Ingenious Irish Storms it up in Smirnoff

[Andy_79]

ST's very own Mark Donaghy, aka IrishGolfer, had one, if not, his finest round ever this morning.

In 15-18mph wind, or thereabouts, IG delivered a very fine round of one-under par, 71, culminating in a superb 'birdie, birdie' finish.

Mark hit a delightful 3-wood against a stiff breeze to a foot for a tap-in birdie at #2 index 17th hole, and then a delightful 18-foot putt that wiped its feet before dropping into the cup for what was to be his first sub-par effort off Portstewart's blue tees. An extremely commendable round from the big man, it must be said.

The wind will have increased a wee bit from when we played this morning, so fingers crossed Mark, with his 42 stableford points safely in tow, will win this Saturday's competition; The Smirnoff Trophy.

Mark, the gentleman that he is, has vowed to share his Smirnoff goodies with us ST'ers if it so happens that he wins. What a guy....!

I am sure we shall hear more about this great round, especially that third shot into the par-5 7th hole...

 

[Eracer]

Outstanding news well told, Andy. Thanks for the update. Are you playing, spectating, or - ahem - caddying...?

 

[Andy_79]

Haha, I have always wanted to write for sports columns in a newspaper, etc. Maybe one day I might do and finally enjoy doing the job that I do ! :real angry: :laugh:

I was playing with him, boss. Same old story: some good, some bad Don't think I am too far away from relative greatness, although it is all good saying that and the summer (what summer ?!?) is almost behind us...!

 

[Clugnut]

Awesome round, IG! You guys that can knock it around under par in the wind amaze me.

 

[The master]

Nice round, whats that you down to now IG?

 

[Andy_79]

He should either be 4.5 or 4.6 now, dude. Are you coming up here to play at the end of the month ? Who else is set to play, do you know...?

 

[Greydawg]

The word is.....

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!:thumbs up::thumbs up::thumbs up:

 

[The master]

Awesome round, IG! You guys that can knock it around under par in the wind amaze me.

Going on holiday on 31st so if it is before that or a in September then yea. I definitely want to get up soon.

 

[Adam Pettman]

Congrats IG, sounds like a good round especially in the wind. (on a side note, you decided what your doing with the VS proto?)

 

[IrishGolfer]

What can I say, yesterday has to go down as one of my better days!

Not only did I shoot my finest competitive round and win a tourney at Portstewart, I also spent the afternoon at the beach BobyBoarding with my kids in awesome waves, and then to top it off we went to a BBQ last night, ate fine food and drank fine wine, what a day indeed!

As for the golf, not sure what to say, except that it started out as a very ordinary round of golf. I was +4 after 6 and struggling with my swing. Then I got an outstanding break on 7, a massive kick off a greenside bank which rolled down to about 2ft. I walked off with a bird instead of a bogey. That pushed some sort of button inside me as from there I was -5 and just kept hitting good shots. I can honestly say if I putted better I could have shot even lower. My swing transformed and I just started hitting fairways and greens.

Even standing on 17 I was +1 thinking I would take a 5/4 (bogey/par) finish, as 17 was directly into the wind. After a good drive on 17 I stil had about 210ish into a stiff breeze. What followed has to be the finest shot I have even hit. I rifled a 3 wood to about 1 foot!! I'll remember that shot for a long time.

And then to top it off I hit a SW to about 15ft on 18 and somehow the putt fell in. Strange thing was at no point did I really think about it or get nervous. It just kinda happened. And it was good to play in the company of Andy_79 and another dude who plays off a 2 index. They kept me going with "you deserved that Big Man" every few minutes.

Checked the scores today. Won by 3 shots and am now playing off 4.3!!

So the story is true, life begins at 40! :laugh::laugh:

 

[Bravo]

Congrats....tell us about the Smirnoff trophy....how about a photo we can post here??

 

[IrishGolfer]

Congrats....tell us about the Smirnoff trophy....how about a photo we can post here??

Bravo

tbh I know nothing about the history of this event / trophy. I figured it would be sponsored by Smirnoff and some sort of qualifier into a bigger national event. I guess I will have to wait and see. I was just delighted to win some (ANY!!) silverware.

I won't see the trophy until the end of the year at our Prizegiving Event. But rest assure that I will be getting photos. :laugh:

 

[Dave Ireland]

Congrats IG .. exceptional play ... make some room on the mantlepiece for another dust collector . No matter how well yer playin there's always at least 1 occasion in the round when you goddamn know you've bought a huge slice of luck from the jammy bastad factory .. but hey that's the nature of the game

On a separate note thanks for the offer but I've gone with the original plan