Kennedy and Foley receive €120,000 vote of confidence from Royal Dublin
Max Kennedy
Making it on tour takes buckets of talent and hard work but it also takes cash and Royal Dublin Golf Club pushed the boat out recently to help two of its most successful young players, Max Kennedy and Hugh Foley.
A fundraising day featuring two shotgun starts, followed by a dinner and auction, raised $120,000 for the pair.
Kennedy will ply his trade on the second-tier HotelPlanner Tour and he was grateful for the support.
“I just want to say thank you very much to every single person that came out today,” Kennedy said.
Hugh Foley
“This club means a lot to me. I've been a member here since I was very young. So for everyone to come out and support me and Hugh today on our adventure, it’s amazing. So thank you very much.”
As for former, West of Ireland, North of Ireland, South of Ireland and Irish Close champion Foley is looking to graduate from the third tier Alps Tour this term.
Kennedy has benefited from advice from the former Ryder Cup captain.
They spoke before he played the Puerto Rico Open in the PGA TOUR earlier this year as a reward for winning a college event with the University of Louisville and went on to make the cut.
“Starting at Alps Tour level, it’s not that different to amateur golf,” Foley said. “The top guys are the same, there's just more of them. So it's about improving your bad days. Making the cut becomes really important on the the weeks that you're not you don't really have your A game.”
DP World Tour
Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell has found form in his rookie season and will be looking to push on in this week’s Turkish Airlines Open at Regnum Carya in Antalya.
Having won twice on the HotelPlanner Tour last year to earn his card, Purcell (27) missed six of his first eight cuts before finishing T15 in the Volvo China Open and T20 in the Hainan Classic.
He’s 127th in the Order of Merit, which is just inside the provisional cut off for securing Category 10 membership of the Tour for 2026.
Sara Byrne and Lauren Walsh
Ladies European Tour
Lauren Walsh, Anna Foster and Annabel Wilson play the Aramco Korea Championship at New Korea Country Club looking to build on an excellent start to the season for Irish golf.
Walsh (24) lies tenth in the Order of Merit thanks to two top five finishes in the season-opening Lalla Meyrem Cup in Morocco (T4) and the Joburg Ladies Open (T4).
She’s averaging 70.58 and recently finished T5 in US Women’s Open Pre-Qualifying.
Sara Byrne, who is playing mainly on the LPGA’s second tier Epson Tour, is the next highest ranked player at 50th in the Order of Merit after making the cut in two of her three starts so far,
She was one of three Irish players to earn full LET status at the Qualifying School in December.
The others were Foster and Wilson and both have impressed so far.
Foster (23) is 55th in the Order of Merit having made the cut in her four starts so far, clinching a career-best T14 finish in the Ford Women’s NSW Open.
Wilson (24) is 64th in the Order of Merit having made the cut in three of her five starts, fishing T20 in the Investec SA Women’s Open last month.
As for Byrne, she’s had a challenging start to her rookie season on the Epson Tour.
She’s 93rd in the Race for the Card standings - the race for 10 LPGA cards — after following an encouraging T28 finish in her opening event with three missed cuts in her last four starts https://www.epsontour.com/athletes/sara-byrne/102756/results.
PGA Tour Americas
David Carey reappeared last week on the PGA Tour Americas and finished 69th in the Diners Club Peru Open in Lima thanks to round of 73, 68, 72 and 77.
Liam Nolan
HotelPlanner Tour
Europe’s second tier turn returns to the continent for 18 events before October’s finale in China and Mallorca.
The top 20 in the final Road to Mallorca standings will be awarded DP World Tour status and Irish golf has several contenders for cards, headed by Galway’s Liam Nolan who enjoyed a fast start to the season in South Africa.
Nolan is joined at the €300,000 Challenge de España at Fontanals Golf Club in Girona by Max Kennedy, Mark Power, Alex Maguire, Jack Madden, Dermot McElroy and Jonathan Caldwell.
11th Liam Nolan 6 starts
59th Mark Power 2 starts
75th Max Kennedy 6 starts
81st Jonathan Caldwell 5 starts
140th Alex Maguire 2 starts
Alps Tour/Clutch Pro Tour
The Alps Tour returns to action this week with the Memorial Giorgio Bordoni at GC La Pinetina in Como, Italy.
Ireland has five players in the field headed by Ronan Mullarney, who lies ninth in the Order of Merit race for five HotelPlanner Tour cards.
Hugh Foley is 14th and Robert Moran 18th as they bid to make their mark in the professional game.
They are joined in Como by Michael Young and John Murphy in Italy.
The Clutch Pro Tour continues later this week with the Tangier Championship at Heythrop Park
9. Ronan Mullarney
Age 29.
19/02/25 Ein Bay Open 2nd
24/02/25 Red Sea Little Venice pen T37
01/03/25 New Giza Open T19
20/03/25 Tunisian Golf Open T51
25/03/25 La Cigale Golf Open T11
14. Hugh Foley
Age 27
19/02/25 Ein Bay Open T10
24/02/25 Red Sea Little Venice Open T90 MC
01/03/25 New Giza Open T3
20/03/25 Tunisian Golf Open T16
25/03/25 La Cigale Golf Open T83 MC
18. Robert Moran
Age 25
19/02/25 Ein Bay Open T17
24/02/25 Red Sea Little Venice Open T64 MC
01/03/25 New Giza Open T10
20/03/25 Tunisian Golf Open T8
25/03/25 La Cigale Golf Open T270
54. John Murphy
Age 26
19/02/25 Ein Bay Open T20
24/02/25 Red Sea Little Venice Open MC
01/03/25 New Giza Open T23
20/03/25 Tunisian Golf OpenMC
25/03/25 La Cigale Golf Open MC
87. Michael Young
Age 27
20/03/25 Tunisian Golf OpenT33
25/03/25 La Cigale Golf OpenT55
14th Robert Brazill
Age 28
Al Houara Trophy 3rd
The La Vie Masters T11
The Al Mouj Challenge T30
MOROCCAN MASTERS T30 20.35
17th James Sugrue
Age 28
MOROCCAN MASTERS T3
La Vie Masters T11
Al Mouj Challenge T37
AL HOUARA TROPHY T42
UAE Championship T43
22nd John-Ross Galbraith
Age 31
AL HOUARA TROPHY T6
Al Mouj Challenge T11
UAE Championship T19
La Vie Masters T27
MOROCCAN MASTERS T30
25th Daniel Mulligan
Age 20
MOROCCAN MASTERS T3
AL HOUARA TROPHY T18
36th Mark Power
Age 24
UAE Championship 8th
Al Mouj Challenge T18
La Vie Masters CUT
38th Paul McBride
Age 29
UAE Championship T15
AL HOUARA TROPHY T23
MOROCCAN MASTERS T30
La Vie Masters T36
Al Mouj Challenge CUT
54th Jack Madden
Age 25
AL HOUARA TROPHY T18
MOROCCAN MASTERS T20
Nordic Golf League
Jack Madden
Infinitum Championship T40 -2
Infinitum Spanish Masters 7th -9
Infinitum Sring Series Final T38 +4
