Bellewstown golfer Bernard Brannigan. PHOTO PAT CASHMAN.

Bellewstown golfer in good form

Bellewstown golfer Bernard Brannigan won gold at the inaugural All-Ireland finals of the GUI Gold Medal Championship at The K Club on last week.
 
 Brannigan took the honours in class three, for handicaps of 18 and over at the time of qualifying.
 
Playing off 16, the Bellewstown member only recently returned to the game following an absence of a decade due to family commitments.
 
Brannigan carded an opening 20 points on the front nine, but struggled on the back nine as the wind got up.

  “I’m delighted, I thought I threw it away on the back nine, I had a bad back nine and a brilliant front nine,” he said.

 “I only got back into golf this year, I played for about 10 years or so and then we had three kids, I gave it up for 10 years and then got back into it,” he added.

 A former member at Balbriggan and Turvey, Brannigan qualified in July from his club and progressed to the Leinster final at Naas where he carded 36 points to qualify for the final.
 
With the introduction of the GUI All-Ireland Gold Medals club golfers have been presented with a unique opportunity to participate at individual level in an All-Ireland GUI event.
 
Class one, for handicaps of nine and below, was won by four-handicapper Joyce who carded the best overall score of the day, 35 points around The Palmer Course of the famed Kildare venue.

Another Connacht golfer captured class two, for handicaps 10-17, as Mulveen from Athenry demonstrated his talent to sign for 34 points to take the gold medal.

Spread across three different handicap categories, the competition is open to all club members and entry is free for all affiliated golf clubs.