Eoin Murphy won the Club Championship for the third time in five years on Saturday after the event was reduced to 18 holes as thunder and lightning forced the cancellation of the second round.
Murphy won on countback from Conal Murdock after both had shot level par rounds of 72 with defending champion Caolan Rafferty a shot further back.
Rafferty had got off to a great start with a birdie at the first but then double bogeyed the second and bogeyed the sixth to find himself two over after six holes. However, three successive birdies from the ninth got him back under par but two more bogeys at the 12th and 14th saw him sign for a one-over par 73.
Murdock, who had finished second in the Golfer of the Year despite missing the final counting event, brought that form into the Club Championship and, after a bogey on the first, he produced birdies at the third, sixth, seventh and eighth to turn in three under par. He was unable to find any more birdies on the home stretch and bogeys at the 11th  and 12th brought him back to level par.
Murphy, who was playing alongside Rafferty, also struggled on the second and walked off with a bogey as the rain came down but he recovered with birdies at the fourth, fifth and eighth to turn in two under par. He was still two under with six holes to go after a birdie at 12 balanced out a bogey at 10. However, three successive bogeys from the 14th saw him drop back to one over.
The 18th hole was recently renamed Harrington’s Challenge because of the impact it had on the career of three-times major winner Padraig Harrington and once again it proved to be the decisive hole in deciding the outcome of an event.
Playing in the first group, Murphy birdied the hole to come home in level par and leave Murdock, who was in the third group, needing just a four to post the best first round score, but he bogeyed it to also finish on level par.
At that stage, the players had only completed the first round of the 36 hole competition and they were one third of the way through the second round when thunder and lightning in the area saw all players taken off the course and the second round cancelled.  
That resulted in the first round determining the outcome and Murphy took the title on countback with his back nine of 38 bettering Murdock’s by one shot. 
​Saturday, September 13 – Club Championship Singles Stroke – Sponsored by Leslie Walker – Overall: Eoin Murphy 72/38, Conall Murdock 72/39, Caolan Rafferty 73. 

Ardee, Rockmount, Grange and Dooks will be returning to Dundalk on Friday, September 26 for the semi-finals of the Flogas Irish Mixed Foursomes after last Saturday’s thrilling quarter-finals.
​Tubbercurry, Belvoir Park, Rathfarnham and Gowran Park will be back for the semi-final of the Irish Mixed Fourball on the same date with the finals scheduled for Saturday, 

Brian Crombie has been crowned IJM Golfer of the Year for the third time in five years.
Having won previously the Club’s Order of Merit in 2021 and 2023 Crombie made it a hat-trick of wins this year when he posted a scoring average of 71.29 off a total of 499 for his seven counting rounds over the 10 Golfer of the Year competitions.
That gave him a two-shot winning margin over Conal Murdock and Brendan Rogers who finished on 501 with last year’s Golfer of the Year, Frank Byrne, a shot further back in fourth on 502 followed by John Paul Casey, Neal MacKell and Cormac Malone on 503.  
The four in each of four handicap categories (Senior, Junior, Intermediate and Minor) will be invited to take part in the IJM Scratch Matchplay Finals which will take place over the weekend of September 20 and 21 with the semi-finals from 9am on the Saturday and finals from 10.30am on the Sunday. Unavailable qualifiers will be replaced by the next best placed player in the standings.

Dundalk were beaten 3-2 today in the semi-final of the AIG Women’s Junior Cup by County Tipperary at Tandrgee Golf Club.
It is the second time in three years that Dundalk have fallen at the penultimate hurdle in their bid to win a first women’s national pennant and once again they lost to a very experienced team that went on to win the Junior Cup title.
Having beaten Galway in yesterday’s quarter-final, hopes were high that Dundalk could go one better than 2023 when they were beaten 4-1 by Castletroy in the semi-final after losing two matches on the 18th and two on the 19th.
But, it was apparent from early on this morning that Munster East champions Tipperary, who had beaten County Armagh in their quarter-final on Friday, were going provide a stern test.
In the second match Katie Rowland found herself in the unusual position of being four down after four holes to Marian Finn but she had cut that deficit in half by the turn. Losing the 11th could have broken her momentum but she didn’t panic and won four of the next five holes to record a remarkable comeback and win 3&1.
In the bottom match, Elaine Ward won the second and third holes against Joanne Horgan to go two up and remained in front for the rest of match, eventually securing her point on 14th as she ran out a 5&4 winner.
In the top match Criona O’Reilly had a great battle with Mary Riordan and was all square heading down the back nine but the Tipp player got the breaks on the trip home and eventually won the match 3&1.
In the fourth match Pauline Campbell found herself four down after four holes against the impressive Yvonne Daly and then lost the sixth to go five down. By the 10th she was seven down and she eventually lost 6&5 to a player who won all her matches in Tandragee.
That left the middle match between Ellen McEneaney and Renagh Murphy as the decider and it proved to be tight battle between two well matched players, However, the Dundalk player had a cold putter and was unable to prevent Murphy from winning 3&2.
There was some consolation for Dundalk in the afternoon when Tipperary beat Portstewart 4-1 in the final and they also received bronze medals from Golf Ireland President Michael Evans for reaching the semi-finals.

