Minister for Arts, Culture, Communications, Media and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan TD, was on site at Ballyneety Golf Club on Monday as The Claret Jug Tour reached its halfway point.
The two-week tour began at a community event in Newtownards, County Down last month, while The Open trophy has now visited 12 clubs in total. It continues its journey with club visits in the west of Ireland today before it makes the trip back north for the final few visits.
“It’s great to have Minister for Sport, Minister Patrick O’Donovan, here at Ballyneety this evening to support our Claret Jug Tour,” said Golf Ireland COO Tracy Bunyan.
“We are very appreciative to him and his department for all of the support that they have given us, with the recently recruited Golf in the Community Officers and our Unleash Your Drive schools initiative.
“We have also had huge support from Sport NI, especially with The 153rd Open returning to Royal Portrush in July.”
Minister Kieran O Donnell TD, Minister Niall Collins TD and Senator Maria Byrne were also in attendance on Monday evening.
“I’m here to mark a number of things, the R&A Claret Jug is here to mark The Road to The Open,” said Minister O’Donovan TD.
“Secondly, we are also here to mark the Junior Ryder Cup which is a massive achievement for Ballyneety Golf Club.
“Thirdly, the fact that the Government have, through the Sports Capital Funding Scheme, allocated funds to works here at Ballyneety, that are underway.
“So really a good night here and I want to congratulate everybody in the club and wish them all the best of luck between now and 2027.”
The Claret Jug has taken in visits to the Golf Ireland AGM and Season Launch, along with stops at Skerries, Edenderry, Athlone, Grange, Greystones, St Helen’s Bay, West Waterford, Kanturk and Killarney golf clubs. It visited Cork and Clonmel before Ballyneety.
Last November, Ballyneety Golf Club was selected to host the 2027 Junior Ryder Cup, and Michael ‘Minie’ O’Brien, who recently won the Golf Ireland Club Volunteer of the Year award for Excellence in Service, said having the Claret Jug visit was further recognition of how far the club has come.
“Ballyneety are privileged to have the Claret Jug here this evening, it’s a great honour for the club,” said O’Brien.
“The Junior Ryder Cup has put Ballyneety on the map. Over ten years ago this club went into liquidation, into wilderness. We took over the club in 2013 and we could not have imagined having a Junior Ryder Cup in Ballyneety.
“It was a privilege for me to accept the Golf Ireland Club Volunteer of the Year on behalf of Ballyneety. It is on behalf of all of the volunteers here, I am just one of many volunteers.
“It started back in 2013, it was the volunteers that got this place up and running. We are here every Wednesday night – without them we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
Leave a comment