Seapoint lands major coup with Irish PGA
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MANY of Ireland's top professional golfers will be teeing up at Seapoint this autumn, after the local club landed a major coup by being awarded the 100th Irish PGA Championship. The list of previous winners of the tournament reads like a who's who of Ireland's greatest players, with the names of Padraig Harrington and Des Smyth (six times each), Paul McGinley and Philip Walton (4 each), David Feherty ( 2), Darren Clarke and Eamonn Darcy all appearing on the famous trophy.
However, none of them come close to matching the feats of Christy O'Connor and Harry Bradshaw, who each claimed the title an incredible 10 times.
The timing of this year's Championship – from September 23rd to 26th, the week before the Ryder Cup – means that Harrington and Rory McIlroy are unlikely to be competing, but it's a free week in the European Tour calendar which should ensure a big turnout from our other top pros such as Clarke, McGinley, Gary Murphy, Damien McGrane, Peter Lawrie and last year's Irish Open hero of Baltray, Shane Lowry.
Irish PGA Chief Executive Michael McCumiskey has written to every European Tour player informing them of the dates and venue in an effort to secure a strong lineup for the championship, which will be sponsored by Ladbrokes.com.
Reacting to the announcement this week, Seapoint Captain Noel Kierans told the Drogheda Independent: 'It's fantastic news and we're delighted to be hosting a major championship here.
'It's a great plug for the golf club and great publicity, and it will help put us back on the map.'
Noel said that negotiations had been ongoing for a couple of months between the club and the Irish PGA.
'We brought them around the golf course in two buggies and expressed our desire to have the championship here. All in all, we gave them good reason to say 'yes, these guys are enthusiastic and serious about wanting to host the tournament'.'
It's the first time the Seapoint links, designed by Des Smyth and Declan Branigan, has been awarded the PGA Championships, although it went to neighbouring County Louth 10 years ago and it's hoped that this might be one small step towards Seapoint hosting the Irish Open some time in the future.
'It's feasible,' Noel insisted. 'If Baltray can do it, we can do it – and it would be a much better stadium course.
'Baltray is a traditional links, but Seapoint is a different design and a more up-todate links.'
- Baltray-based Gary Murphy dropped from a tie for third place after round one to miss the cut by one shot at the Mallorca Classic last Friday.
The Kilkenny native had a torrid day in windy conditions, hitting double-bogeys at the 8th and 11th holes and a triple-bogey at 12 before dropping three more shots in the last two holes to sign for a 79.
