Club Articles

Dermot Gilleece Previews The Irish Amateur Close Championship To Be Held at Cork Golf Club.

Tournament records tend to confirm the popular view that quality venues produce worthy champions. of course there are exceptions, but it would be difficult to find more positively compelling evidence than the roll of honour at cork Gc, Little Island, which will play host to this year’s Irish amateur close championship. For this reason, it is a pity the line-up will not include rory mcIlroy, the champion for the last two years, who will be competing in the conflicting, st andrews Links Trophy, as part of his attempt at earning a place in the British and Irish Walker cup side for royal co down in september. as it happened, the most famous member of cork Gc, Jimmy Bruen, also won the close in successive years in 1937 and 1938. In fact retention of the title cemented his place in the 1938 Walker cup side at st andrews. since then, Bruen’s achievements have become part of golfing lore, but his performances around Little Island are particularly interesting. during the period from 1937 to 1940, the exponent of the famous “Loop”, played 47 competitive rounds there, in figures of 100 under fours. and in 1941 alone, when Bruen was a mere 21-year-old with a handicap of plus-four, he carded 19 rounds in the sixties, including a sparkling 64. It is also worth noting that he claimed the amateur award in the Irish open Professional championship in 1937 (royal Portrush), 1938 (Portmarnock) and 1939 (royal co down).

Overall picture is of a highly-competitive field which should do justice to one of the country’s most respected venues.

unfortunately for the club, they happened to stage the Irish close at times when Bruen had yet to reach, or was beyond his halcyon years. still, the winners carried the unmistakable stamp of class. They were: dr J d maccormack (hermitage) in 1927, John Burke (Lahinch) in 1933, mick Power (muskerry) in 1951 and martin o’Brien (new ross) in 1975. This year’s entries include the usual quota of serious challengers, but the list is also notable for competitors who will be there simply to honour the occasion. among these is the remarkable hugh mackeown, who has entered as a one-handicap member of Portmarnock, though he is also a long-time member of cork Gc. It is hard to believe that mackeown gained international honours back in 1973. and that he brought the eventual winner, Jody Fanagan, to the 18th in the third round of the West of Ireland championship at enniscrone in 1997, before losing by one hole. clearly, he is now being rewarded for admirable dedication to fitness through the years. other locals happy for the opportunity of playing in the close at Little Island, are former internationals niall Goulding and Pat Lyons, and the experienced douglas player, Karl Bornemann. Galway’s Joe Lyons, winner of the West of Ireland championship at easter, can claim to top the entry on recent, matchplay form. But the lowest handicapper is Jonathan caldwell of clandeboye, a beaten quarter-finalist 12 months ago, who has entered off plus 2.8 (exact). Fellow ulsterman, darren crowe of dunmurry, who captured the north of Ireland championship last year, will also be in action, as will the gifted michael sinclair of Knock. It will be recalled that crowe took mcIlroy to the 18th before losing last year in the quarter- finals at The european club. and mallow’s david Finn, who lost to the eventual runner-up, simon Ward, at the same stage 12 months ago, is back for another challenge at the blue riband of our amateur game. Paul o’Kane of moyola Park, another Ward victim, this time in the semi-finals, is back in action, too. In fact the northern challenge looks to be especially strong, given the inclusion of rory Leonard of Banbridge and the evergreen Jim carvill of Warrenpoint, who continues to distinguish himself since his return to amateur ranks. From down the country, however, much will be expected of the 2005 Irish youths champion, seamus Power of West Waterford, and of current international colleagues, niall Kearney from royal dublin and aaron o’callaghan from douglas. Inevitably, some prominent names are missing, but the overall picture is of a highlycompetitive field which should do justice to one of the country’s most respected venues. Though cork Gc claims a foundation date of 1888, it was 1900 before it became affiliated to the GuI. In the event, the club took possession of their present site in 1898,

so moving a mile closer to the city than their original home. a nine-hole layout at Little Island was designed by Tom dunn, a member of the famous musselburgh family, who was then living in Bournemouth. and while the course had been extended to 18 holes by the outbreak of World War I, it was the events of 10 years later which were to give it the status which it now enjoys internationally. That was when it joined the elite list of courses world-wide to have been designed or upgraded by dr alister macKenzie, one of Britain’s most respected golf-course architects. When the good doctor arrived at Little Island in 1924, he was accompanied by Jack Fleming, a native of Tuam, co Galway, who would later make quite a name for himself in course design on the west coast of the us. In the event, we are informed that while working at cork Gc, Fleming travelled each day by sidecar from Blarney, where he stayed in crowley’s Bar. Thankfully, much of the macKenzie influence remains in evidence on the charming parkland stretch which, apart from leading amateur events, has played host to several important, professional tournaments over the years. among these was the 1964

The course is notable for its large, tiered greens, which are acknowledged as a MacKenzie trademark. It culminates in a forbidding stretch of par fours, starting with the 434-yard 14th.

