Irish eyes are smiling on visiting St Leonards side

Six members of the St Leonards Golf Team started their half term holidays early and travelled to Dublin on a sporting tour.
Selected Tour Players from St Leonards Elite Golf Programme (left to right): Fintan Bonner (Director of Golf), Paul Fiedler, Pol Berge, Mihail Martynov, Jan Friebe, Miguel Reider and Ben Caton.Selected Tour Players from St Leonards Elite Golf Programme (left to right): Fintan Bonner (Director of Golf), Paul Fiedler, Pol Berge, Mihail Martynov, Jan Friebe, Miguel Reider and Ben Caton.
Selected Tour Players from St Leonards Elite Golf Programme (left to right): Fintan Bonner (Director of Golf), Paul Fiedler, Pol Berge, Mihail Martynov, Jan Friebe, Miguel Reider and Ben Caton.

Accompanied by St Leonards director of golf Fintan Bonner, St Andrews Links golf instructor Scott Herald and head of curriculum PE Mark Baxter, the school team travelled to compete against County Louth Junior Golf Club, one of the largest and well renowned clubs in Ireland and host to the Irish Open.

The two teams meton Saturday morning ahead of their first match in Portmarnock Golf Club, situated on the outskirts of Dublin.

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Although the cold weather conditions had set in, St Leonards successfully finished leading 2-1 as Ben Caton and partner Paul Fiedler won their match as well as Mihail Martynov, who was paired with Miguel Rieder.

Sunday allowed intensive training for both golf teams, as they hit the driving range for a thorough warm up and practice session with the three professional coaches. Fintan Bonner, Scott Herald and Scott Wilson, the junior convenor and assistant club professional from

County Louth worked with a group of junior members of County Louth while the second matches headed out on to the course.

Pairs Jan Friebe with Pol Berge, and Mihail Martynov with Miguel Rieder won this round, making the overall score 4-2.

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The visiting St Leonards golf team was presented the replica Claret Jug trophy by the County Louth Golf Club committee, returning home the winners of their first tour.

St Leonards has confirmed its return to Ireland in October with a team from SALJGA to enter a threeway competition.

Mr Bonner said: “This was a an amazing opportunity for the St Leonards kids to compete on some of the famous links in Ireland against such a big Golf Club like County Louth Golf Club. Playing Golf Courses as demanding as Portmarknock and County Louth will fine tune the golfer’s abilities and make them a more complete, well rounded golfer, which is our ultimate goal of the Elite Golf Programme at St Leonards.”

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