Shannon and Ryan triumph; new posts for St John, McNamara

Keith Shannon, pictured at Carton House last year by Thos Caffrey / www.golffile.ie

Keith Shannon and David Ryan finished as joint winners of last week's Eithad Airways PGA Sprint tournament at Killeen Castle.

It proved to be a testing day at the 2011 Solheim Cup venue with Shannon and Ryan finishing the event with level par 72s, a shot ahead of Wexford's Darren Walsh. Scores

Shannon, from the Greenore Club, birdied the par four third but immediately dropped a shot at the par four fifth. A string of pars was then broken up by a birdie at the par five 12th, followed by another dropped shot at the par three 14th.

Cahir Park's Ryan opened with a par, birdied the par five second but then dropped a shot at the fourth. Back to back birdies at seven and eight saw him to the turn in two under but he dropped shots on the par four 11th and par four 13th. 

There was an eight-way tie for fourth with Daniel Sugrue (Killarney Golf & Fishing Club), John Kelly (St Margaret's Golf & Country Club), Liam Bowler (Wexford GC), Brendan McGovern (Headfort GC), Damien McGrane, Glen Robinson (St Helen's Bay Resort) and Dara Lernihan (Elm Park GC) finishing on two over.

McNamara takes over at Oughterard

Derek McNamara will take up the position of PGA Professional at Co Galway venue Oughterard Golf Club from April 1. The 31-year-old from Ballyconeely, Connemara is a graduate in professional golf studies from the University of Birmingham, England. 

McNamara enjoyed a successful amateur career, earning representative honours for Ireland before making the transition into professional golf as an assistant at Connemara GC. He moved to Portmarnock in 2010 and followed that up with a spell at the Lough Erne Resort last year. He has also gained valuable coaching experience working at the GUI Academy at Carton House.

Derek will be replacing Michael Ryan who is retiring after 35 years at the helm.

Ian St John takes on new role at Rush GC

Rush Golf Club has appointed Tramore native, Ian St John, as the club's very first head professional. The 36-year-old took up his new role at the nine-hole links venue on March 12th.

St John began his PGA training as assistant at Ballyneety GC (formerly Limerick County Golf Club) in 2005 as assistant to Donal McSweeney. In 2009, Ian moved to Nenagh GC in Tipperary before returning to Tramore to launch his golf academy in 2010.

Through his focus on coaching, Ian has worked with the GUI (Golfing Union of Ireland), the ILGU (Irish ladies Golfing Union), JGI (Junior Golf Ireland) and YMG (Young Masters Golf) in developing the game in the South of Ireland.

With the GUI and the ILGU, he coached the Munster regional junior panels. The “women in golf” programs have been a tremendous success over the past four years where Ian has coached ladies from the Limerick, Shannon and Nenagh areas.