Rafferty heads quality field as Balbriggan celebrates 75th anniversary Senior Scratch Cup
An aerial view of Balbriggan Golf Club which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year.
Ireland's elite amateurs are counting the days before they return to top-class competition for next month's Mullingar Scratch Trophy. But one of world's leading amateurs is rubbing his hands at the prospect of his first taste of competitive action in five months when he gets back into the swing of things at Sunday's Balbriggan Senior Scratch Cup.
Played in conjunction with the Junior Scratch Cup and sponsored by Philip Tracey of Ace Express Freight, the 36-hole event marks the 75th anniversary of a club that has come on in leaps and bounds since it was founded on 6 August 1945
"It's great for the scratch cups to be back and brilliant to see Balbriggan getting such good field for it too," said Dundalk's Walker Cup star Caolan Rafferty, the highest-ranked Irish amateur in the world at No 18.
The Irish Independent reports on plans to create a golf club in Balbriggan on 9 January 1945
"I think that all scratch cups this year will play a big part for all the lads. I've played at Balbriggan quite a few times in the Senior Cup over the years, and it's a lovely track, always in good condition with a few demanding holes. I am really looking forward to it now."
It's been a difficult year for Ireland's top amateurs due to the coronavirus pandemic and no surprise that so many of them have jumped at the chance to play 36 holes at Balbriggan on Sunday.
Plus-six handicapper Rafferty, who won the South of Ireland title in 2018 and the West of Ireland Championship last year, will be pleased just to get some top-class competition as he tees it up with Balbriggan's Robbie Cannon and Massereene's Tiarnan McLarnon, two former Irish Close champions.
In fact. Rafferty and McLarnon are just two of six current members of the Irish senior international panel set to tee it up at Balbriggan on Sunday.
Hermitage's Rowan Lester and Waterford's Eanna Griffin are joined by Leinster interprovincial Gerard Dunne as Campbell, a former East of Ireland and Irish Amateur Open champion, tees it up with last year's South of Ireland runner-up Keith Egan and Leinster interprovincial Hugh Foley.
Add to that the quality of Castle's Robert Moran, Dun Laoghaire's Alan Fahy, Gary Cullen, the Cavan-born veteran Eddie McCormack and up-and-coming Boys international Max Kennedy from Royal Dublin, to name just a few, and a quality winner is guaranteed.
Rafferty is certainly keen to make up for lost time after getting little practice during the COVID-19 lockdown.
"Lockdown was spent very much just focusing on the college work and playing the PlayStation," joked the Irish international, who will be joined at Balbriggan by his Dundalk Senior Cup teammate, Eoin Murphy.
"I wouldn't be interested in hitting balls into a net, so the clubs were put away for a few weeks. It was frustrating, but we have to look at other things around us and realise that there are worse things than missing golf competitions.
"I just went back as soon as the clubs were open again and have played six days a week when I can, playing a few games with Eoin Murphy just to keep competitive."
Irish great Mark Gannon — the only player alongside Rory McIlroy to win the Irish Boys, Youths and Close titles — joined Balbriggan in 1992. And while he will forever be associated with his beloved Baltray, he holds his adopted home club in high esteem.
"Balbriggan is a more difficult course than many people realise," Mark said on the occasion of the club's golden jubilee in 1995. "It's not easy to nail down a score over the 18 holes."
Gannon set a new course record of 68 in 1994 before Darragh Callaghan set a new mark, carding a 67 for the revamped course in 2002 - a record that stood for a decade before Cannon set a new mark.
Though Gary Murphy set the professional course record of 65 in the 2011 Balbriggan Pro-Am, Forrest Little's Jack McDonnell set a new course record in last year's Scratch Cup when he signed for a brilliant, eight-under-par 64.
Balbriggan has made great strides since it opened as a nine-hole course in 1945. The current 18-hole layout is the work of designer Eddie Connaughton, who made great use of natural golf course terrain.
Always in prime condition, this 6,077-metre (6646-yard) par-72 is a tree-lined challenge, featuring water on seven holes, forcing players of all levels to use every club in the bag.
The club planted thousands of trees around the time it opened its new clubhouse in 1991 and since then, many improvements and subtle design changes have been made, meriting the club’s inclusion in lists of Ireland’s Top-100 Courses.
In 1998 Pat Ruddy designed and oversaw the construction of two new sand-based greens at the 12th and 17th, and the project was so successful the members strove to bring the rest of the course up to that high standard.
As a result of their efforts, the course was upgraded to USGA standards by 2009 with sand-based greens on every hole.
It's a credit to all the dedicated members who have been involved for the past 75 years, starting with Gerrard "GL" McGowan, whose legal expertise was key to its creation in those difficult, post-Emergency days in 1945.