As the PGA in Ireland season gears up for its biggest Pro-Am event of the year with €100,000 on offer at the K Club Pro-Am this Monday and Tuesday, Colm Moriarty is trending in the right direction.
The Glasson professional feels his game is coming together nicely and at a vital part of the season. ‘Working on a few different bits and pieces in my game there over the last few weeks, and I’ve played lovely for the last last few events” said Moriarty after the Kilkea Castle Pro-Am on Friday.
Moriarty looked like he was cruising to a win with five birdies and a clean scorecard as he stood on the 18th tee at Kilkea, but a bogey meant he shared the win with Tim Rice, who had also posted a 66 earlier in the day.
“At Kilkea Castle, again, I hit the ball great. Give myself a lot of chances. And felt like I putted nicely too, I grazed the hole all day, it’s always very positive when you are giving yourself chances to shoot a really low score.”
“I birdied five of the first 17 and was hitting the ball lovely. The 18th is a right-to-left dog leg and I just wasn’t fully committed to my start line off the tee. I left my tee shot a little bit right and ended up underneath the face of the bunker, I ended up making a bogey, which cost me the solo win. On the positive side, I left Kilkea Castle pleased to be hitting so many shots where I wanted and creating so many chances”
The shared win at Kilkea Castle is Moriarty’s first “W” of the year through 18 events on the regional circuit. He may sit in 5th on the Elavon Order of Merit, but he knows a win at The K Club would change all that and close the gap to runaway leader Simon Thornton.
“I’m really looking forward to the K Club, it’s the biggest prize fund that we play for on the region. Michael Fetherston and the team at The K Club are such great supporters of Irish golf, and it looks like such a good professional field is ready to tee it up.
With the Pro-Am being just weeks before the Irish Open it will create a great buzz for the amateurs as well, It’s such an iconic venue especially with the stands and tournament infrastructure all up.
“The amateurs love going there and so do I. You always get looked after so well at the resort. So everyone’s looking forward to that event”
With the Amgen Irish Open returning to the Palmer North Course in early September, entrants will get an early preview of the action and tee it up in Tour conditions, and it is again expected that the field will include many big names from the Irish and mainland UK PGA regions, as well as several touring professionals, each vying for the lion’s share of the €100,000 prize money.
Cormac Sharvin, with 80 DP World Tour starts to his name, took the spoils in 2024, edging out Niall Kearney – who is approaching a half-century of DP World Tour starts himself – by four strokes and it was a victory that meant a lot to the Ardglass man.
“I was very proud of how I stayed in the moment,” Sharvin said, “and I know how easy it is in conditions like that to throw the towel in. A year and a half ago I would have been that person, and I think it shows how much I have come on mentally which is a delight for me to be honest.”
Since taking ownership of the K Club in 2020, Michael Fetherston and family have taken a pro-active approach in the promotion of golf, most notably in committing to a six-year deal with the DP World Tour to host the Irish Open and Irish Challenge in alternating years through 2027.
“The overall development of the game is huge for us,” said M.J. Fetherston, “Anytime that fans – particularly younger fans – get to see top-class talent playing on great courses, it only stokes their enthusiasm for the game and the K Club Pro-Am is another opportunity to do that and to help PGA Professionals, many of whom will be key to the development of the next generation of Irish golfers.”
With just three weeks separating the K Club Pro-Am and the Amgen Irish Open, K Club Director of Golf Michael Maxwell feels that it will only add to the experience for amateurs and pros alike.
“We pride ourselves on top-class conditioning year-round,” Maxwell said, “but the proximity to the Irish Open means that we’ll be pulling out all the stops to have both courses presented better than ever”
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