Heroes return as Lahinch Golf Club celebrates 125th birthday

The tee shots may not have travelled as far as they once did and the swings were not quite as well grooved but the former South of Ireland champions who assembled at Lahinch yesterday demonstrated they could still teach the modern tigers a thing or two when it came to manoeuvring a golf ball around a links in demanding conditions.

The stars of the past returned to West Clare to help celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Lahinch club. Among them was the successful Ryder Cup captain and 1991 champion Paul McGinley; Killarney’s Michael Guerin, a hat-trick winner of the South from 1961 to ’63; Rupert Staunton (1965 and 1972); Vincent Nevin (1976 and ’78); Michael Burns (1980); Adrian Morrow (1983 and 1996); John McHenry (1986); Barry Reddan (1987); Mark Gannon (1988) and several others of a more recent vintage.

Jody Fanagan of Milltown, the 1995 winner, had the distinction of beating Pádraig Harrington in the final — although he doesn’t look at in that light given that the pair were close friends and many times foursomes partners for province and country, not to mention helping Britain & Ireland to defeat a US team containing a young Tiger Woods at Porthcawl in ‘95.