Niall Kearney won the final round of the Callaway Chrome Tour Open Series which was played in Dundalk this week.
His first round score of seven-under par proved decisive when the competition was shorted after torrential rain on Wednesday morning forced the cancellation of the second round of the 36 hole event. 

Ben Walsh (8) shot 43pts to win the latest edition of the McKenna Man Open Singles Stableford yesterday.
He got a great start with two birdies in the opening three holes and added another at the 14th. A double bogey five at the fifth and a bogey six at the 12th were the only blemishes on a card that saw him got out in 22pts and come home in 21pts.
Dean King (7) won his second Division 1 category in four days as he shot 42pts to win the low category while Michael Flynn (12), having been pipped for overall victory on countback after also shooting 43pts, took Division 2. Tim Jewell (28) with 37pts won Division 3 while Joseph Laverty with 38pts was the gross winner.
​Wednesday, August 27 - McKenna Man Open Singles Stableford – Overall: Ben Walsh (8) 43pts Division 1: Dean King (7) 42pts. Division 2: Michael Flynn (12) 43pts. Division 3: Timothy Jewell (28) 37pts. Gross Recognition: Joseph Laverty 38pts

Congratulations to Caolan Rafferty who has been named on the Ireland team for the Eisenhower Trophy which will take place between October 8 and 11 on The Tampines Course in Tanah Merah Country Club in Singapore.
This will be Caolan’s first appearance in the competition and follows his recent selection as the reserve on the Great Britain & Ireland team for the 2025 Walker Cup match against the USA in Cypress Point, California on September 6 and 7.
Joining Caolan on the Ireland team for this international 36 team strokeplay competition will  be John Doyle (Fota Island) and Stuart Grehan (Co. Louth).
In addition to finishing runner-up in the South of Ireland Championship at the beginning of this month, Caolan was also part of the Ireland team which finished fourth at the European Amateur Team Championship in Killarney in July.

​Cathal O’Neill won his first major when he won Eddie Rogers’ President Prize over the weekend of August 23 and 24.
Playing off 19 he produced an exception round in which he managed to keep a double bogey off his card and had nine pars and nine bogeys as he went out in 41 gross and came home in 40 gross for a nett score of 62.
That was enough to give him a two shot victory over the reigning Golfer of the Year Frank Byrne who shot a nett 64 off 13.
  O’Neill parred the first, fourth, sixth and eight on the way out to turn in 31 nett and after pars at the 10th and 11th he had further pars at the 14th, 15th and 17th to come home in 31 nett and take overall victory.
Byrne, playing off 13, also produced a round with no double bogeys, as he shot a gross score of 77. His round included a birdie four at the 10th and a birdie three at the 18th as well as pars at the second, third, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth as he went out in 33 nett. Pars at the 12th, 15th and 16th as well as those two birdies saw him come home in 31 nett.
Dean King (8) shot 67 nett to win Division 1 on countback from the President’s son, Brendan, while Padraig Fallon (16) also needed countback to win Division 2 after both he and Chris Connolly (13) shot 66 nett. Countback was also need in Division 3 where James Rogers (24) pipped Robert Lynch (19) after both had shot 65 nett.
Chris Clarke marked his 21st birthday by winning the gross prize with a level par 72 while Brian Crombie (24) won the Veteran’s Prize with a 67 nett and that score also propelled him him to the top of the Golfer of the Year standings with just one round to go.
Saturday, August 23 and Sunday, August 24 - Eddie Rogers’ Presidents Prize GOY 9 - Overall: Cathal O'Neill (19) 62, Frank P Byrne (13) 64. Division 1: Dean King (8) 67, Brendan Rogers (10) 67, Mark Cumiskey (10) 68. Division 2: Padraig Fallon (16) 66, Chris Connolly (13) 66, Cormac Malone (12) 68. Division 3: James Rogers (24) 65, Robert Lynch (19) 65, Charles Sheppard (24) 67. Gross: Chris Clarke 72. Veteran: Brian Crombie (25) 67