*Libby Fleming.
THIS Saturday sixty golfers will make history at Lahinch when the first ever Women’s South of Ireland takes place on the County Clare links.
Flying the Clare flag among them will be Sarah Cunningham of Ennis Golf Club and Aideen Walsh a member of both Lahinch Golf Club and Woodstock Golf Club.
Libby Fleming is one of those vying for the Vaughan trophy and ten months after relocating from USA’s west coast to Kilkenny, she feels very much at home in the Irish countryside.
The 23-year-old who came through Texas Tech alongside Ludvig Aberg and Shannon Tan had planned on taking a step back from competitive golf but could not turn down the chance to be part of history.
“I’m so excited because it’s more opportunities in the Irish amateur scene and it’s only getting stronger. I was in college with Beth Coulter, Áine Donegan and Sara Byrne and I got to meet them two or three years ago for the Irish Close and they’re all doing such good things for Irish golf. It’s inspiring a lot of the younger girls and to have even more opportunities to play on competitive circuits, and also 54 holes.
“Then the affordability of it and being able to play Lahinch, to play in competitive environments at great golf courses. It’s exciting and I hope the girls travel and appreciate what goes on in the background. Participation is only going to increase with this format and it’ll make the Irish amateur scene stronger and hopefully representation on the bigger stages down the line,” she added.
Fleming hails from Elfin Forest in California, her mother, Megan, is English while her father, Patrick, was born and raised in Paulstown, Kilkenny. He emigrated to USA when he was in his late teens and the pair met in Dallas, Texas before they moved to San Diego where Libby and her sister, Phoebe, were born.
Patrick Fleming is a huge golf fan but Libby had contemplated a pathway through the ranks in soccer before she focused her efforts on the smaller ball. “I grew up playing soccer. I always thought I was going to be a professional soccer player and it was my whole life until I was 12, when I picked up a golf club and never put it down.
“So I quit soccer and I played Gaelic football as well for some teams in California and I’m back playing that now too. I played every sport growing up, but it was always soccer and then it just became golf and Gaelic football. My dad is addicted to golf. He plays five days a week and I would only go out with him once every six months when I was younger, I just didn’t like it and then one day he said I had a God-given talent and I was like, okay, I’ll do it and I loved it since. I love the individual side of it, I can’t rely on anybody else, can’t blame anybody else. I have the most control over it, even though we really don’t, but it feels like we have some sort of control”.
Fleming initially committed to San Diego State University but would end up attending Texas Tech for her studies. She completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing at the Rawls College of Business and that gave her the perfect platform when she arrived in Ireland last summer.
The 23-year-old joined up with Baxter Edits for content creation and social media storytelling and Pitch Ireland as a Graduate Marketing and Operations Associate. She helped to launch the Pitch Women’s Academy in Dublin before she left them in February and has since focused her efforts elsewhere. “PSD Agri is a seed fertiliser farm, agricultural supplier, and I do their social media and I go to the horse races with Baxter. I’m still getting better at it,” said Fleming.
“There’s a lot of opportunity in Ireland for sports content, storytelling, social media marketing, so I’m diving into that now and seeing what opportunities are out here. I started in agriculture and I don’t know a thing about agriculture. I appreciate farming so much more since. It’s really fun working with them. I was very new to it. I hadn’t touched or worked with a camera, hadn’t worked with editing software, but definitely learning as I’m going and it’s getting a lot better. I don’t know a thing about horse racing either, but I know what looks cool on camera, and I know what people want to see, so I’m doing okay with it, but I’m only a beginner”.
Having taken her mind off competitive golf for a few months when she first arrived in Ireland, now she returns with a fresh perspective around playing on the women’s circuit.
The Kilkenny golfer comes back at an opportune moment when women’s golf has received a further boost as the South of Ireland kicks off an historic schedule in 2026.
Castle Dargan will play host to the West of Ireland on the June Bank Holiday weekend before the East goes to Woodbrook on 12 and 13 June and finally, the North of Ireland in Lough Erne at the end of June.
“When I came over first I was just going to play in some of the amateur tournaments, and I did and I just didn’t play well,” said Fleming. “I thought it was going to be different, and it wasn’t, but it really enticed me to see what else I could do because I had a good degree and I just wanted to put the clubs away. I had never taken a week off golf for the last eight years before that and then I basically didn’t touch a club from September to December.
“It was a good reset, I’m in a totally different mindset. It’s just fun now, nice to be outside. Being inside working at a desk for eight or nine hours a day, just itching to be outside again”.
And Fleming is in red hot form coming into this week, fresh off her runner-up finish behind Shannon Burke at the Cork Scratch Cup last Saturday.
“I bought into a whole different perspective after taking four or five months off. I’m just out there having fun and there’s really no pressure on it anymore. I put professional golf in the back of my mind now,” said Fleming. “I used to think that was all I had, that’s all I could do, but since I moved to Ireland in June and then working and seeing different things, I can do something else. But I would love for golf to still be a big part of my life, especially in this country, it’s so much more affordable and we play such good courses, so it’s a good balance right now”.
