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Fans thrilled by silken skills of top golfers
TIGER Woods may not have brought his 'A' game to this week's JP McManus Pro-Am in Adare, but thousands of golf fans were left spellbound by the silken skills of the world's top golfers at the two-day glamour event.
Fifty-four elite pros - including 14 Major champions - had the huge galleries enthralled at the two-day event staged over the spectacular Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Resort.
The relaxed atmosphere meant golf fans had a very rare opportunity to get up close and personal with golf's biggest names.
Tiger Woods' hopes of victory evaporated with a tired opening round of 79 before a whopping attendance of 40,000 on Monday afternoon, but it didn't prevent thousands of expectant golf supporters from turning out to watch the world number one tee off at 8am the following day.
Leading Irish professional Paul McGinley said Pro-Am host JP McManus, Limerick and Ireland deserved great credit for staging such a terrific event. Since 1990 the Pro-Am has helped raise €55 million for charities and groups in the Mid-West who work with the underprivileged and disadvantaged.
Former Ryder Cup hero Paul McGinley said: "It's nice to see all the money being spent locally.
"I think it's great to be able to track the money where we spent it the last time we were here and it shows the popularity of JP not just to the people of Limerick, but to the professional golf game as well.
"I've never signed as many autographs except at the Ryder Cup.
"I was telling Michael Douglas that we had a very, very good crowd, very relaxed."
The esteem in which the Pro-Am is held by the world's top pros was clearly evident in the efforts Englishman Justin Rose made to make his 1.30pm tee time on Monday.
Rose had just over an hour's sleep on Sunday night on route to the glamour Adare event after claiming a nail-biting victory in the AT&T National Championships in Philadelphia on Sunday night.
Twenty-nine-year-old Rose was one of a number of top US-based professionals who travelled through the night from the United States in order to make their afternoon tee time in Adare on Monday.
Rose told the Leader Sport: "The 24 hours after the AT&T have been a whirlwind. I got one and a half hours sleep on Sunday night.
"After I putted out in the AT&T National, then I did the press conference. Then it was a quick shower, straight to the airport and land here in Ireland.
"I got in about 9am. I got about an hour's sleep here and then teed it up.
"It was tough out there playing on Monday, but people were so good to me out on the course.
"Lots of people obviously stayed up on Sunday night and watched it and they were really encouraging to me," Justin Rose said.
"It was just great to be out there and receive all their support. I played terrible. I shot 80, but what the hell?"
The team competition proved just as keen as the professional event.
A stunning first round score of -17 had Gary Neville (Adare Golf Club), Neal Whelan (Rathbane Golf Club), and Dooks' member Cian Foley, the son-in-law of Pro Am host JP McManus, well in contention.
Gary Neville, director of Neville Design Group in Howley's Quay, said they had really enjoyed their rare opportunity to play in such a glamorous event.
"It was a fantastic experience. There were certainly a lot of nerves out there when we started," Gary Neville explained.
"But we are so familiar playing golf with each other and are so comfortable in each other's company it helped shut out the crowds.
"We played our own game and we kept our focus.
"The professional we had on Monday was Camilo Villegas and his caddie Brett Waldman. They were very easy going and relaxed. They seemed to be enjoying our company as well. It made our game that bit easier as well."
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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