The Next Irish Hope

FixdePitchmark

I know the lads from the north are flying it and golf is a 32 county sport. But was looking at the leaderboard last night and only one Irish flag (tricolour) there .

Shane looks like he could be it.
Hopefully Paddy can make a come back.
Damien is a great pro.


But who do you see as the next great Republic of Ireland hope for the top level of golf ? Even if not a pro at the moment.

It seems we are not there at moment, a bit of a worry.

cormacjones

Do we really want to go down the whole 26, 32, 36 county route.............?

chalkie 501

cormacjones wrote: »

Do we really want to go down the whole 26, 32, 36 county route.............?

especially the 36 county route

Alrite Chief

cormacjones wrote: »

Do we really want to go down the whole 26, 32, 36 county route.............?

Meh... don't think he is a provo lad relax. Nice to see the tricolour next to a sportsmans name be it golf, boxing or tiddlywinks. I support McIlroy for his brilliance the same way i did Tiger. With a tricolour next to a name its different! The patriot in us all comes out. Don't deny it :P

cormacjones

Alrite Chief wrote: »

Meh... don't think he is a provo lad relax. Nice to see the tricolour next to a sportsmans name be it golf, boxing or tiddlywinks. I support McIlroy for his brilliance the same way i did Tiger. With a tricolour next to a name its different! The patriot in us all comes out. Don't deny it :P

Ah I know he wasn't and I wasn't implying that. But whatever way you look it at, be you orange or green, there are only 32 counties in Ireland..............

FixdePitchmark

chalkie 501 wrote: »

especially the 36 county route

Sorry (LOL), was a bit locked there, that was the extra 4 pints last night.

Anyway, I would be very progressive with this sort of stuff. But love the local hero aspect of sport, be it GAA, Football, Boxing, Snooker, Rugby.

Don't want to turn this into a North South thing. Just think we need a golfer coming through , or some Paddy inspired kids quick. I went through twenty years looking at page 5 and 6 of the majors for the first Irish flag.

Love the North Lads doing well, but want another Paddy or Paul or Philip or Des or Eamonn or John or John or Christy or Christy or Martin or anybody.

For all our talk of great golf, we have lacked Major players over the last 30 years.

MungoMan

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Love the North Lads doing well, but want another Paddy or Paul or Philip or Des or Eamonn or John or John or Christy or Christy or Martin or anybody.

Who is Martin ?

FixdePitchmark

MungoMan wrote: »

Who is Martin ?

Yes , put that in as an odd one. Leave it with the mad golf heads here and I bet they will be back with it. Not a top pro, but Irish.

Goldenjohn

Winner of Today's Irish amateur open Gavin Moynihan looks like a prospect

FixdePitchmark

Goldenjohn wrote: »

Winner of Today's Irish amateur open Gavin Moynihan looks like a prospect

What sort of score and did he win by much ?

irish bloke

MungoMan wrote: »

Who is Martin ?

Aston

f22

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

What sort of score and did he win by much ?

+7 to win by 1 in a quality field. He's had some seaon already

FixdePitchmark

irish bloke wrote: »

Aston

Lol, No.

FixdePitchmark

f22 wrote: »

+7 to win by 1 in a quality field. He's had some seaon already

What age is he ?

Is Na Irish. Sorry lads , no need for jokes here.

I'm looking at Euro Tour and think we are a bit thin on the ground.

Would love to see 3 or 4 good 18 to 20 year olds on the way. The lads we are watching are chasing 40 at this stage. (and the rest)

f22

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

What age is he ?

17, youngest ever Irish winner

FixdePitchmark

f22 wrote: »

17, youngest ever Irish winner

Great stuff, the next move is the tricky one.

Goldenjohn

And the big red head on him he's def as Irish as they come!!!
He won the Peter mcevoy trophy earlier this year, looks like he has a chance of kicking on to big things hopefully. But you can never tell he is still very young

FixdePitchmark

http://www.gui.ie/home/news/final-day-at-irish-amateur.aspx

FixdePitchmark

Goldenjohn wrote: »

And the big red head on him he's def as Irish as they come!!!
He won the Peter mcevoy trophy earlier this year, looks like he has a chance of kicking on to big things hopefully. But you can never tell he is still very young

A Dub (A Northside Dub) from The Island. I'm loving this.

k.p.h

Since we don't have the old college golf like the Americans your not really ever going to see any really young guns bursting on to tour and tearing it up, Irish golfers generally have to do it the hard way, hard work and a bit of grinding.The idea would be to get on tour and then work hard to come up a level to join the top players in the world.

Funding has an awful lot to do with as well, costs a decent amount of money to get out there even if you have a card. I don't know too many 17-20 year old golfers tipping around with 100k in their bank accounts..

If you really wanted to know what way to look, towards the midlands is the way to go and Shane Lowery. He has already shown a great amount of promise and is progressing nicely. I reckon he has some stellar golf in him and would a great guy to represent the country.

stringy

he started out in Donabate, my club, as a 9 year old, and moved to the Island last year, he's still a member of Donabate.

He's a class act, I've played with him since he was young, and played with him a team event last year. Top young guy to match his golf. Very straight and an AMAZING short game, the ball is on a string when he uses his wedge, spins it left/right/back, hop n stop, amazing.

