World Blind Championship⁵

I have represented Irish Blind Golf at both the 2016 and 2018 World Blind Golf Championship in both Rome and Japan. 2016 was remarkable with Shinrinkoen having two greens on every hole. It took a while to get familiar with the different time zone and food. The ISPS Japanese Open was an 18 hole stapleford competition were I held my own to finish 8th. My highlight of ISPS Handa World Blind Golf Championship in Japan was on the par 4 6th as I hit my 2nd shot with a 3 wood ober water which resulted in landing on the green. Japan was the cleanest country that I have travelled to and I really enjoyed my time as I finished 6th in the 2016 ISPS Handa World Blind Golf Championships.

Rome was the venue for the 2018 ISPS Handa World Blind Golf Championship. IBG players are picked on who finishes in the top three or four in Order of Merit and 2017 was not my best year in IBG competitions. A few people pulled out and I was delighted when I found out that I could participate in Rome. I forgot to bring my pitching wedge and only realised after arriving in Rome. The tournament took place around the same time as 2018 Ryder Cup at Paris National.

Parco de Macedi had 3 nine's but the 18 that we played for the tournament was surrounded by lots of water. The practice round gave me an opportunity to look at how the course would set up for the event. I struggled on day 1 of the Italian Open by shooting a round of 103. I was much better on day 2 of Italian Open by shooting a round of 88 which inultiple pars and one birdie. 15 shots lower on day 2 to finish 5th in 2018 Italian Blind Open.

The picture below shows me and Canadian Kieffer Jones who I was paired with for day one of the ISPS Handa World Blind Golf Championship. I continued my good form as I shot an opening round of 90 which included a par on the index 1 par 4.

The weather was good for the week but a bit mixed for the final day. The consistency continued in the 2nd round as I skot 91. My highlight was on the par 4 15th were I lost my ball but hit my provicinal ball on the fairway and stiched my iron shot to a foot to get an unbelievable 5. I didn't win but was happy with shooting 2 good rounds to finish 6th at 2018 ISPS Handa World Blind Golf Championship.

I have played in 2 World Championships and it's a fantastic opportunity to compete against other visually impaired golfers. The 2020 World Championships was supposed to take place in South Africa but could not go ahead due to a global covid-19 pandemic. The tournament is set to take place in March 2023 were I will be hoping to play in my 3rd World Championship. '