South qualifying abandoned and matchplay gets underway

There was something we haven’t seen for a while at Lahinch Golf Club in the South of Ireland Championships yesterday….RAIN, and it forced play to be abandoned.

After the near drought conditions we have experienced in recent times we’d all be glad of a drop of rain but the torrential downpour at Lahinch caused the greens to flood and officials had to abandon the second round of qualifying at the 117th Championship.

It had been on and off conditions all day with a strong 25km+ breeze and squally showers from early morning which didn’t seem to affect Robert Moran and Robbie Cannon who returned very creditable 69’s.  They led the field from the comfort of the clubhouse on six under par, one shot ahead of Alex Gleeson, no doubt rubbing their hands with glee as they watched the afternoon starters trundle their way to the tee.

The weather came on very strong as the afternoon starters were heading out with torrential downpours, and at around 3:30pm play, with over half the field yet to complete their second round, play had to be abandoned due to flooded greens. The qualifying round from Wednesday was declared as the final qualifying result – meaning any scores returned yesterday were null and void – a blessing to some, including Reece Black who was ten shots worse from Wednesday to Thursday.

The first of the match play rounds gets underway this morning and the draw is as follows;

1. 07:00 R Mullarney (Galway) v M Reddan (Limerick)
2. 07:09 J Kehoe (Limerick) v E Smith (Laytown & Bettystown)
3. 07:18 G Royston (RSA) v D Brophy (Castleknock)
4. 07:27 M Nolan (Dun Laoghaire) v P O’Keeffe (Douglas)
5. 07:36 J McDonnell (Forrest Little) v M Kalfjall (Swe)
6. 07:45 P Connolly (Killeen Castle) v H Foley (Royal Dublin)
7. 07:54 R Williamson (Holywood) v R Latimer (Knock)
8. 08:03 J Madden (Royal Portrush) v J Sugrue (Mallow)
9. 08:12 R Black (Hilton Templepatrick) v D Coghlan (Portmarnock)
10. 08:21 P McKeever (Castle) v J Ryan (Castletroy)
11. 08:30 J Hickey (Cork) v M Norton (Belvoir Park)
12. 08:39 T Clarke (Royal Portrush) v R Moran (Castle)
13. 08:48 C Butler (Kinsale) v T Neenan (Lahinch)
14. 08:57 J Blake (The Island) v H Duggan(Kilkenny)
15. 09:06 R Abernethy (Dun Laoghaire) v D Foy (Laytown & Bettystown)
16. 09:15 M Horan (Birr) v R Lester (Hermitage)
17. 09:24 J Yates (Naas) v F O’Sullivan (Tralee)
18. 09:33 P Kerr (Royal Portrush) v A Fahy (Dun Laoghaire)
19. 09:42 N Carroll (Galway Bay) v S Desmond (Monkstown)
20. 09:51 M McKinstry (Cairndhu) v G O’Flaherty (Cork)
21. 10:00 T McLarnon (Massereene) v R O’Connor (Co.Sligo)
22. 10:09 J Fox (Portmarnock) v A McCormack (Castletroy)
23. 10:18 S Watts (Cairndhu) v M O’Kelly (Limerick)
24. 10:27 M Boucher (Carton House) v M Power (Kilkenny)
25. 10:36 A Gleeson (Castle) v S Greenberg (Tandragee)
26. 10:45 K Egan (Carton House) v M McClean (Malone)
27. 10:54 P Coughlan (Castleknock) v A Ryan (Thurles)
28. 11:03 P Murphy (Rosslare) v R Cannon (Balbriggan)
29. 11:12 M McCormack (USA) v J Rackard (Enniscorthy)
30. 11:21 G Ward (Kinsale) v R Dutton (Tandragee)
31. 11:30 R McKeever (Castle) v E Griffin (Waterford)
32. 11:39 N Hearns (Mountrath) v C Rafferty (Dundalk)