He also won the Faldo Series, at European and World level in the last year, and was the top european in an American amateur event a couple of weeks ago placing in the top 10.

Well done Gavin, we're all very proud in Donabate.

GreeBo

cormacjones wrote: »

Ah I know he wasn't and I wasn't implying that. But whatever way you look it at, be you orange or green, there are only 32 counties in Ireland..............

One more mention of this junk and its holiday time

BackScrub

It was Martin Sludds I'd say.

FixdePitchmark

stringy wrote: »

he started out in Donabate, my club, as a 9 year old, and moved to the Island last year, he's still a member of Donabate.

He's a class act, I've played with him since he was young, and played with him a team event last year. Top young guy to match his golf. Very straight and an AMAZING short game, the ball is on a string when he uses his wedge, spins it left/right/back, hop n stop, amazing.

He also won the Faldo Series, at European and World level in the last year, and was the top european in an American amateur event a couple of weeks ago placing in the top 10.

Well done Gavin, we're all very proud in Donabate.

That is great stuff. Donabate is a fine course, I guess he needed something harder and a bit more links experience ?

Just a question, is the Irish Amateur a way into The Open Championship ?

MungoMan

BackScrub wrote: »

It was Martin Sludds I'd say.

I'd never heard of Martin, just googled him, he had his moments.......I suppose only a dozen or so Irish golfers have had more distinguished careers than him since golf began..

Changing the topic slightly, about the next Irish prospect, isn't the weather a serious issue when it comes to new players developing in Ireland. For at least 5 months of the year, playing golf is difficult because its cold and wet.
In SA, Australia, NZ, Spain, and even southern England, they don't have the weather problems we have.
In Galway where I used to live, 2 days in every three there is some rainfall, found that out on a weather website.

FixdePitchmark

MungoMan wrote: »

I'd never heard of Martin, just googled him, he had his moments.......I suppose only a dozen or so Irish golfers have had more distinguished careers than him since golf began..

Changing the topic slightly, about the next Irish prospect, isn't the weather a serious issue when it comes to new players developing in Ireland. For at least 5 months of the year, playing golf is difficult because its cold and wet.
In SA, Australia, NZ, Spain, and even southern England, they don't have the weather problems we have.
In Galway where I used to live, 2 days in every three there is some rainfall, found that out on a weather website.

Can't explain it.

If you look at last 30 years or so, you have the following.


1) Paddy Harrington
2) Paul McGinley
3) Peter Lawrie
4) Damien McGrane
5) Gary Murphy
6) Des Smyth
7) Eamonn Darcy
8) Christy O'Connor (jnr)
9) Philip Walton
10) John O'Leary

No real order there.

I'm sure I left somebody out, they are lads who got to the top level. It just puts into perspective what Padraig did. He went way above what is a good list, but one spaning now nearly 40 years.

The only thing I can think is the wide base of sports and our young lads are playing GAA, Rugby, Soccer. ?????

neckedit

Brian Casey Headfort, Onr of the lads who works with me played with him over the weekend, and said he is the real deal, not a weakness!

Milkers

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Can't explain it.

If you look at last 30 years or so, you have the following.


1) Paddy Harrington
2) Paul McGinley
3) Paul Lawrie
4) Damien McGrane
5) Gary Murphy
6) Des Smyth
7) Eamonn Darcy
8) Christy O'Connor (jnr)
9) Philip Walton
10) John O'Leary

No real order there.

I'm sure I left somebody out, they are lads who got to the top level. It just puts into perspective what Padraig did. He went way above what is a good list, but one spaning now nearly 40 years.

The only thing I can think is the wide base of sports and our young lads are playing GAA, Rugby, Soccer. ?????

Ronan Rafferty?

Milkers

Also Paul Lawrie is Scottish, you mean Peter.

stringy

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

That is great stuff. Donabate is a fine course, I guess he needed something harder and a bit more links experience ?

The Island tried to poach him for a few years but he was happy in Donabate. He moved last year under advice from GUI, good advice. He needs to be playing links golf and be playing with scratch golfers if he's going to compete. The move obviously paid off. I hope he'll remember where he learned his craft though, I'm sure he will. Great guy.

AldilaMan

The Maguire sisters will do more than any of the upcoming lads. They are heading for the very top of ladies golf.

FixdePitchmark

Shane Lowry (Well Done)

Yours now for the taking.

Rikand

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Can't explain it.

If you look at last 30 years or so, you have the following.


1) Paddy Harrington
2) Paul McGinley
3) Peter Lawrie
4) Damien McGrane
5) Gary Murphy
6) Des Smyth
7) Eamonn Darcy
8) Christy O'Connor (jnr)
9) Philip Walton
10) John O'Leary

No real order there.

I'm sure I left somebody out, they are lads who got to the top level. It just puts into perspective what Padraig did. He went way above what is a good list, but one spaning now nearly 40 years.

The only thing I can think is the wide base of sports and our young lads are playing GAA, Rugby, Soccer. ?????

missing darren clarke in there aswell


I second the case for Brian Casey. Saw him play at the Mullingar Scratch Cup and he was pure class! He was playing with a buddy of mine for the first two rounds, so got to see him first hand. Savage striker of the ball and great putter!