Kate Dwyer announced herself as one to watch at next month’s Flogas Irish Women’s & Girls Amateur Open Championship after she claimed the Woodbrook Scratch Cup in March.
The Rossmore woman had all the answers on a wet and windy day in Woodbrook and she hopes to find the magic formula this time around. However, her greatest challenge will be time management, in more ways than one.
Dwyer is studying Law in Maynooth University and her final assignment deadline falls on the same day as the opening round of the Women’s & Girls Championship, so balancing her time between academic studies and golf will be her first hurdle before she even tees off on May 19th.
“I’ll be cramming, there’s a lot of essays due this time of year so I’m very busy but it’s the same for everyone so it’s about just planning and knowing where and when you’re playing,” the 22-year-old explains. “Time management is huge so you can go out on the course and enjoy yourself when it’s important.
“Playing Welsh next week and then the first day of the Irish AM falls on the last day of my assignments so it will be a bit of a release when that’s over. I don’t know what tee time I’d rather!
“I would probably say morning, I’d like to say I would have the assignment out of the way at that stage.”
Dwyer proved she had the mettle to withstand the challenge of Mother Nature and she hopes her course experience will give her an edge in three weeks time.
“Yeah I’d say people who played the Scratch Cup will have a slight advantage. The course will be playing a little bit longer and hopefully we will have better weather than we had in the Scratch Cup with it being later in the year.
“It’s a challenging golf course and it is weather dependent. You could be hitting pitching wedge or five iron into the same hole in the morning or afternoon. The Scratch Cup had a strong field with people getting a look at the course.
“I played driver pitching wedge and driver three wood into some holes between morning and afternoon, but that’s the fun of it I suppose. Keeps it interesting!
“I know they have two new holes opening so it will be good to get another run around or two in the next few weeks, but it should be good.
“There’s a lot of women’s amateur golf on this time of year with the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Opens so everyone has a good feel for where they’re at. It’s going to be a strong field and the first time it has been played in Woodbrook. It’s always had a strong field when it was held in Co. Louth, I’m sure Woodbrook will do a great job and we will enjoy the couple of days.”
While defending champion Lorna McClymont will make the trip from Scotland once again and the presence of Aideen Walsh, Kate Lanigan, Katie Poots, Roisin Scanlon, Olivia Costello and Emma Fleming headline a stacked domestic contingent, Dwyer feels if the date for the event was pushed back into the summer it would allow the Irish girls who are Stateside for college to play.
Lauren Walsh, Beth Coulter, Annabel Wilson, Anna Foster, Sara Byrne and Aine Donegan are set to be absent and a date change is certainly food for thought.
“It’s the strongest event we have on the ladies Irish calendar,” Dwyer admits. “Everyone who can play in it does. I suppose if it was pushed back a couple of weeks you might get better weather again and a few more from the States could come home to play. It’s something that could be looked at.
“In my time it’s always been played at this part of May so it’s what I’m used to but it could attract a slightly better field if it was later on in the year.”
Dwyer has discovered the winning touch having added the Woodbrook Scratch Cup to her Irish Intervarsities title at the end of 2022 and she hopes to keep that going with a place in the KPMG Irish Women’s Open a season goal.
“It’s a goal of mine next year to get a spot for the Women’s Irish Open. I was talking to the girls who played in it in September and they said it was such a great experience to surround themselves with all the LET players and it’s going to be a huge goal of mine to play in it next year,” explains the Monaghan native who hasn’t made her mind up yet over a career in the courtroom or on the fairways.
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