TLDR:
Elite amateur golf provides a refreshing alternative to the elite professional game, with players showing dedication and love for the sport. The West of Ireland Championship showcased this dedication and passion, highlighting the true essence of golf amidst a backdrop of competition and camaraderie.
In the West of Ireland Championship, amateur golfers displayed their talent and commitment to the game, competing for the love of golf rather than financial gain. The event emphasized the pure essence of the sport, with players facing challenging conditions and fierce competition in pursuit of victory and recognition.
While professional golf at the elite level often focuses on financial rewards and luxury amenities for players, amateur golf offers a more genuine and heartfelt experience for both participants and spectators. The passion and dedication of elite amateur golfers serve as a reminder of the true spirit of the game, making it a soulful and enriching experience for all involved.
Main Article:
Why elite amateur golf is soup for the soul – Irish Golfer Magazine
Prizemoney? Zero. Accommodation? Sort your own and get it where you can find it. Courtesy cars? Yeah, right. Everything that is good about golf? Absolutely. That’s what we got at the West of Ireland Championship last week. And for anybody fortunate enough to be there, it was just what the doctor ordered.
Ridiculously talented though they may be, the players at the very top exist in a world far removed from the average golfer. They stay in the finest hotels, have the red carpet rolled out wherever they and the travelling circus they call their ‘team’ go, have manufacturer’s equipment trucks on site so that they can change their wedges every other week, get fresh clothing delivered to their rooms for each tournament day, even have their shoes delivered with their desired spike brand and patterns – yes, that is definitely a thing – already installed.
But last week served as a very welcome reminder that there is an alternate universe out there; one where players playing a game that’s still unrecognisable to the likes of me and to most of those reading this, turned up and gave their blood, sweat and tears – well, hopefully not blood – all in the name of competition, in the hope that they could get their name on a trophy already engraved with ‘Harrington’, ‘McIlroy’, ‘Lowry’, among others.
And the competition was excellent. PGA Tour players they may not be, but they’re not far off. Anybody who can shoot under-par in the type of wind that swept across the links at County Sligo Golf Club on Rosses Point on day two of strokeplay is supremely talented. Transplant 140 PGA Tour pros out to the same course and in the same conditions, there’d be plenty who’d end the day on the leaderboard looking up at the names of some of the amateurs.
By Tuesday, only four players remained, and the vast majority of the 119 who’d played in the tournament proper were back at work. Only a small cohort are close to being full-time golfers, and the select few who have designs on making a living from the professional game number less still. But they’d travelled to Sligo at their own expense, were spending the Easter weekend away from their friends and families, all for the competition and the love of the game.
So if you like your golf and there is an elite amateur event happening near you, you’d do a lot worse than spending a few hours watching. It might make you a little depressed at the state of your own game after the fact, but it’s time well spent.