Fota Island battered but unbowed

High winds and heavy rain may have plagued these shores of late but preparations for the 2014 Irish Open remain on schedule, says Fota Island Resort golf superintendent Con O’Driscoll.

Courses up and down Ireland are counting the cost of last week’s hurricane-force winds, with Limerick GC alone losing more than 300 trees from its historic course last Wednesday. Combined with more than two months of heavy rain, there has been plenty to test the resolve of ground crews this winter.

Yet with a little over 17 weeks until the European Tour event tees off on June 19 at Fota, O’Driscoll is happy to report the Cork course is still in great shape and there should be no delay in getting scheduled work underway next month to move a number of tee boxes to accommodate the golfing elite this summer.