$50k to tee off with golf champ GMac

A staggering $50,000 (€38,000) — the going rate for a game of golf these days.

Or at least it was in the New York Athletic Club at an auction in aid of medical research at Crumlin Children’s Hospital.

Bill Clinton recently said there was plenty of money in America for Ireland to tap, and if the auction was any guide, he was certainly right.

Some 32 tables had been sold at $10,000 a pop, to blue-chip companies like Goldman Sachs and Coca-Cola.

But that was merely the entrance fee for some of the wealthiest men and women in Manhattan.

The real fun began after Taoiseach Enda Kenny, the guest of honour, had addressed the crowd and the dinner plates were cleared away.

An auctioneer from Christie’s was on hand to expertly extract cash from the pockets of those present, and she did so with aplomb.

The biggest lot on offer was a day’s golf in Florida with US Open champion Graeme “GMac” McDowell, who was on hand to support the fundraiser.

And with eye-popping ease, an auction war broke out on the hallowed floor of the Athletic Club on Central Park.

Bidding reached $32,000 in a matter of moments, and at that point, one of the event co-organisers, US-based Irish businessman Declan Kelly, promised he would match the eventual winning sum — thereby doubling the amount raised — if he could also get a game with McDowell.

Bidding promptly soared to $40,000, before the eventual winner rose to his feet and confidently bellowed: “GMac — $50,000.”

It went once, twice and was sold. Fifty-thousand bucks for a game of golf — and some beers — in the Sunshine State. Kelly’s pledge to provide a matching amount meant $100,000 was raised from the single lot. But it wasn’t the only prize for which there was stiff competition on the night.

McDowell’s Ryder Cup blazer from 2010, and a trip to Old Trafford to watch a Manchester United game and meet with manager Alex Ferguson, were among the other lots to attract serious bidding.

All told, by the end of the night, it was reckoned that $500,000 had been raised between the table fees and auction.

The other co-organiser, Senator Eamonn Coghlan, was chuffed. As North American director of fundraising for the Children’s Medical and& Research Foundation — the body that funds medical care and research at Crumlin — he had been planning this event for some time and hoping to make it an annual one.

Judging by the success of Wednesday’s night inaugural ‘Best of Irish Gala Dinner,’ as it was formally declared, he has every chance of realising that ambition.