Professional golf and top-ranked courses don’t always coincide as well as this week at Royal County Down.
Truly great courses and professional golf rarely collide, but this week is a welcome exception.
Royal County Down’s Championship Links, site of the Amgen Irish Open beginning Thursday on the DP World Tour, has a rare distinction: it’s one of only two courses to be ranked No. 1 on one of Golfweek’s Best premium rankings of courses to have hosted an upper-level men’s tour event in decades. The layout in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, ranks No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best list of courses outside the U.S.
Royal County Down originally was designed as a nine-hole layout by George L. Baillie in 1889. Nine more holes were laid down among the sandy dunes as designed by none other than Old Tom Morris over the following years. The course has evolved over the decades with contributions by George Combe, Harry Colt and Donald Steel, among others making suggestions.
The ninth green at Royal County Down in the lead-up to Amgen Irish Open 2024 in Newcastle, Northern Ireland (Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
Royal County Down has hosted a slew of top-level events including three previous Irish Opens, most recently in 2015. It also has been the site of various British Amateur Championships, Senior British Opens, a Curtis Cup, a Walker Cup, the British Ladies Amateur six times, and the European Ladies’ Team Championship.
Not counting our wide-ranging state-by-state rankings of public and private courses, the only other No. 1 on one of our premium lists to host a top-tier event has been Pebble Beach Golf Links in California, site of six U.S. Opens, one PGA Championship, one U.S. Women’s Open and multiple U.S. Amateurs and U.S. Women’s Amateurs. Also the annual host of the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the famed layout is No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of resort courses in the U.S.
By comparison, the private Cypress Point in California took over the No. 1 spot this year on Golfweek’s Best ranking of classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S., but the PGA Tour hasn’t been back since 1990. Before Cypress Point took over the top spot this year, Pine Valley in New Jersey had enjoyed a long run in the No. 1 spot, but that private stalwart never has hosted a PGA Tour event. That leaves Augusta National, ranked No. 3 among American classics and home to the Masters, as the highest-ranked classic course in the U.S. to have hosted a top-level men’s event in recent memory.
Among modern courses built since 1960 in the U.S., none of the top seven layouts have hosted a PGA Tour event. The Straits Course at Kohler’s Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, tied for No. 8 on that list, is the highest-ranked modern course to have welcomed top-level men’s events, including three PGA Championships, a U.S. Senior Open and a Ryder Cup.
We continue our daily countdown of days remaining to the Saints Week 1 kickoff and the corresponding jersey numbers with No. 39, kicker Charlie Smyth.
The 2024 NFL season is getting closer to being a reality for fans, as we have only 39 days left until the New Orleans Saints Week 1 bout against the Carolina Panthers. As we continue to count down the days until this first matchup for the Saints, we will look at the corresponding jersey number to the remaining days, which today is kicker Charlie Smyth, who comes to the Saints from Northern Ireland.
Smyth takes over the number from Lou Hedley who held it last season, and the number has a relatively long history, with it’s most notable wearer being former defensive back Brett Maxie, a quality player for the Saints back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
With that said, let’s take a look at Smyth’s background up to this point, as well as what we should or can expect from him this upcoming season.
Name (Age): Charlie Smyth (22)
Position: Kicker
Height, weight: 6-foot-4, 210 pounds
Relative Athletic Score: N/A
2024 salary cap hit: $795,000
College: St Colman’s College & St Mary’s University College
Drafted: Signed via NFL International Pathway Program
NFL experience: Rookie
Charlie Smyth is one of the more intriguing players on the Saints roster this upcoming season, as he was signed to the team this offseason through the International Pathway Program. He signed a three-year contract with the Saints in March after competing at the NFL Scouting Combine where he hit 12 of 16 field goal tries, and made 8 of 10 at his pro day with one connecting from 60 yards out.
