The Mourne Golf Club Pro-am, hosted at Royal County Down Golf Club, is an exciting new PGA sanctioned event that will take place on May 17th aims to raise significant funds for local Newcastle charity, Daisy Lodge Cancer Fund for Children.
The new £20,000 event is the brainchild of Dundrum man Seamus McKibben, who is also the PGA In Ireland Tournament Operations Manager. McKibben has been staging PGA events across Ireland for over a decade and every two years he runs a dedicated pro-am event to raise funds for local charities and causes.
With a desire to bring a prestigious event to Newcastle, McKibben put the wheels in motion, and with approval from Mourne Golf Club and Royal County Down it was agreed to give McKibben the last Friday of Mourne’s renowned Open Week.
“I’m absolutely delighted we can host this year’s charity Pro-am on the world-famous Championship Links at Royal County Down. When we got the go ahead, it took less than two days to sell all the teams. It has been an incredible response,” said McKibben, who also had further great news for the event.
“The Mourne Golf Club Pro-am has been made more special because of the generosity of the Napier family, who agreed to get involved. The Napier family will donate an unbelievable £50,000 to Daisy Lodge in Newcastle, such a wonderful charity who do great work for the Cancer Fund for Children.”
“We cannot thank the Napier family enough for their support, their donation will make such a difference at Daisy Lodge, and we are grateful to have them on board for what promises to be a great day’s golf.”
A total of 42 teams were sold for the Pro-am at a cost of £800 per team of three amateurs with tee times on the day starting from 7.30am. It represents value when considering participants will get the chance to play on the same famed links where Rory McIlroy and co will compete in the Amgen Irish Open on the DP World Tour in September.
There are some stellar names from the PGA in Ireland region lined up to play in the Mourne Golf Club Pro-am too. Former Ryder Cup player Phillip Walton is down to play as are former DP World Tour winners Simon Thornton and Damien McGrane. The list goes on with proven PGA and Irish Championship winners such as Niall Kearney, Colm Moriarty and Michael McGeady all set to make their way to Newcastle for the May 17 fixture.
Royal County Down Head Professional Kevan Whitson and some of his team, such as Lee Campbell and Joel Funnell, are set to play in the Pro-am, as are some old faces who trained under Whitson before making their mark in the Irish game, including Royal Portrush Head Professional Gary McNeill and Ted Higgins.
For Mourne, the Pro-am replaces the final day of competition in the club’s popular Open Week schedule and current club Captain, Paddy Curran, is looking forward working with McKibben and the PGA team.
“We are delighted to have such a prestigious event as part of our Open Week, which is already a great celebration of golf that attracts golfers from all over Ireland each year,” said Curran.
“The Mourne Golf Club Pro-am is the perfect finale to Open Week and we look forward to welcoming all our visitors, especially on May 17. I also want to thank the Napier family for their generosity, it really is a remarkable gesture that will help so many young lives at Daisy Lodge.”