The qualifying rounds of the men’s and women’s Isle of Man Golf Championships sponsored by Okell’s took place at Mount Murray Golf Club over the weekend. 

A field of 16 men have qualified for the match play stage which begin this evening (Tuesday), while four women qualified for the semi-finals which will be played on Friday. 

Defending champions and looking for a third title in a row were Robert Noon (Mount Murray) and Kayleigh Dawson (Peel) who both got passed the first test. 

Noon shot 71 and 72 to qualify comfortably with the second best total on the day, while Dawson was the leading qualifier in the women’s event. 

Topping the men’s qualifying was Daryl Callister (Castletown) with a level-par total of 142. The four members of last year's Island Games team filled the top four spots in qualifying, with Liam Cowin (Castletown) and island stroke play champion James Arneil (Ramsey) Noon and Callister. 

Scoring proved difficult with a total of 154 being required to make the top 16, with past champions Julian Sutton and Jon Corke missing the cut by one shot.   

Robbie Noon was the second highest qualifier for the Isle of Man Men's Golf Championships on Saturday, finishing second only to Daryl Callister (Photo: Isle of Man Golf)
Robbie Noon was the second highest qualifier for the Isle of Man Men's Golf Championships on Saturday, finishing second only to Daryl Callister (Photo: Isle of Man Golf) (Isle of Man Golf)

Draw for the first stage of the match play: 

4.30pm Robert Noon v Freddie Dancox  4.40pm Chris Kneen v Daryl Callister  4.50pm Mark Sutton v Stephen Skillicorn  5pm Peter Glover v James Arneil  5.10pm Danny Foulis v Joe Raeside  5.20pm PJ Vermeulen v Kevin Moore  5.30pm Andrew Challenor v Liam Cowin  540pm Neil Caine v Scott Donald    There are no fewer than six former champions through to the match play stages but it will be difficult to predict a winner of any of the matches over 18 holes as you don’t always have to play your best golf to win match play. 

Aggressive golf can be rewarding with birdies and eagles winning holes, but if you are too aggressive and get in to trouble then you can lose a hole to a par or even worse. 

Freddie Dancox is an aggressive golfer and if it all comes off then Noon will have a tough task to move on into the quarter-finals. 

The most interesting fixture is Chris Kneen v Daryl Callister who were the main protagonists in their junior golfing days. Kneen usually got the better of Callister back then, but with the latter being an ex-Mount Murray resident his knowledge of the greens may tip the advantage in his favour. 

Neil Caine set up a clash with Scott Donald after making the cut in Saturday's qualifying (Photo: Isle of Man Golf)
Neil Caine set up a clash with Scott Donald after making the cut in Saturday's qualifying (Photo: Isle of Man Golf) (Isle of Man Golf)

All the matches should be good and the course is a credit to head greenkeeper Gary Corlett and his team. 

Hopefully there will be a good turnout to watch what will be exciting golf.  Scores from the course will be available at https://www.isleofmangolf.im/website/go.php?id=47&page=6   

The women’s qualifying saw Dawson being joined by Emma Noon (Mount Murray), Shirley Price (Port St Mary) and Rowany captain Diane Neale in the semi-finals.  

It was close for the final place, with Karen Faragher (Port St Mary) and Kelly McMullin (Douglas) in contention until the last six holes before agnosingly missing out. 

The preview for the women’s semi-finals plus the latest from the men’s match play will appear in Thursday’s Manx Independent. 

The net competition was won by Chris Nicholson and Kayleigh Dawson, with the Bob Cowin Trophy for best over 50 going to Peter Glover and the Graham Cairns Trophy for best under-21 being won by Freddie Dancox. 

Kelly McMullin was in contention for a place in the women's semi-finals going into the last six holes but fell just short in the end (Photo: Isle of Man Golf)
Kelly McMullin was in contention for a place in the women's semi-finals going into the last six holes but fell just short in the end (Photo: Isle of Man Golf) ( Isle of Man Golf)

Thanks go to Comis Mount Murray for hosting the event and to Shirley Strathdee and Vicky Noon who put a long shift in over the weekend along with Bob Quilliam and Isle of Man Golf president Stephen Worthing for helping make it a successful weekend. 

ANDREW HORNE

Emma Noon followed in the footsteps of her brother Robbie by booking her place in the latter stages of this year's island golf championships (Photo: Isle of Man Golf)
Emma Noon followed in the footsteps of her brother Robbie by booking her place in the latter stages of this year's island golf championships (Photo: Isle of Man Golf) (Isle of Man Golf)