Golf Digest Ireland's Top 100 courses for 2015
It's time for the annual "debate" over the Golf Digest Top 100 rankings and while there will be many who disagree with the order, it has to be said that the readers had a big input this time with 80 golfers from an entry of 2,628 having their views heard.
As G-Mac prepares for wedding, McIlroy plays Killeen Castle and Portmarnock
Rory McIlroy at the Dublin Wine Rooms. Manager Antoin Dempsey said: “I couldn’t speak more highly of him, he was an absolute gentleman and his father too. He was very friendly, humble and genuine. He kindly posed for a photo with us and also a lucky customer who was celebrating her birthday with colleagues.”Rory McIlroy might be skipping this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and next week’s Seve Trophy but that hasn’t stopped him playing a rare game of golf on European soil.O'Sullivan and Murray tops at Killeen Castle
Mark O’Sullivan during last year’s Irish Open at Royal Portrush. Photo Jenny Matthews/www.golffile.ieFormer Irish Close champion Mark O’Sullivan and Massereene’s Noel Murray got the 2013 PGA Irish Region season off to a winning start at a wintry Killeen Castle.Pettersen's Olympic passion: "You put money and rankings aside"
Norway’s Suzann Pettersen can’t wait to compete for the love of the game in the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Pushing your luck is never a good idea but Suzann Pettersen loves a challenge and she’s determined to successfully defend the €350,000 Ladies Irish Open title at Killeen Castle over the next three days.
"I didn't have the normal childhood" - Michelle Wie
Michelle Wie was in relaxed mood at Killeen Castle on Tuesday. Photo by Jenny Matthews/www.golffile.ieMichelle Wie has hit back at European vice-captain Annika Sorenstam again and insisted that hitting the books has made her all grown up.
Ten-time major winner Sorenstam believes the big hitting Hawaiian has made a mistake by mixing the tour with her degree at Stanford University and isn’t “mentally strong enough to finish at the top.”
But as she prepares to lead the US in Solheim Cup battle with Europe at Killeen Castle this week, Wie reckons that mixing books and birdies was just what she needed to make up for a lost childhood.
LPGA's China crisis helps Ladies Irish Open field
Ladies Irish Open boss Roddy Carr avoided some Chinese torture to deliver a world class field at Killeen Castle next month.
The €400,000 curtain-raiser for September’s Solheim Cup could have been turned into a damp squib as it clashed with a $2 million US women’s tour event in China.
But Chinese red tape has tied the Imperial Springs LPGA event up in knots and allowed Carr to sign up US stars Christina Kim, Angela Stanford and teenage sensation Lexi Thompson to accompany major winner Stacey Lewis at the Meath venue from August 5-7.
World class field for Ladies Irish Open
Killeen Castle
Three of the world’s top 10 and host of top Americans will headline a world class field at this summer’s AIB Ladies Irish Open.
World No 3 Suzann Pettersen will be joined by Anna Nordqvist and American star Angela Stanford at Killeen Castle from August 6-8.
In-form Coakley battered - then teased
It’s cruel to tease but the Ladies European Tour was at it this week.
As if Rebecca Coakley didn't have enough headaches after being bashed on the noggin recently by a pro-am hacker in China.
With the 2011 Solheim Cup coming to Killeen Castle, Coakley is hell bent on becoming the first Irish woman to make the European side to take on the USA. Or at least, she is starting to believe it's more than a pipe dream.
Killeen Castle - golfing heaven
Sitting in Atlanta airport for three days might not seem like one of the perk’s of the greatest job in the world but when weighing up the pro and cons of covering a sport that takes you from the rugged beauty of the west of Ireland to the plains of Kazakhstan or the deserts of Arizona, a 25-minute jaunt from the capital into the heart of County Meath might seem, well, tame.
How wrong I was.