He previously played Gaelic football for the Down County team, as well as the Down’s Ulster Under-20 championship team. Gaelic football is somewhat of a cross between American football and rugby, but Smyth’s skillset there as a goalkeeper led to him hoping to get an NFL tryout as early as July 2019. He will be competing with last year’s placekicker Blake Grupe, who certainly had his struggles as a rookie. We will see where the position battle takes us, but as of right now, Smyth has a phenomenal opportunity to win a starting job in the NFL.
Rookie kicker Charlie Smyth had a big day at Saturday’s Saints training camp practice, hitting all seven of his field goal tries:
Have a day, Charlie Smyth. The New Orleans Saints’ rookie kicker had a good day at Saturday’s training camp practice. Smyth connected on all seven of his field goal tries with his longest kick traveling 59 yards. Last year’s kicker Blake Grupe might be on notice.
Now that’s not to say he enjoyed a perfect morning of work at UC Irvine. Smyth struggled on his kickoff reps, sending too many of his tries out of bounds, as noted by Nola.com’s Luke Johnson. That’s not too surprising. He’s a former Gaelic football player from Northern Ireland who is still picking up the game and the responsibilities of his position. He’s going to make mistakes.
Still, performances like this are encouraging. Grupe was too inconsistent last season. While he did hit on each of his 40 extra point attempts, Grupe missed seven field goals from distances of 29, 29, 46, 47, 51, 52, and 54 yards. Those short-yardage misses are what’s most concerning.
If Smyth can keep growing and iron out his own inconsistencies, he might just put Grupe in a tough spot. Remember, Grupe himself was an undrafted rookie just one year ago. He displaced a former Pro Bowler in Wil Lutz. It shouldn’t shock anyone if Smyth pushes him aside by September, too. At the same time the Saints can afford to give Smyth a longer runway. He joined the team with an International Player Pathway exemption which means he can stay on the team with an extra practice squad spot until they’re confident he’s ready. We’ll just have to see how this battle plays out in the weeks ahead.
The New Orleans Saints are signing international kicker Charlie Smyth from Northern Ireland. He’ll have a great opportunity in black and gold:
Charlie has been illegally streaming NFL games from Northern Ireland since he was 16 years old. He sent an email to inquiries@NFL.com to pitch himself as a kicker when he was 18. And this year, the international program expanded to include kickers for the first time, so he was
Here’s some competition for Blake Grupe. The Athletic’s Kalyn Kahler reports that the New Orleans Saints are signing rookie kicker Charlie Smyth as part of the NFL’s International Pathway Program. Smyth hails from Northern Ireland and previously worked as a goalkeeper for County Down’s Gaelic football team.
He’s only been kicking an NFL football since August, but the 22-year-old is already good from distances of 60 yards in practice. He’ll have a chance to develop with a respected special teams coaching staff and possibly push Grupe. We’ll see if he can perform in a new environment over the summer.
The Saints haven’t shied away from adding international players before. Their punter Lou Hedley is Australian, and special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi values the different skill sets that players from foreign backgrounds can offer.
Because Smyth is joining the Saints as an IPP player, he will not count towards the 90-man offseason roster limit for training camp. Odds are stronger for him to hang on with the team’s practice squad after roster cuts in September than to unseat Grupe altogether, but you never know. Stranger things have happened in the NFL.
ANTRIM, Northern Ireland – A twinkle surfaced in Olivia Mehaffey’s eyes as she fondly recalled the last time her father graced the fairways at one of her events, the 2021 playing of the ISPS Handa World Invitational.
Philip Mehaffey hadn’t gotten out of bed in months after being diagnosed with colon cancer in 2020, but after a motorized scooter was delivered to his home in the small village of Scarva, Northern Ireland, he came to see his daughter make good in her first LPGA start.
Although she expected him to simply make a quick appearance, Olivia was utterly impressed by her father’s determination to see her play, and the support helped spur her on to a top-20 finish.
“I kept looking every fairway and I’m like, oh, my gosh he’s still here. I think he needs to go home,” Mehaffey said Wednesday at Galgorm Castle Golf Club as she prepared for the final playing of the ISPS Handa International, as it was announced this week the event was not included in the 2024 DP World Tour schedule.
