Best Pitch & Putt players to descend on Riverdale for All Ireland Stroke-play Championships

Riverdale Pitch & Putt Club is 50 years old this year and the highlight of its anniversary celebrations will take place next weekend when the elite players in the game will travel to Nenagh as the club hosts the 2023 National Stroke-play championships.

It is a truly historic occasion as previous the Ladies and Gents Championships were held on separate weekends but for the first time ever both championships will be held in tandem.

On Saturday, the Intermediate championships will take place. Riverdale will have a large representation with four gents and five ladies among the players taking part.

The Gent's competition will commence matters at 8.30am and all four Riverdale players in this grade are drawn in the early groups. Sean Minogue, Paul Shoer Jnr, John Minogue, and Aaron Hogan are competing and each of them will hope to play again at 5.00pm when the top 18 players from the first 36 holes will go forward to an extra 18 holes. Aaron Hogan, in particular, has been in terrific form lately and led the qualifying rounds in Clonmel with a great score of 95.

There are many other good players in the field such as John Farrell (Bruff), Darren O'Leary (St Anne's Cork), Frank O'Brien (Collins Cork), Kevin Knox (Gowran), David O’Leary (Douglas), Dean Finnegan (Lough Owel) who was 3rd in the Irish Open in 2022, Keith O’Brien (Tralee), Ger Ryan (Ardnacrusha) as well as many other players who have won prizes throughout the year in scratch Cups all over the country.

The Ladies Intermediate championship will commence at 2.30pm on Saturday. Riverdale will have five players in this competition, Margaret Forde, Liz Forde, Catherine Dunne, Margaret Hennessy, and Margaret Courtney are in the first five groups out with three players from neighbours in Lakeside. Again, in this grade there is a strong field and with this competition local advantage should mean that Tipperary players will be very close to the winners enclosure.

On Sunday it is the turn of the senior grades. Here we will be in for a treat with some of the best players in the world coming to Nenagh.

The Gents will commence matters at 8.30am. Riverdale will have two representatives. First to play will be Stephen Shoer who has previously finished in second place in this event and with home advantage will be one of the favourites.

Our other representative is Sean Crowe who was the winner of the 2022 Riverdale Scratch Cup. Other notable players are Eamonn Gibney (Castletown) and JR Crangle (Loughlinstown) who are two of the three member Irish team that are current World champions. The strength of the field is reflected in that the third member of that team does not feature in the finals.

Other notable players are Stephen O'Reilly (Hillview) current Irish match-play champion, former All Ireland champion Kieran Earls (Bruff), 2021 Irish match-play champion Damian Fleming (Deerpark) who all play in the same three-ball at 9.00am with other notable players include the holder of the most All Ireland titles Ray Murphy (St Anne's, Cork), current Munster champion David Sexton (Fermoy), current holder Sean Goggin McBride, former multiple Irish champion Mark Millar (Killiner), current Riverdale Scratch Cup holder and last year's runner-up James Cleary (Larkspur) and another former Irish champion and the winner of the Munster Stroke-play Championship previously in Riverdale, John Cahill from Fermoy. Another notable feature of the field is that at 12.12pm, Tadgh Harrington, older brother of Padraig Harrington will play.

The top 18 players will go forward to play a further 36 holes at 5.00pm on Sunday evening in what promises to be a spectacular shoot out.

The Ladies Senior grade will commence at 2.30pm on Sunday. Here there is no Riverdale player but a number of Tipperary players including former Irish champions Breda White (Tipp Hills) and Martha O'Brien (Lakeside) as well as the youthful Gemma McCarthy (Hillview) will represent the county strongly.

The holder of the record for All Ireland titles Geraldine Ward (Portmarnock) and former World champion Chrissie Sheedy (Ryston) and current match-play champion Paula Lynch (Oldcastle) will all be hoping to do well.

It promises to be a feast of top class Pitch & Putt over the weekend and spectators are incited to attend free of charge.

The Riverdale club would like to thank Tipperary County Council for their support of the event. A huge amount of work has gone in to the preparation of the course with the course committee under the guidance of Stephen Shoer putting in many hours of work, especially Tus worker Paul Shoer with great assistance from Robert Ryan, Jim Molloy and Oisin Ryan.

Club Chairperson Peter Dunning has led the way doing trojan work on the course and surrounds while the ladies, under the guidance of Margaret Forde, Liz Forde and Catherine Dunne have spent hours getting the flowers and the underneath of hedges up to top class conditions.

Great work has also been done painting both the tee offs and clubhouse and Donie McCleverty has been doing great work in this regard. Great work has also been done on the tee offs with Matt Corrigan, Aaron Hogan and Michael Abbott putting in great work to bring the tee stands up to top class condition. Ger Tuite has been putting in great work on the accommodation front.

Thanks also to all those who have volunteered to assist on either Saturday and Sunday as we await the arrival of visitors from all over the country.