Ireland ready to end 50-year wait to host European Amateur Team Championship
The top 16 nations in elite men's amateur golf are in the Kerry town to play Killarney's renowned Killeen course this week with the first of two days of stroke play getting underway on Tuesday morning to be followed by three days of match play as teams battle for medals or strive to avoid relegation to Division 2.
Surprisingly it is only the second time that Ireland has hosted this prestigious European Golf Association tournament that has provided a stepping stone on the route to professional stardom for the likes of Team Europe Ryder Cuppers Jon Rahm and Ludvik Aberg as well as Irish major winners Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry.
It is 50 years since these shores welcomed the European Amateur Teams Championship and so it is fitting the event should return to the club where it was first staged here, and Kennelly could not be happier.
The Golf Ireland CEO remembers that 1975 staging because his father Colm was in charge of score recording during that week half a century ago.
'It's the only golf club of which I am a member,' Kennelly told the Irish Examiner.
'I'm originally from Killarney and joined when I was a child, and have maintained my membership ever since.
'Even though I lived abroad for a number of years, I always kept up my membership. There's a family connection, my dad Colm was heavily involved as both captain and president and my aunt, who's still with us was also very heavily involved, and was captain and her husband was also captain and president.
'So even though I haven't lived in Killarney since the day I went to college I still keep up the connection.
'My dad's original sport was Gaelic football. He had been an All-Ireland medal winner for Kerry back in the 50s, then took up golf in the 1960s, when he lived abroad for a while. Then he came back into Killarney and got the golf bug.
'He was captain of Killarney in 1971, which is actually the year the Killeen course opened, and where the four Irish Opens have been played and this championship will also be played.
'So it was a new-ish course for the event in '75, which I actually remember even though I was a very young child at the time, but it is one of my early childhood memories. I was seven at the time and my dad was in charge of score recording.
'I was looking at the club history and there's a picture of him at the scoreboard, but I do remember the big walkie talkies and the big scoreboard, and the other thing I remember about it, I was chatting with my aunt a couple of weeks ago, when I was home, was the weather.
'It was played in an absolute heatwave. That does stick in my memory and in fact, even though we're now 50 years on, it was originally due to be played in Killarney two years earlier but because of the security situation in Northern Ireland at the time in the early 70s, a couple of countries refused to travel and eventually the EGA withdrew the event and rescheduled it for it two years later, when all the teams came but it was a difficult time from a security point of view then.
'So it was quite a big deal. When you think in the intervening years, Killarney has hosted the Curtis Cup and the professional Irish Open four times but in 1975, this was quite a big event for the club to host.'
Kennelly believes Killarney's successful hosting of the EGA event paved the way for the club's subsequent hosting of a Curtis Cup and four Irish Opens.
'It helped put Killarney on the map. And even meeting people in the club who remember it, and whom I have come across since we secured the hosting of it, they caddied for players in 1975 and have vivid memories of it. It was quite a big deal for the club at the time to host what really is the premier amateur golf event in Europe, it was very exciting.'
Coming full circle 50 years on this week is another cause for excitement and a lot has been invested in making the 2025 edition a big success.
'First of all we had to engage in a bidding process to secure the hosting because it was quite a sought-after event. That mainly happened during 2023 with the announcement made early last year that it was being awarded to Killarney.
'We've had really great engagement with the club. Our Championships team have been down a number of times to meet with the club representative and management and head greenkeeper, and preparations have gone really well.
'The club are very excited about it. We definitely are, and it's only the second time it's ever been played in Ireland, with a 50-year intervening gap obviously, so it's very exciting for us to be going back.
'We've had fantastic cooperation from (Killarney director of golf) Colin Finlay, who has been a huge help to us, as has his team and the management committee there and the head greenkeeper.
'And credit to Killarney, they've done really fantastic course improvements on both courses but especially on Killeen and it's going to be a spectacular test. All we're hoping for now is a repeat of the weather from 1975, but I'm not sure we can depend on that.
'But this is a really special place and we're reminding people that this is really a future champions event if you look at the top players in the world, the ones from Europe representing their countries in this event before turning professional, you know, Rory and Shane but also Jon Rahm and Aberg.
'I think all but one of the European Ryder Cup team from Rome played for their countries in this event so it's really the pinnacle of their amateur career for players who go on turn professional and for leading amateurs, this is what they aspire to play in. So there's going to be a lot of a talent on display.'
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