Local club golfers perform superbly in Carey Cup

LOCAL club golfers Robert Moran (Castle GC), Kate Lanigan (Hermitage GC) and Jake Whelan (Grange GC), turned in a string of superb performances for the Golf Ireland squad that was pipped by the narrowest of margins for the Governor Hugh L. Carey Challenge Cup by the Metropolitan Golf Association at Carton House this week.

Tied at 5-5 after the opening day, the team split the ten Singles matches, with Mark Costanza winning the final two holes against David Kitt to gain the crucial half point.

In the opening Foursomes session of the tournament in which men and women, for the very first time, competed on the same team, Lanigan combined with Cork’s Rachel Thompson to record a one-hole victory over Noelle Maertz and Alexis Hios.

And while the pairings of Whelan and David Kitt and Moran and Marc Boucher lost out in their respective Foursomes matches, they bounced back with impressive wins in the Four Balls session later that afternoon.

Indeed the former linked up again to see off the challenge of Mark Costanza and Trevor Randolph 5&4 while Moran and Boucher carded a 3&1 triumph over Darin Goldstein and Brad Tilley.

Lanigan and Thompson meanwhile halved with Maertz and Hios in that phase, while in singles competition the Hermitage golfer earned another half point after a great battle with Hios.

Whelan, meanwhile, beat Trevor Randolph 5&4 while Moran recorded a 3&2 victory over Sam Goldenring as the two teams finished deadlocked at 10-10 – marking the third occasion in the history of the Carey Cup that the event has been tied.

Delighted to remain unbeaten throughout her three matches, Lanigan said “We’re disappointed as a team not to win the trophy, but from an individual point of view I couldn’t have asked for more in the past two days.

“This is my first time playing for Ireland at Senior level. We got on well with the American girls, and we all knew the significance of being the first women to compete in the event.”