Eleanor Walsh - Fighting for Fermoy
Eleanor Walsh travelled to the World Strokeplay championships at Tambre with a couple of missions on her mind. One was to claim the World Ladies Over-55 Strokeplay championship. The other was to draw attention to the current crisis that besets her home club in Ireland. Both missions were delivered. "Happy out John with the win", was Eleanor's colloquial summary when fippa.org caught up with the former Irish Matchplay champion following her impressive success on Galician soil.
"It was important for Fermoy club to be highlighted, though, with the possible loss of five holes and Fermoy course as I have known it for 50 years," was Eleanor's simultaneous sombre warning of the current travails of her local club that she has been devoted to as a member, employee and player since the mid-1970s when she joined as a very young juvenile. Discussions with Fermoy's landlord are ongoing and one hopes for a satisfactory conclusion.
Describing Tambre as a "nice course", which she'd "never seen before", Eleanor dominated the 2025 World Ladies Over-55 Strokeplay championship with a three under par 54-hole aggregate to win by a staggering seventeen strokes.
"Very hot indeed!" was Eleanor's succinct summary of the weather conditions during the June 2025 championship as temperatures soared to close to 40 degrees Celsius, conditions alien to a typical Irish summer.
Central to Eleanor's victory was a seven birdie opening round of 49. Asked to describe the round, Eleanor's reply was equally pithy and modest. "Just pitched and putted well for 18 holes(!!)", she beamed.
As one of the leading players in the overall classification, Eleanor played in the final group on Sunday with the three principal male protagonists, Teo Fernandez, Amador Rodriguez and Jorge Sarmiento. "It would have been nice to play with ladies in the final group," mused Eleanor, "but rules are rules, I suppose. Jorge was lovely though."
"I never thought of the overall," reflected Eleanor, even though she was in fourth place after 36 holes, admittedly seven behind Teo Fernandez but just three back of second place. Concentrating on the ladies category certainly paid a rich dividend.
In her typically understated fashion, Eleanor has "no plans/ambitions for the season."
"I only play when I want to play (!)" was her enigmatic parting shot!
