Ballinrobe golfer Shannon Burke ended a 13-year wait for the Connacht Women’s O18 Senior Championship with a resounding victory in Bearna.
Burke, who teamed up with her playing partner Clodagh Coughlan last year to claim the AIG Women’s Senior Cup for Douglas, was outstanding all day and won by four shots in the sun.
Valerie Clancy (Killarney), Caitlin Shippam (Ballykisteen) and Coughlan all finished in T2 on +8, with Ellen O’Shaughnessy (Co Louth) completing the top five.
But back-to-back rounds of 74 were enough for Burke to finally get the piece of silverware she craved, with her +4 total.
“I was chatting to Clodagh about it there. I think 2012 was the first Connacht Senior Ladies I played,” said Burke.
“I didn’t play all of them throughout the years but I’ve played for the most part and it’s really cool. To win something you haven’t won before is always really nice.
“I’ve been playing nicely, scoring hasn’t been fantastic at times. Sometimes I’m not getting the most out of my rounds but I felt good coming in here this week.
“I hadn’t played here before so I got up last weekend, just have a look around. Had a little bit of rain in the morning but this afternoon was lovely.”
The Connacht Women’s O18 Junior Championship was claimed by 2021 winner Julie Hassett (Achill) who shot 85 to take the silverware again.
Despite a doubley-bogey on the first, Hassett bounced back and a run of pars between the 11th and 15th holes helped steer her clear of Rita Keane (Newlands) and Siobhan Forde (Gort) who finished behind in second.
Hassett also won the best net prize in the junior section on -4 with Coughlan the winner in the senior event later.
“It was nicer to win the second time around because I didn’t start off very well, I came back in the afternoon,” said Hassett.
“I broke my trolley on the third hole. The nice gentleman, Darren, came out with a new trolley for me. I just settled down, it stopped raining as well, that helps.
“I’ll really enjoy this one and you never know, maybe more to come.”
View the final scoring here
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