Stage 2 of the FootGolf Association of Ireland National Tour recently took place in Dublin. Howya bud, Coddle, Christy Dignam, The Dart, The Gravediggers, The Commitments – All are Dublin classics and recently at Ballybane FootGolf, another one was added
The weather kindly co-operated for this event and the course owner Martin and all the staff at Newcastle golf centre presented a pristine setting for the participants. FootGolf is constantly attracting new players and a recent addition to the tour, Ronan McCormack took his first Amateur title shooting -14 in the 2nd round to top that category. His fellow Kildare teammates, Sean Sully and Shane Smullen finished 1 shot back to share 2nd place. Jake Donohue enjoyed another fruitful day with victory in the Junior section and his Dad Joe (Senior winner here) will soon need a gaff extension if they both keep picking up silverware at this rate. Some new players have gracefully aged to join the Seniors this year and 2 of the new oldies, Colman McGrath and Pauric Goodwin couldn’t be separated to both finish 2nd behind Joe.
Nicola Hogarty continued her good form from the first event to claim back to back Ladies titles. A strong start to the year for her but she was pushed all the way this time by Laura McGrath and Donna Vickers.
And so to the FGAI Pro category: On the same day Dublin hammered Tyrone in Croke Park, Tyrone man Tiarnan Magee redressed the balance a bit by beating all the Dubs and everyone else from everywhere else to win the Dublin Classic. He built the foundations for his triumph with a very impressive -15 in his first round and his overall winning total of -27 gave him a 4 shot advantage, an emphatic gap over quality opposition. Waterford’s Jimmy Barry shot 2 consistently good rounds to finish runner up this time, the 2 players swapping positions from the Kildare Open event.
The day’s action concluded with the Munster FootGolf player Ken Buckley defeating the best placed Dubliner on the day, Ronan Lynagh on penalty putts to secure the final podium place. The next event on the FootGolf calender is the National Matchplay Championships to be held at Kilkenny FootGolf in April . It promises to be another hard fought competition across all the categories. Come along to play or even to spectate on this fast growing and most inclusive of sports.
