The St. Patrick's Day Trophy 'came home'!

Raymond Holland, Jerry & Ivonne Keoghan, and Jim Connolly picking up the STV Waterford Crystal Trophy

At 8 am on Tuesday, 21st of March under a golden sun, Tee 1 on Hacienda del Alamo slowly began to take on a greener hue than usual. By the time our 72 players in 18 tee times had finished teeing off at around 11 am, it was clear that a lot of wardrobe rummaging had been done and admirable efforts had been made by every nationality to find some shade of green to help celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at HDA. It was a joy to see such support and comradery among nations near and far. The Irish here among HDA golf Members were very appreciative of that support!

The competitiveness went beyond the golf as buggies were adorned with all things Irish! Joan and Cecil Tassie probably deserved the prize on that score as they had made poor John Dynan over fill his Ryanair suitcase with flags and bunting squeezed in between his packs of Irish bacon. John made it back from Ireland in one piece to join the second of two all Irish teams on the course to compete for the fabulous Waterford Crystal Trophy donated by STV Gestión way back in 2006.

The generous sponsorship of STV Gestión facilitated an offering of bacon rolls … and, well, somewhat late … (but we’ll say no more about that), these were distributed on the course by superheroes UGolf Marshall, Lee and his father Frank who volunteered to help out along with Lee’s Mum Christine. We really appreciate your help! However, one team managed to get missed out in the flurry, meaning that Anna Frigieri, Mick & Emma Joseph and Lindsay Laing remained hungry for more than the trophy … (Really sorry guys!).

Simon Parks of HDA Homes, was in his usual place at the starter’s hut, greeting everyone with a ‘Top of the morning to you’ in a highly dubious Irish accent 😉 and he spent the long morning taking as always top-quality photos, which can be seen on the HDA Community Facebook page. Our lovely ladies, Louise Haigh and Jan Forbes, along with volunteer, Diane Woolnough, (wo)manned the halfway house with their usual welcoming warmth and laughter. Thanks a million to all of you for always being there!

Now to the winners! Three prizes were awarded for the highest Texas Scramble team scores. Two teams came in with minus 11 (61 nett); however, based on the lower handicap (as stated in the Spanish Golf Federation Rulebook), second place was awarded to the team of John Smith, Paul Higgins, Lee Harrington & Danny Lewis leaving Gareth Woolnough, Albert Brown, Paul Mayne & Ashley Wayman with third prize! Great score! - well done, guys!

To top the day off, the fabulous STV trophy indeed ‘came home’ as it was the all-Irish ‘away’ team (as Joan Tassie would insist) who came in with an admirable minus 13 (nett 59). Congratulations are in order for the dream team - Yvonne Keohane, Jerry Keohane, Jim Connolly & (the vivacious) Raymond Holland!

A complimentary drink and a tapa of beef stew, also sponsored by STV, rounded off the competition nicely and laughter and song were to be heard across Hacienda for the rest of the evening.

The St. Patrick’s Day golf and festivities made the news as our friend and reporter for La Verdad newspaper María Jesús (Chusa) made the trip out to HDA to interview the winning team and find out more about the stories behind their lives and their golf in the Region of Murcia. Chusa publishes a golf column in La Verdad every Friday,

so keep an eye out if you would like to know more about golf in Murcia. Chusa's article on our winning team and St. Patrick’s Day tradition in HDA is available here: https://www.laverdad.es/deportes/golf/region-murcia-sentimos-casa-20230323215615-nt.html