Leona Maguire and Tom McKibbin capture Irish Golf Writers' awards
James Martin (McGuirk’s) and Stephen Watson, Chairman of the Irish Golf Writers’ Association with Tom McKibbin winner of the Mens Professional of the Year award at the IGWA annual awards lunch held in the Palmer Room at The K Club. Picture: Fran Caffrey | Golffile
Leona Maguire has been rewarded for another outstanding year by being named the recipient of the Irish Golf Writers' Association’s 2023 Women's Professional of the Year award.
The touring professional for The K Club, 29, receives the McGuirk’s-sponsored award after a season that saw her capture her second LPGA Tour title with a two-shot victory in the Meijer LPGA Classic.
She was also the driving force for Europe in the Solheim Cup in Spain, winning three points as the team made history in a drawn match by retaining the crystal trophy and lifting it for the third time in a row.
She could not make the awards luncheon at The K Club after her flight from the Grant Thornton Invitational on Sunday night was cancelled
But Tom McKibbin, 20, the recipient of the Men’s Professional Award was there after he became Irish golf's youngest tour winner since Rory McIlroy in 2009 when he captured the Porsche European Open in his 26th start on the DP World Tour.
The Galgorm touring professional also recorded another nine top-25 finishes in an outstanding rookie season and qualified for the DP World Tour Championship, finishing 44th in the Race to Dubai.
McKibbin’s goal now is to get ready for an even bigger season in 2024 and he’s targeting one of 10 PGA Tour cards awarded to the leading non-exempt players on the DP World Tour.
“For sure, that would be the plan,” McKibbin said. “I think there is a good opportunity now with the DP World Tour to have 10 cards available for the PGA Tour at the end of the year, so to get one of those I have got to play a lot of good golf but it is definitely not impossible.”
The Newtownabbey man recalled his decision to draw a five-iron he hit around a tree over water to the 18th in Hamburg to clinch his main win rather than lay up and hit a wedge over water to sloping green.
“Walking off the tee, I felt the best option was to be positive and take on the shot.,” he said of a decision his caddie, Dave McNeilly, agreed with.
He will return to action in Dubai in January, then head to Florida for a couple of weeks to practice with Rory McIlroy.
He had planned to go to the University of Florida but Covid delayed that and he decided ‘to give it a go’ and try for his card via the Challenge Tour where he finished 10th.
Paul McGinley, who helped present McKibbin with an award sponsored by McGuirk’s, told how he played with the youngster at Windsor in Florida when he was just 14 and was impressed as he shot 66 off the back tees.
‘“I knew then he could play,” McGinley said. “He hits it a long way and has a strong mindset. To think that shot through on the 18th in the European Open illustrated that. His foundations are getting bigger. You can see in his progress every year.’”
Laytown and Bettystown's Alex Maguire and Douglas' Sara Byrne won the Men's and Women's Amateur of the Year Awards.
Maguire, 22, became the first player since Raymie Burns in 1993 to retain the East of Ireland Amateur Open Championship at County Louth and went on to win the St Andrews Links Trophy at the Home of Golf the following week.
He reached the quarter-finals of the Amateur Championship at Hillside and topped the first R&A Open Amateur Series, earning him a place in The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool and, ultimately, a spot on the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team at St Andrews last September.
Maguire announced at the event that he was turning professional this week and McGinley had some sage advice, urging him to “hang around with players that bit better than you, as I did. Your peer groups drive you on.”
When McGinley was an amateur, he said Harrington and Clarke, in particular, “drove me’”on tour in the early 90s and the “tough love” from Christy O’Connor Jnr, Eamonn Darcy and Des Smyth was what he needed to improve.:
“It will be a new world,” Maguire said. “I'll be a small fish in a very, very big pond. But I'll try to lean on as many people as I can to help me get underway and I'm sure there will be exciting times ahead.”
As for what he learned from his performances in big events this year, he said: "I'd be very naive to say it's not big but I think there's a very small number of guys that can produce scores at the right time, they can hole putts at the right time, and I feel I can do that now.
"It's all a learning curve and I feel if I can stick to my process and what I do well and how I prepare, I think I can get to that level. But I have a lot of things to learn before I can even dream of that.”
Sara Byrne captured the Women's Amateur of the Year award for the second time since 2018.
The 22-year-old from Douglas Golf Club won her second AIG Irish Women's Close title with a one-up win over Beth Coulter at Connemara Golf Links and inspired by that performance, she finished as the leading amateur in the KPMG Women's Irish Open at Dromoland Castle, finished tied 36th.
She also made back-to-back cuts on the LET Access Tour and completed a stellar year by winning back-to-back individual titles with the University of Miami on the US collegiate golf circuit in October.
She’s now determined to push on again in 2024 and help the University of Miami challenge for NCAA honours. The Curtis Cup will also be a big target for her as she looks to the professional game later in the year.
Cork's Denis O'Sullivan was named the recipient of the 2023 Distinguished Services to Golf Award sponsored by Galvin Green.
A former Irish international and selector, he was Irish Amateur Close champion in 1985 and East of Ireland winner in 1990 before he turned professional at 49 and qualified for the European Seniors Tour, where he won six times.
Former Skerries professional Jimmy Kinsella, the first Irishman to win on the European Tour, was also presented with his 2022 Distinguished Services to Golf Award at a luncheon held at The K Club on Tuesday, recalling how he just said a prayer and kept his head down over the eight-footer to win the 1972 Madrid Open.
“Christy (O’Connor) ran on the green afterwards and said she went in like a rabbit,” Kinsella recalled.
There was also a presentation to IGWA founder member Dermot Gillece to mark his retirement after 65 years in sports journalism and 63 years writing about golf.
BBC NI Sport’s Stephen Watson, Chairman of the Irish Golf Writers’ Association said: “We are thrilled to be able to return to present the Irish Golf Writers’ awards in person this year at The K Club.
“The incredible quality of Irish golf, both amateur and professional, north and south, is reflected in our winners. Congratulations to all our award recipients.”
The Irish Golf Writers' Association (IGWA) was founded in 1976. Previous winners of the IGWA awards are listed here: http://www.irishgolfwriters.com/igwa-award-winners
