July date for strokeplay competition

THE past week saw a bit more clarity added to what might be able to proceed with in terms of a Pitch & Putt season for the remainder of 2020. Firstly, national have confirmed that all County/Regional Strokeplays will take place on the weekend of July 26. The County Board have forwarded proposals to its clubs for the hosting of the event on different days when Tralee are playing host to the competitions. This may involve the use of a second course to facilitate the staging of the U-16 and, hopefully, ladies events.

A full decision will be taken on Monday next (July 13) at the County Board’s first meeting since lockdown as it will be meeting in St Marys Parish Hall in Killarney to allow for physical distancing. The meeting will take place at 9pm and all clubs are asked to have delegates present. While entries are not been taken at the moment, clubs are asked to start taking names of those who may be interested and to ensure they are registered with national in advance of entering.

On the national front, Pitch & Putt Ireland confirmed after their meeting last Saturday that the only events they would be running for the remainder of the year would be a selection of national singles events, namely the National Ladies & Gents Matchplay and Strokeplay Championships along with the National U-16 Strokeplay and Matchplay Championships.

The Irish Open will also be going ahead in Lough Owel in Westmeath in August meaning Deerpark’s Damien Fleming will get the chance to defend his National Gents Matchplay and Irish Open titles this year.

Unfortunately the Kerry U-16 team won’t get the chance to defend either the provincial or national inter-county titles for the Kingdom as national have decided not to run any provincial (all events) or national team or pairs events in the remainder of 2020 due to the time lost in the current pandemic.

National have confirmed that all Strokeplay events will be 36-hole affairs due to fading daylight as we move closer towards autumn. A revised fixture list which includes the dates for the Open 36-hole events applied for by clubs is expected to be announced by Friday.