“So just having him there every round was so nice for me. So I think probably just those memories and like how special it was to have him there beside me every shot, every hole.”
Soon after her triumphant home debut, Mehaffey’s life slipped into a dark place. Her father succumbed to the disease in December 2021, and the former Arizona State star – one of three Sun Devils to earn All-American honors in all four years of college – threw herself headfirst into the game as a means to deal with the pain.
To open the 2022 season, Mehaffey subjected herself to a golf gauntlet; an eight-week stretch of consecutive tournaments that saw her passport stamped in South Africa, Thailand, Australia and Spain. When it was over, her game was slipping and she was flirting with a dangerous mixture of exhaustion and uncertainty, both on the golf course and off. She finally had a self-diagnosed breakdown after pulling out of the Skafto Open in Sweden nearly a year ago.
That’s when Mehaffey knew she needed time to process what she’d been through. Away from the game she loves.
“Grief is the weirdest thing I’ve ever been through,” she told the Irish Times as part of a fascinating read. “I think that’s one of the reasons people don’t talk much about it. It’s because it’s so hard to explain. You don’t know when it’s going to come.
“I’ve had times when I’ve felt totally fine, and then all it’s taken is one thought to trigger it and I’m a mess. And in life, we’re basically taught that everything can be answered. But everyone’s experience is so different, it comes to different people in different ways and at different times. That’s what makes it hard for people to understand.”
Olivia Mehaffey and her father, Philip, and mother, Evelyn
She put the clubs down. She stopped thinking about attacking flags and started contemplating what made her tick. After months of reflection, Mehaffey posted on her personal blog at the beginning of 2023 that she was emerging from the depths she’d suffered through.
“As I look back and reflect on the last 12 months, it is easy to only see the hurt, the hard times and the tears. I still feel the scars that 2022 has given me. But I am also able to see the progress. I know where I was, the dark places I experienced alone and felt the lowest I ever have. I also see the progress,” she said. “I recognize the work I have put into getting myself out of a dark hole and the improvements, although it still isn’t where I want it to be. I am proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone, for being brave to get help and for admitting to my struggles. I know 2022 has given me the ability to have new tools and strategies that I have never had before.”
To see her this week at the ISPS Handa, back in the comfort of her homeland, is to see a player who seems to have found the balance necessary to succeed. She bounced through the media center for interviews Wednesday with the wide smile and long blonde locks that made her look native to the Tempe, Arizona, campus where she spent so many successful seasons.
Mehaffey posted a best-ever third-place finish on the LET Tour at the Ladies Open By Pickala Rock Resort in Finland a few weeks ago, and she hopes that with friends and family on hand this week, she’ll be ready to again do her father proud, even if he’s not following along on each fairway.
“At the start of the year I didn’t set any goals. Normally I set where I want to finish, order of merit, world ranking, try and win tournaments. I didn’t do any of that this year,” she said. “I just wanted to come back from my break last year and really enjoy golf, and frankly I’m doing that again, which is great. So I’m just going to keep that same mentality for the rest of the year.
“I think when you’re enjoying it you’re playing good, so that’s sort of my only goal. Try not to put no pressure on myself, no expectations, which is difficult at times to manage, but I think it’s very important.”
Mehaffey prepared for a busy stretch by employing a strategy she hadn’t been comfortable with in the past – staying away from tournament golf. When she starts her first round today at Galgorm Castle, she will have been off the road for three full weeks.
The balance seems to have put her at peace.
“It’s been nice having a few weeks off. Took the first week and didn’t play. Felt like I was getting a little bit burnt out; played a lot of golf,” Mehaffey said. “And then last two weeks just working a lot with my coach. It’s been nice to prepare for this. It’s going to be a really busy finish to the rest of the year. The LET schedule is pretty busy.
“So a lot of practicing and just really get prepared for obviously Irish Open after this as well. It’s great to have two events at home in a row.”
The traditional links courses find spots of honor on this ranking of the best classic courses in Great Britain and Ireland.
Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2023 rankings of the Top 50 classic courses in Great Britain and Ireland – built before 1960 – as determined by Golfweek’s Best raters.
