Open championship ties celebrated as famous trophy visits Mayo golf club
FAMILY members of a former Open Championship winner got up close with the famous Claret Jug at Westport Golf Club this week.
At golf fans from all around the county got to pose for a selfie with the trophy, there was added significance for the local Marks and Robinson families.
Members at Westport Golf Club, Josh and Alex Marks and Sebastian Robinson are all great-great-great-grandnephews of Bob Martin, a twice Open winner in 1876 and 1885.
It was truly amazing to see how this family history and legacy lives on through his great-great-great-grandnephews.
But not stopping there, the golfing heritage runs even further within the families, with both of the boys grandmothers - Margo Carmichael and Evelyn McDonald - hailing from St. Andrews, Scotland, a place synonymous with the history of golf.
“What a beautiful connection between family, history and the game all present for us to witness in person at Westport Golf Club on Tuesday night last,” said Paul O’Neill of Westport Golf Club.
Although the setting of Clew Bay and Croagh Patrick was initially considered a trump card for Paul O’Neill and the staff at Westport Golf Club for hosting the Claret Jug, a conversation last week that unearthed this local connection put the arrival of the Golf Champion Trophy to the Clew Bay course on a whole different level.
Bob Martin was born in Cupar, Fife, Scotland, in the 1850s and was a frequent competitor in the Open Championship in the late 19th century. In total, he had 10 top-10 finishes in Open Championship tournaments.
As part of its R&A and Golf Ireland’s trophy tour of selected golf clubs around Ireland and ahead of the 153rd Open taking place at Royal Portrush in July this year, members and visitors to the Mayo club got the opportunity to see up close one of the most prestigious trophies in sport.
The trophy rested on a special plinth with the spectacular panorama of the 18th green for over an hour while the many posed for photos and selfies with the glittering jug. So maybe when the trophy is being presented to this year's winner in July perhaps the photos and memories captured on Tuesday last will resonate more significantly with the members and friends of Westport’s Golf Club.