McGinley and McDowell claim top golf writers’ awards

European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley has been voted into the Distinguished Services category of the Irish Golf Writers’ Association and will accept his specially designed Tipperary Crystal award at the annual dinner, sponsored by Carr Golf Group, at Portmarnock Golf Club on Mar 6.

A three-time winner of the Ryder Cup as a player, McGinley – a four-time winner of the Irish PGA championship – has, throughout his career, offered great support for the development of junior golfers in Ireland.

The Professional of the Year award went to a likely member of McGinley’s team, Graeme McDowell, who was a clear-cut choice for this award.

The 34-year-old was a multiple winner on tour last year, when he captured the RBC Heritage tournament on the PGA Tour and added the Volvo World Matchplay championship and Alstom French Open titles on the PGA European Tour.

There were a slew of winners in the Amateur awards too, with Paula Grant (Lisburn Golf Club) voted Women’s Amateur of the Year and Robbie Cannon (Balbriggan Golf Club) the Men’s Amateur of the Year award.

Paula Grant, a student at the University of Ulster in Jordanstown, had a magnificent season in which she won the Irish Ladies Close championship at Ballybunion to add to her Irish Intervarsity championship and R&A Scholars Foundation successes. She also finished runner-up in the Irish Women’s Open Amateur Strokeplay championship.

Robbie Cannon showed skill and fortitude to claim the Irish Amateur Open championship at Royal Dublin, which gave the former South of Ireland champion his biggest success to date. A career amateur, 34-year-old Cannon, beat defending champion and Walker Cup player Gavin Moynihan and Scotland’s Graeme Robertson in a play-off to claim the coveted trophy.