The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final rating for each course. Then each layout is ranked against others in Great Britain and Ireland to produce the final rankings.
How does St. Andrews, site of this week’s Open Championship, stack up against the rest of the course rota?
Each of the 10 layouts on the modern British Open course rota score highly in Golfweek’s Best ranking of top classic golf courses built before 1960 in Great Britain and Ireland, as would be expected. But that doesn’t mean they all are equals.
Check out the rankings of each course on the modern rota below. The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce these rankings, and they are included for each course below.
Patriotism is an easy thing to embrace in a lot of places, but not so much in Northern Ireland.
Patriotism is an easy thing to embrace in a lot of places, but not so much in Northern Ireland. Half the population identifies as British, half as Irish, and that conflict has taken thousands of lives over the years.
Rory McIlroy is of the first generation to grow up in Northern Ireland largely post conflict. So the idea that he has no nationalistic sentiments whatsoever is something that ought to be celebrated, not condemned, because a generation that isn’t motivated by warped and expedient ideas of patriotism is at least an improvement on the generations who were, and perhaps still are, hostage to it.
The latest episode of Eamon’s Corner can be watched above.
International King’s Cup amateur match postponed until 2021 because of coronavirus pandemic
The International King’s Cup, an amateur competition between the United States and Ireland and named in honor of Arnold Palmer, has been postponed until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The match originally was scheduled for May 25-27 at Castlerock Golf Club in Northern Ireland, but it was rescheduled for May 26-28, 2020, at Glasson Golf Club in Westmeath, Ireland.
The United States Golf Challenge, which is owned and operated by Medalist Events, runs the event and announced the delay this month.
The 2020 U.S. team was finalized at the USGC National Championship in September at Legends Resort in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. That team will remain intact for the 2021 matches. There also will be a new U.S. 2021 team selected at this year’s National Championship on Sept. 10-12 at Legends Resort.
Both U.S. teams will compete against an Irish squad to be selected at the Irish National Championship in the spring.
Eight two-person teams from two age divisions and four flights qualify from local qualifying sites across both the U.S. and Ireland and compete in a national qualifier for a spot on their respective team.
Jamel Herring reportedly will be one of the first big-name opponents to return to the ring amid the coronavirus threat.
Jamel Herring reportedly will be one of the first big-name opponents to return to the ring amid the coronavirus threat.
The junior lightweight titleholder will defend his title on July 2 in Las Vegas, he told ESPN. No opponent has been selected. Herring had been tentatively set to face former two-division beltholder Carl Frampton in Northern Ireland but that fight fell out because of the pandemic.
The site also hasn’t been finalized, although it will be a MGM Resorts property.
“It’s fluid,” said Carl Moretti, director of boxing operations for Top Rank. “We’re on calls every day with stuff. So what we thought was happening on Tuesday is not, and what we thought was happening on Wednesday is now happening. So it just changes and changes.”
Herring (21-2, 10 KOs) won his title by outpointing Masayuki Ito in May of last year. He successfully defended with a decision over Lamont Roach in November.
The 2012 U.S. Olympian is working with trainer Brian McIntyre in Omaha, Nebraska, according to ESPN. He said he doesn’t expect to be rusty when he steps back into the ring.
“It’s funny, I actually felt good for my first sparring session,” Herring said. “So that tells you that even though I haven’t been in a gym setting, the workouts I had been doing at home during my free time, they’ve been paying off.
“So when I got back into the swing of things, it wasn’t a hard adjustment. It’s only one week, and this gives me almost a full eight weeks until the fight arrives.”
Herring won’t face Frampton in July but still wants that fight.
“That’s still the No. 1 priority, for sure,” he said. “I’m still actually shocked from the latest story that I’ve seen, where he’s not willing to fight unless he’s fighting me. If it comes around the December time frame, he will have been out for like an entire year.
“But for me, I just want to stay as busy as much as possible. I’m not getting younger as it is. So why risk coming into big fights with the ring rust on you still.”
