Double delight at Kinsale Golf Club as Government announces courses can reopen from April 26

That Government announcement arrived just hours after club member John Murphy was included in the GB&I Walker Cup panel for next month's ties at the prestigious Seminole club in the US. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Confirmation that golf clubs can reopen on April 26 amounted to a second significant boost for Kinsale Golf Club on a landmark day.

That Government announcement arrived just hours after club member John Murphy was included in the GB&I Walker Cup panel for next month's ties at the prestigious Seminole club in the US.

"It's been a really good day for the club all round," said Kinsale head professional Ger Broderick who will be a busy man from late April, catering for up to 350 club members per day.

"We have a large playing membership of nearly 800 so when the gates are allowed to open again it's going to be very, very busy with golf from 6.30 in the morning until 8.30 in the evening. I would anticipate between 300 and 350 people a day.

"We'd have a lot of members who are retired from work and an awful lot of those wouldn't have seen friends, and in many cases family, since Christmas. These elderly people are retired for a reason, to enjoy life, and one of the main things that occupied their days was getting down to the club so it can't come soon enough really."

Despite the upbeat mood over golf's return, Irish courses have still been closed for longer than anywhere else in the world. Broderick believes that had the Government delayed their reopening any longer, people would have begun to ignore the restrictions.

"Personally, I think people may have started to sneak out in the evenings onto courses, especially now that it's bright again. And we can't really monitor that because we have people at the club during the day but not at those hours."

Closed for so long, clubs have inevitably taken a huge financial hit.

"The bills are still the same, we have five full-time greens keepers, we still have our office staff but we have nobody actually playing," said Broderick. 

Green fees will be down again this year, competition fees will be down, the financial loss is massive. There's no point sugar-coating it, the figures aren't going to balance up at the end of the year. All we can do is our best and thankfully we have a date now to look forward to."

So does club phenom Murphy, 22, who along with Kilkenny's Mark Power has made the 10-man Walker Cup team for the May 8-9 Florida showpiece having narrowly missed out on selection two years ago.

Cathal Butler and John Murphy (centre) pictured with Ian Stafford and Ger Broderick at the 2018 Pro Shop Challenge in Kinsale. Picture: Aidan Stafford

The plus six handicapper is the fifth Cork man to make the team following James Sugrue, John McHenry, Eoghan O'Connell, and Jimmy Bruen.

Playing out of the University of Louisville, the 2018 St Andrews Links Trophy winner has displayed strong recent form on the US collegiate circuit.

"He's been playing very consistently for the past 12 months, his world ranking doesn't reflect that," said Broderick of the world number 99. "If you follow his results it's every week in the top 10, top five, he was actually second a fortnight ago so he's playing very consistent stuff."

Ian Stafford is Murphy's principal coach though Broderick has observed him from close quarters over many years.

"I've known him since he started playing as a junior, he was originally known as 'Small John Murphy' because he was one of the smallest juniors we had," said Broderick. 

"He's six-foot-one now and because there are three John Murphys in the club, he's still identified on our accounts system as 'Small John Murphy'! It's been a privilege to watch his development."

Broderick anticipates Murphy will turn professional later in the year.

"There's nothing else really in amateur golf left to shoot for after the Walker Cup, that's the limit," he said.