Ireland's Amateur Championship Chronicles. Ep1 The West of Ireland
- thebogeymenpod
- 1 hour ago
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Ireland has an incredibly rich and celebrated history of amateur golf, with icons like Christy O’Connor, JB Carr and others creating a legacy in golf not just at home but across the globe.
This is the first episode in a 6 episode series where I’ll be doing a deep dive into each championship, their history, their winners and their legacy. In this episode we’re going to look at the West of Ireland Amateur Open Championship, hosted at County Sligo Golf Club.
Ireland’s amateur championships have become a benchmark for elite golfers, with some of the country’s top professionals etching their names into Irish golfing history long before they won on the DP World Tour, PGA Tour and even the career grand slam.
The men’s Irish amateur calendar is made up of 6 Championships, Four Provincial championships that take place at the same venues every year . These are the North of Ireland at Royal Portrush, The South at Lahinch, The East at County Louth and The West at County Sligo golf club. The two remaining Championships, the Irish Amateur Open and the Irish Amateur Close move around the country to different venues each year.
The West is the first championship of the Irish amateur calendar season, played every year on the Easter bank holiday weekend. The championship dates back to 1923, and was first won by Larry P. Vernon back when the championship was decided over 36 holes stroke-play qualifying for 16 places in matchplay with a 36-hole Final.
The first ever West of Ireland was played from 13th-16th August. The West has an amazing list of winners and was dominated initially by “the big 4”. In 1930 Cecil Ewing won his first of 10 West of Ireland titles. This dominance was only out-done by JB Carr who in 1946 won his first of 12 West of Ireland titles.
Joe Carr is inarguably, Ireland’s most respected amateur golfer. His career achievements will never be equalled, winning 37 Irish Amateur Championships, representing the Walker Cup 11 times and winning the British Amateur 3 times in 1953, ’58 & 1960. He is the first Irishman to make ‘the cut’ at The Masters and speaking of the respect Joe Carr had in the Irish golf world, Herbert Warren Wind said ”Joe Carr receives the same overwhelming adoration in Ireland today as Bobby Jones did in America in the twenties”.
J.B first played the West in 1940 and won his first West of Ireland title in 1946, with his 12th win coming in 1966, five years before his son, Roddy Carr, would go on to win at Rosses Point. On the 25th anniversary of the West, Joe Carr and Cecil Ewing faced off in the final for the first time. This was the first of four ‘West’ Finals between the two and all four went to Carr.
he Championship opens with 36 holes of stroke play qualifying over 2 days, with a field of around 140 players. That is then cut down to 64 players.
From here it is matchplay with your finishing position in the previous strokeplay qualifying giving players their seeding.
18 hole matches continue until the winner receives the gold medal and the West of Ireland title.
3 time Major winner, Padraig Harrington won his first senior title at Rosses Point in 1994, getting the better of ’92 winner Ken Kearney.
11 years on, in 2005, Irish golf’s biggest star began creating his legacy at the early age of 15. Rory Mcilroy became the youngest ever winner of the ‘West’ in just his second appearance in the championship.
Although just 15 years of age, Gerry knew his son was going to be a serial winner and famously went into the County Sligo golf club bookmakers to put a wager on his son.
Mcilroy returned a year later and successfully retained his West of Ireland title, becoming just the 5th man to do so. Rory tried to complete the elusive Hat-Trick at the west but came up short, getting knocked out in the Semi Finals.
At that time, Rory was the World Number 1 amateur and turned professional later in 2006 and we know what he’s gone on to do since.
Ryder Cup superstar Shane Lowry followed his friend Rory to win the West in 2008, a year before winning the Irish Open at County Louth as an amateur. Shane, Rory and Padraig all hold a unique piece of history as the only men to win the West, the Close, the Irish Open and The Open Championship.
It’s not just tour players who have won ‘The West’ and in 2012 Harry Diamond lifted the West of Ireland trophy. After four days of gruelling rain, hail and gale force winds, the sun broke for the 2012 Final and Harry Diamond won 1up over Stephen Healy. Before the final Rory texted Harry and said “Get your name on the board - alongside the good players” and after claiming the championship Harry responded “I’m one up on you this year. I’ve got one Major - you don’t have any… yet”.
In 2025, a Greystones teenager Dylan Holmes had a dream week as he won the West of Ireland in his debut and became the first teenager since Rory Mcilroy to win the West of Ireland.
Just as The Masters marks the start of the professional calendar for many golf fans, the West of Ireland marks the calendar for the start of the year’s Irish Amateur Championship season. The best of the best will travel to Rosses Point to battle each other, the course and the weather to add their name to history.
Thank you so much for watching, this is just the first episode in our series looking into each Amateur Championship. Up next will be our deep dive into the North of Ireland Amateur Open Championship. Please subscribe to The Bogey Men’s Youtube channel, your support a lot to us. We’ll see you in the next video.
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