One of the most satisfying aspects of writing the 125th history of Lahinch Golf Club in 2016 was the opportunity to meet up once again with three of the most illustrious winners of the South of Ireland Championship and another who captured the Irish Close over the great links.

Graeme McDowell will be trying to avoid thinking about The Open Championship in his hometown of Portrush in two weeks as he bids to start his links golf season on a high at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open on Thursday.

Seamus Power’s track record with Lahinch and the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open is mixed, but the PGA Tour professional was still thrilled to receive his invitation to return home and play this week.

Even those with a great love and admiration for the club and the village believe that Lahinch has undertaken a mountainous challenge in agreeing to stage the 2019 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Championship.

The timing of the decision rather than the actual ending of the nine-year player-caddie relationship between Rory McIlroy and JP Fitzgerald was the biggest surprise for Paul McGinley.

The latest phase in the 125th-anniversary celebrations at Lahinch Golf Club gets underway this morning with the first qualifying round in the Pierse Motors South of Ireland Championship and continues until Monday when many past champions will be honoured in a special competition followed by a gala dinner.

There was an Irish weather wipeout at Royal Birkdale last night as Shane Lowry and former Open champions Darren Clarke and Pádraig Harrington all crashed out in the torrential rain.

Lahinch Golf Club will not be taking the honour of hosting the 2020 Arnold Palmer Cup lightly.

Whitehead’s John-Ross Galbraith claimed the leading qualifier’s silver medal at Ballyliffin and insisted he’s aiming to maintain his 100% record in the AIG Irish Amateur Close by winning it for the second time.

Family dynasties claiming the limelight in the South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch are nothing new.

The sunny south-east lived up to its reputation in style at Tramore, Co Waterford, yesterday when the opening day of the AIG Irish Close Championship was favoured by glorious weather conditions.

A Maynooth University team of considerable talent has emerged as warm favourites to capture the AIG Irish Senior Cup, having come through the Leinster qualifying section in highly impressive fashion.

Experience proved the key as Limerick and Muskerry qualified for the nationals finals of the AIG Irish Senior Cup and Barton Shield at Dungarvan on Saturday.

Stuart Grehan from Tullamore was last night crowned winner of the 114th South of Ireland Championship after a four and three final win over Ulster golfer Colin Fairweather from Knock.

Paul McBride, a student at the famous golfing academy of Wake Forest in North Carolina which numbers Arnold Palmer, Eoghan O’Connell and Darren Clarke among its alumni, demonstrated once again at Lahinch yesterday that Malahide continues to produce young golfers of the highest calibre.

Ever since the distinguished golf course architect Martin Hawtree modified and considerably altered the famous old links in 2001, Lahinch has become a formidable challenge for the game’s finest, whether amateur or professional.

With handicaps ranging from plus 4 to 1.1, the high quality of the entry for the West Coast Hotels sponsored South of Ireland Championship beginning at Lahinch this morning is a source of considerable satisfaction for the organising committee.

The Munster Branch of the Golfing Union of Ireland confirmed last night that of a number of significant changes have been made in the hope resurrecting the image and status of the South of Ireland Championship.

Weekend wins for Rosslare in Irish Senior Cup Leinster section and Warrenpoint in the Barton Shield in Ulster have confirmed the field for the national finals of the AIG Cups and Shields at Carton House, Kildare next month.

Stuart Bleakley, a 19-year-old from Shandon Park, became the third member of the illustrious Belfast club to win the Clare Coast Hotels South of Ireland in extremely difficult weather conditions at Lahinch yesterday when he defeated Darragh Coghlan (Portmarnock) in the final by 3 and 2.

Arthur Pierse has been coming to Lahinch for more than 40 years in search of the Clare Coast Hotels South of Ireland Championship.

The draw for the West Clare hotels South of Ireland Championship beginning at Lahinch on Saturday suggests the event is again attracting some of the biggest names in amateur golf.

There have been too many examples over the years of promising young Irish amateur golfers losing the run of themselves and turning professional without considering all the implications.

John Daniel Guiney is a name familiar to golf fans in his native Kerry.

One of the richest tournaments on the European Tour schedule, the $5m (€3.7m) Dunhill Links, is on this week over three outstanding links courses on the east coast of Scotland — but just three members of the 2012 European Ryder Cup team are competing.

Paul McGinley continues to make it clear that he will be his own man when attempting to mastermind Europe’s Ryder Cup defence at Gleneagles next year.

Kilkenny’s Paul O’Hara crashed a young man’s party at Lahinch yesterday by winning two fine matches against Ulster duo Stephen Coulter and Nicky Grant to qualify for this morning’s first semi-final of the South of Ireland Championship against 20-year-old Ryan McKinstry (Cairndhu).

Even though they are the defending champions and will be performing on home territory, Munster are regarded as underdogs in the Senior Men’s Interprovincial Championship beginning at Lee Valley this morning.

The butterflies were on the point of bursting out of Cian McNamara’s stomach as he stood on the first tee at Carton House at 7.50am yesterday.

Pat Murray, recent winner of the South of Ireland Championship, returns this weekend to a golf course he knows better than most when leading Limerick Golf Club’s challenge for the Munster section of the Chartis Insurance sponsored Irish Senior Cup.

Six members of the triumphant Munster team in this week’s Interprovincial Championship at Royal Co Down are included in the field for the South of Ireland Championship starting at Lahinch this morning. And yet, they will all have to take a back seat behind the remarkable Ennis man, Noel Pyne, who is competing for the 50th successive year.

Noel Pyne reaches a remarkable milestone when he makes his 50th successive appearance in the South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch next Saturday.

In spite of winning the South of Ireland Championship in 2010 and playing a major role in Portmarnock’s victory in last year’s Irish Senior Cup, John Greene has surprisingly failed to catch the eye of various selection committees at provincial and national levels.

MUNSTER golfers Cian McNamara, Aaron O’Callaghan and David Higgins yesterday played themselves into promising positions after the first day of the second qualifying stage of the European Tour School at four venues in Spain.

TWELVE months ago, Kelan McDonagh from Athlone felt he was “putted off the golf course” in the final of the South of Ireland Championship by John Greene from Carlow.

THE youngest and oldest players in the field met with mixed fortunes in yesterday’s second round of the South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch.

HEADFORD’S Greg Mungovan was the surprise leader after the qualifying rounds of the Clare Coast hotels-sponsored South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch last night.

A CHANGE in the qualifying process means a new course record could be set at Lahinch over the next couple of days.

FOUR amateurs, Alan Dunbar, Luke Lennox, Paul Cutler and Pat Murray will be teeing it up tomorrow in the 3 Irish Open, each with his sights set on emulating Shane Lowry’s magnificent achievement at Baltray last year.

NICE work, this professional golf!

WITH the notable exception of Niall Kearney, Ireland’s only representative in the British & Irish Walker Cup team next month, the country’s leading amateur golfers will all be in action over the next three days in the Golfsure Interprovincial Championship at Douglas.