Indomitable Kavanagh driving down barriers once again

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews might be moving with glacial speed towards accepting women as members, but at the coalface of professional golf, Hazel Kavanagh continues to break down barriers of discrimination.

Spectators at last year’s Cassidy Golf-sponsored PGA Irish Championship could have been forgiven for doing a double-take as they watched her tee off at Roganstown Golf and Country Club, following in the footsteps of Marian Riordan, who missed the cut by a stroke at The European Club in 2009.

While Irish women have excelled in the amateur game, few have made the move into the professional ranks, and discrimination against women golfers is still prevalent, though diminishing, in some dark corners of Ireland.