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Carton House glorified in sunshine as graduates battled their way around the Mark O’Meara designed golf course for the annual President’s Cup. The hugely popular event, which this year was a sell out, had the added option of a Golf Clinic and Fun Scramble for our novice golfers. The stunning parkland course with its velvety bent grass greens toughly tested 100 graduates this year.

In the end it was sponsor Damien West’s team who tamed the testing parkland course with a tidy score of 90 points. In second place with 87 points were regular contenders Joe Lennon, Michael Nolan, Neil Morris and Donal Hughes. In third place with a score of 86 points were Jim Lehane, Tom McKittrick, Brian Nolan and Andy Lynam. The Management Catering fourth prize went to Shane O’Hanlon, Jim Bean, Rory McArdal and Fergal McMahon who also had 86 points but were narrowly defeated on the back nine.

The fun scramble option began with a 90-minute golf clinic with Carton House professional David Fleming, who helped the players get into the swing of things before they enjoyed a 9-hole scramble competing for the Jason Clarke Photography first prize. In the end winners on the day with a colossal score of 31 points were Barry Ryan, Michael Murphy, Yvonne Reilly and Sharon Glynn. However everyone that played was a winner by virtue of being part of this inaugural challenge.

One of the quotes from the day included, "It's a great way to meet new people, both at the lessons and the dinner afterwards."

Additional prizes for longest drive (male and female) went to Donal Hughes and Sharon Glynn respectively. Arthur McMahon won nearest the pin on the 7th with a fine shot left less than a metre from the hole.

Aprés golf, all the participants enjoyed a well-deserved meal and an opportunity for classmates to catch up with one another. The theme of the day was relaxed but dignified competitiveness, laced with loads of craic and good humour.

Speakers on the night included Mark Mortell who chairs the Alumni Council, Peter O’Neill and DCU President, Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski. Mark spoke about university representation in the Seanad and the pending government implementation of the issue. He further spoke about the current development of the Alumni Council and finally he urged graduates to participate and contribute to alumni activities whenever possible.

Peter O’Neill of IBM talked about the Access programme, which was piloted in 1989 by DCU and facilitates students who have the ability to pursue higher education but because of social or economic reasons, do not have the CAO entry points. Following on from last year, DCU Educational Trust held a raffle after dinner with the goal of raising enough money to fund an Access scholarship. Many thanks to all of those who contributed, a total of €1540 was raised for Access.

It was great to see so many regular faces as well as new faces and the increase in female participation at this year’s event. Let’s hope next year we can continue the development of the event and look forward to welcoming old and new to the 8th annual golf classic.

DCU Alumni would like to thank the following sponsors for their generous donations:

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