Jeyes Tournament, which was captured by christy o’connor snr with an aggregate of 276, and the carrolls International, won by neil coles a year later with an aggregate of 269. The course is notable for its large, tiered greens, which are acknowledged as a macKenzie trademark. and it culminates in a forbidding stretch of par fours, starting with the 434-yard 14th, where the green is situated closeby the clubhouse. a study of the 90 close championships held from the inaugural staging in 1893 until the union’s centenary celebrations, which included the 1991 event at Ballybunion, reveals that 68 were played on links courses and 22 on parkland. especially interesting in this context was that hermitage, in 1914, became the first parkland venue. and by way of proving his versatility, Lionel munn, the 1913 champion at Portmarnock, retained the title at the west dublin venue. Interestingly, when parkland was next visited in 1923, the close winner at milltown was maccormack, who happened to be the finest player hermitage has ever produced, though he was also a member at Grange. he retained the title at royal co down in 1924 and won it for a third time on its first cork staging in 1927. arising out of his 1924 triumph, maccormack was chosen by the GuI, along with charles o hezlet of royal Portrush, as the two Irish nominees for the Walker cup matches to be played later that year at Garden city in the us, but as things turned out, only hezlet made the team. all of which would suggest that maccormack was a very accomplished player, whose strong, competitive instincts were very much in evidence in a 37th hole victory at Little Island over Portmarnock’s h m cairnes, who had also finished runner-up, two years previously. as a charming postscript to maccormack’s career, it emerged in the 1970s that under the terms of his will, he made a bequest to the GuI of all the memento trophies he had won in his various Irish championship triumphs. It was decided by the union that one of these should be presented for the annual international match between Ireland and Wales.

Whereupon the Welsh union, anxious to be associated with the trophy, insisted on contributing to the refurbishing, engraving and mounting of the cup, which then became known as the “J d maccormack Trophy.” a decade later, when the sponsors withdrew their support of the aer Lingus youths’ club championship, in 1985, the union decided the event would continue as the Irish club youths’ championship. and that the trophy, would become another cup from the maccormack bequest. so it was that a player who represented his country from 1913 to 1928, and went on to play a further 36 matches for Ireland between 1932 and 1937, maintained a meaningful association with the amateur game in this country, beyond his death. as it happened, one of maccormack’s outstanding international colleagues during those latter years, was the great John Burke, from Lahinch. Burke captured no fewer than eight Irish close titles. most significantly, however, he was the only player to win it four years in a row. and the unique, fourth success, was achieved at Little Island in 1933, a year after he had made his only appearance in the Walker cup. In the event, it turned out to be a very good year for Burke, in that it started with victory in the West of Ireland championship at the first attempt, and included the award for top amateur in the Irish open Professional championship. This took place at malone, where the title was won for a second time by e W h Kenyon of West Lancs, whose aggregate of 286 was 16 strokes clear of Burke. Incidentally, maccormack had captured the amateur award the previous year, when it was staged at Little Island, where alf Padgham emerged victorious. The landmark which now exercises our minds, however, was Burke’s 3 and 2 victory over clifford mcmullan of Knock, in the final of the 1933 Irish close. Prior to that, munn had taken the title on four occasions, but as we have seen, these were not in successive years. so it was that the “clare champion” of June 17th 1933 enthused: “.....Burke gave another demonstration of golf without tears during the first nine in the morning. he reached the turn in 33 and was three up. “Burke was hitting a colossal ball and at the 516-yard second hole, he was on the edge of the green with a drive and mashie (five iron). he nearly chipped in for a three. Then chipped in at the fourth. he continued to play superbly in the homeward half to finish six up. he was round in 68. Burke descended to almost mere par figures in the afternoon and was out in 34 to be 7 up. mcmullan fought back well to bring the game to the 34th hole.” Though Bruen was only 27 when capturing the British amateur in 1947, it proved to be a swansong in terms of significant titles. Joe carr had now emerged to rival Burke as the kingpin of Irish amateur golf. so it was a very significant achievement for muskerry’s mick Power, to beat carr for the 1951 close title at Little Island. reflecting on what was undoubtedly the highlight of a fine golfing career, Power said: “I was always long off the tee and putted well,

but perhaps even more importantly, I never fretted. my approach was that if I was to be beaten, I’d be beaten and there was nothing I could do about it. It was a philosophy which meant a great deal when I faced Joe carr in the final of the Irish close at Little Island.” as can be imagined, there were large galleries there that day and, understandably, most were rooting for Power, who was essentially a local. In the event, he took an early lead, but failed to shake off an extremely tenacious and skilful opponent. still, Power managed to keep his nose in front and from a lead of one up after six in the afternoon, he eventually broke clear to take the match by 3 and 2.

“That was a great thrill, for carr was a fine player and to beat him in front of a cork crowd was something special,” added Power. “I didn’t realise until afterwards that supporters had wagered a lot of money on the match.” Power clearly hit a rich vein of form in 1951, for apart from the close, he captured the east of Ireland title at Baltray, where he compiled what was then a record aggregate of 297. despite the excitement of the 1951 final, it was almost a quarter of a century before the close returned to Little Island. and as with earlier winners, the 1975 title went to an experienced campaigner in martin o’Brien, who had earlier won the close at royal Portrush in 1968. Indeed the new ross player and his charming wife, Pauline, were familiar figures on the Irish golfing scene at that time. at Little Island, o’Brien became a convincing winner, beating Joey Bryan of edmondstown by 5 and 4 in the final. While it carried the bonus of leading the Irish team in the home Internationals at Portmarnock later that season, it also represented rich compensation for o’Brien for a final defeat against raymond Kane at Ballybunion, four years previously. a measure of o’Brien’s consistency over a period of 10 seasons, was that he played 44 times for Ireland in the home Internationals between 1968 and 1977. In the process, he did much to heighten the profile of the new ross club which, though now 18 holes, was a modest, nine-hole layout at that time. curious as it may seem, certain golf courses are much more suited to matchplay than others, as was evidenced in the ryder cup over the Palmer stretch at The K club last september. In this context, Little Island is admirably versatile. having presented a stern test to players of the highest calibre in strokeplay tournaments over the years, it also produced some thrilling matchplay encounters when the national cups and shields finals were held there to mark its centenary in 1988. Five finishing par fours are very unusual on a front-rank layout. What makes them especially interesting at Little Island, however, is that they all happen to be in different directions, culminating in the menacing 18th, which dog-legs right, between lines of trees. as in former years, the expectation is that it will deliver a winner worthy of the title.