Mick Collins Secures 10th in Round 2

By Rossa McDermott

Four birdies in Round 2 of The Pandora 2009 Open saw Michael Collins of FORE Ireland finish in tenth place at the Burhill Golf Club south of London. His blistering pace on the second day places him four shots off the joint leaders, Oliver Turnill and Daniel Gaunt.

Mark Staunton had a tougher day at the office and remained one under for the round after a mixed round of four birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey on the Par 4 10th leaving him lying in 23rd place over night. It was an unfortunate return for his day’s work having made the turn in one under par and hoping to build on his result on the first day.

On signing his card Mick Collins could only rue his bogey on the seventeenth following three consecutive birdies on 11th, 12th, 13th and then again on the 16th holes, having made the turn in one under. All in all it was a solid round of golf placing 10th over night.

The PGA EuroPro Tour is a men's developmental professional golf tour. It was created in 2002 by the merger of two older development tours, the EuroPro Tour and the PGA Mastercard Tour and is based mainly in the United Kingdom, with a few events in other countries.

Burhill Golf Club is set in beautiful Surrey parkland with a luxurious Georgian Mansion serving as the clubhouse on a course that is steeped in history and dates back to 1726. The Golf Club was established in 1907 by the Guinness family.

FORE Ireland and Mark Staunton Tee Off

By Rossa McDermott

FORE Ireland’s Mark Staunton tees off on Tuesday

By Rossa McDermott

July 14th in the Motocaddy Masters on the EuroPro Tour, which takes place near Bristol.

On the foot of his sixth place finish at the Irish PGA Championship Mark Staunton was very positive ahead of the event in the UK following his four rounds at The European Club near Brittas, Co Wicklow. Especially in an event that saw a clutch of retirements and some bigger names fail to tame the course conditions.

“It was a good day’s work on Saturday in challenging weather” Staunton explained after signing his card on the last day, “A double bogey on the 17th though was the one bad mistake of the day and that cost me a better finish.”

All in all though, I managed to play solidly most of the week and am happy being +10 for the event. Hopefully, I can continue that at the Motocaddy Masters.”, he continued.

A 72 on the final day came courtesy of 4 birdies on the front nine that gave him momentum through the closing holes where he was hoping for an under par score for the day. Despite having shot par on the second last hole all week a poor tee shot earned him a double bogey on Saturday leaving him with a total score of 294 – six places behind the event winner, Padraig Harrington.

The next best placing for the FORE Ireland team was 17th for Mick Collins whose 79 in 4th round gave him a final score of 303; followed by Ted Higgins Jnr and Dave Mortimer with a total of 311 both in joint 31st place. All three are playing in the Philip Walton Pro Am at Dundrum House near Cashel the 14th – 15th of July.

For Mark Staunton though it is the Players Golf Club where he competes in a round of the EuroPro Tour at a club that was opened 2002 near Bristol, where woodland, lakes, trees and gorse from the major features of the course .

The event is sponsored by Motocaddy, a worldwide brand of electronic golf trolleys, with total prize money of almost forty thousand pounds sterling.