaderboard. I’m not going to bore you with all of the details but I played the back nine in -1 (having played really well and holed nothing). I turned to the front nine in the hope that I could finally conquer the holes that had cost me so dearly during the week. I pared one, two and three and then birdied four (so -2 for the day with 5 to play, could I make a couple more birdies to end the week mid table? In short, no I couldn’t! I double bogied 5 (the hole I’d trebles previously) but managed to birdie the seventh and eighth (and I finally pared the ninth). I finished with a -2, 70.
In 5 of the 54 holes, I was 12 over par. If I’d have bogied those holes, instead of having doubles and trebles, I’d have finished 11th. Work to do me thinks!!
I do need to make special mention of Peter Baker, the former Ryder Cup star who won the event with his wife Helen caddying for him. With scores of 66, 63, 69, he absolutely decimated the field by 6 shots from his closest rival, Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez. His 2nd round Course Record 63 was 6 better than any other score that day and remains one of the finest rounds of golf I’ve ever seen.
Peter Baker sinking his winning putt.
I do need to make a special shout out to Roddy Carr from Carr Golf and Des Smyth, two Irish legends in the world of golf that were hugely supporting the event but I’d also like to give a massive shout out to all of the staff involved at Seaport Golf Club. The entirety of their team should be incredibly proud of the presentation of the course and the care with which they treated us all. The quality of the food was off the charts and the friendliness of the service, amazing. Sincerely, they were all magnificent and I would encourage anyone travelling to Ireland for a golf trip to go play Seaport GC as you’ll have a wonderful experience. Check it out at www.seapointgolflinks.com
Seapoint Golf Club, County Louth
Next up, Bad Ragaz in Switzerland!