Kilkenny's James Everard defends Scratch Cup title
From this week’s Golf Notes in the Kilkenny People
The flagship open event of the year was held at the weekend as 66 of the country’s best players took part in the MW Hire Kilkenny Scratch Cup.
With the course in pristine condition, the first two rounds were competed over the morning and afternoon of Saturday. During the morning there were a couple of hours of nasty rain, which impacted scoring. After the first round only two players - Mark Shanahan (Rosslare) and Quentin Carew (Castleknock) - were under par.
After a short break for lunch the players went out for a second round, after which a cut-off was made so that the top 27 players were selected to compete for a third round, playing off in reverse order.
In the afternoon three rounds beat par, Mark Shanahan and his Rosslare comrade, Ian Lynch, together with Kilkenny’s Derek O’Gorman.
On the Sunday, the weather forecast was fairly ominous, but thankfully the rain when it came only lasted for a few minutes, albeit it was quite heavy while it lasted. The players went out in reverse order and in the end James Everard of Kilkenny successfully defended his trophy from the rest of the field with Quentin Carew being the runner-up.