Two Tipperary Men elected
Myles McMorrow (Lakeside) was elected unanimously as President of the Pitch and Putt Union of Ireland at Annual Convention in Athlone on 27 February. Myles becomes just the third man (joining P.A. Murphy and Liam Houlihan) to serve two terms as P.P.U.I. President.
Myles captained the Ireland team that won the 2001 Europeran Team championship at Lloret Papalus.
He has been one of the most high profile and hardworking administrators of Pitch and Putt over the past two decades, working first (and still) at local level in Tipperary and in Munster, where he was provincial President in the 1990s. Myles was elected Vice President of the PPUI in 1998 and became the Union's sixteenth President in 2001. Having served as a close ally of his successors, Billy Lynch and Frank Smith, Myles now assumes the Presidential role again.
Myles promises an open and transparent term as President and he takes the reins again as the Union's registered numbers show a welcome uplift on 2008 figures. Myles will once again be joined on the P.P.U.I, National Executive Council by his wife Helen, who was re-elected as Registrar.
Sean Keane of Tipperary Hills was elected unanimously as Patron of the Pitch and Putt Union of Ireland. Sean has been synonymous with the game of Pitch and Putt for the last 40 years and it was a fitting reward for his sterling service to the game in Tipperary Hills and also with Tipperary Co Board.
Tipperary Hills has a place in the Keane household that will always be cherished. Involved since the early 70's, Sean and his committee brought Tipperary Hills to extremely high standards. The course was always impeccably prepared and their hospitality was famous. It almost broke Sean's heart to see the course close in late 2005.
In his speech to Convention, he spoke of his own personal illness. Two years ago Sean lay in the intensive care unit in the Mater Hospital in Dublin. Thankfully, his condition improved and in November 2008, he received news that there were plans in motion to reopen the course. Sean overcame his own adversity and took on a new challenge with the new committee led by Michael Brennan to re-establish Tipperary Hills once more. This dream was finally realised in August 2009 when the official reopening of Tipperary Hills took place. That night, the club Committee acknowledged his years of tireless work and announced that he would be President of Tipperary Hills, an honour he so greatly appreciated.
Sean now joins the elite few of have become Patrons of the Pitch and Putt Union of Ireland. It truly is a deserving honour for a man who has dedicated over half his life to promote, foster and develop the game of Pitch and Putt.
(with Paul O'Brien, Public Relations Officer, Tipperary Pitch and Putt).
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