Legend Daly swings by to open golf course

FLAMBOYANT golf legend John Daly drove a few of his trademark big hits around the country’s newest golf course yesterday — the first he’s designed in Europe.

Daly, who missed the cut at the British Open at the weekend, jetted in to officially open the 18-hole course he designed at the Blarney Golf Resort in Co Cork.

Phase one of the resort, a 63-bedroom Ramada leisure hotel, business centre and spa, opened last December.

But the 6,700-yard Daly-designed course, the clubhouse and 56 golf lodges are the centrepiece of the €50 million project.

Daly said he was delighted with the progress made by the golf course in a relatively short time.

“I have no doubt that we will tweak it as we get to know it better,” he said.

“All significant golf courses tend to be a work in progress. We have laid solid foundations for what I believe will become a must play Irish course.”

Hole number seven appears to be the most demanding.

Daly has designed a 600-yard winding uphill par five that will only be bettered if you take a leaf out of his book and ‘grip it and rip it’.

David O’Sullivan, the resort’s director of golf, said a par five was a great score on this hole.

Local man John Kelly and his Dublin-based partner Frank McCarthy, of Kelcar Developments, began work on the resort in 2003 after buying 164 acres, including 40 acres of protected forest and a series of standing stones.

Sports Minister John O’Donoghue congratulated them yesterday.

“We are just two months away from hosting of the Ryder Cup,” he said.

It will be watched by billions of TV viewers across the world, he said.

“It is the quality of Blarney Golf Resort, along with others throughout the country, which will enable us to capture a greater share of the tremendous market that has now opened up,” he added.