Date: 13 September 2015
Sponsor: GlobalReach Securities

After a gap of 40 years, Professional Golf returned to the fairways of Killiney with the staging of the Killiney Invitational Pro Am sponsored by GlobalReach. The headline act was former Volvo China Open winner Damien McGrane, who showed his class with a superb 68 in conditions more suited to the Far East than Ireland as 4 torrential downpours made scoring very difficult. Despite the weather, McGrane covered the front nine in 33 shots, with birdies at the 5th, 6th and 9th. A back nine of 35 included a further birdie on the 15th.  This was enough for a one shot victory over John Kelly, the Professional at St Margarets who shot 69. Kelly made an eagle 3 on the 6th. followed by birdues on the 12th and 15th. Two shots further back were Neil O Briain, former Walker Cup player Colm Moriarty and Ashbourne Professional John Dwyer, who shot the lowest 9 hole score of the day, with a back 9 of 32 shots, inclidung a birdie 3 on the 13th and an eagle 3 on the 15th. Our own Club Professioanl Leo Hynes was amongst a large group who shot 72, joined by former Killiney assistant Ryan Madigan, European Tour Player David Higgins and Ryder Cup star Philip Walton.

John Kelly lead the winning team home with 88 points, alongside Laura Noble, Gavin Homan and Simon Fitzgerald. They won by two shots from the team headed by Wexford Professional Liam Bowler, who played with Brendan Pigott, Jerry Kelly and Karl Strecker. Third was the team of Titleist Fitting Centre Professional Mark O Mahony, who was joined by Conrad Lyons, Mark Lyons and Owen O Sullivan. 

There were a number of members who worked hard to make the day a huge success. Our sponsor, Paul Phelan of GlobalReach Securities, made the Pro-Am possible and without him we could not have gone ahead. Leo Hynes and Keith Bardon set up the course, assembled the field of players, took the entries, did the results and used their knowledge of the Pro Am scene in Ireland to make the day run so smoothly. Our Men's Captain Ken McCullagh worked with the club to make sure they were happy with the arrangements,  Niall Keyes handled all the admnistratiion in his excellent and effiecient manner and John Hanley and the course team produced putting surfaces that received plaudits from players whio have played in Major Championships. We were also fabulously looked after (as always) by John Byrne, Mark Clarke and the bar/catering team. 

We are glad that everyone enjoyed the day, and hopefully it will not be another 40 years before we get to do it again !

Keith

Photographs of the day's golfing action