13 year old from Castlemartyr wows the pros at the Irish Open

A 13 year old young man from Cork wowed the pros at the Irish Open this month, doing himself and his dad proud.
Brady Cotter, from Castlemartyr, played at the Irish Open in Doonbeg alongside some big names in golfing – and he ended up having the best shot of the entire game.
Brady first became interested in golf when he was nine, his dad Damien explains. “He wanted golf clubs, so we got him some. We took him to the local driving range and since he loved it so much, we enrolled him in Fota Academy. I had played a bit when I was younger so I picked it up again.”
The father and son started played golf together, as Brady was so young he wasn’t able to play on his own. However, Brady showed a natural aptitude for the sport and he honed his skills so much that he was able play against adults in the club.
About six month ago, Damien applied for Brady to play at the ‘Beat The Pro’ game at the Irish Open, and his application was successful. “There were 23 picked to play on the day, I assume thousands apply.”
Brady says he was very excited when he got the news. “I was looking forward to it a lot. It was just good news.”

Clubs were provided on the day and the participants played against three pros. Damien and Brady arrived at 9am, but Brady’s tee time wasn’t until 4pm, so the father and son spent the day watching other people play.
“I knew a few of the people there from other competitions, it was good to see them,” Brady says. “I was fairly nervous as there were so many people watching. But once I got chatting to people I knew, I was less nervous.”
Brady hit the best shot out of all 23 participants, a fact he is very proud of. His shot was also shown on Sky Sports, and it received lots of compliments from the commentators and people there on the day. “The nerves were gone then and I was very happy,” Brady says.
The young man also got to meet some of his golfing heroes. “I met [American pro golfer] Patrick Reed. He was very nice. He was asking me what club I was hitting, and what I thought of the whole day so far. The two others came over to me and said ‘great shot’ and gave me high fives. It was a surreal feeling.”
Brady has big dreams for the future, Damien explains. “His plan is to go down the college in America route. That’s his ambition. We do a lot of golf competitions, he played in the under 14s Munster team this year. He’s also gotten onto the Golf Ireland performance development panel for 2026/27. That’s a huge achievement, there’s only about 20 people who get on it in Ireland,” Damien says.
The future is looking very bright for Brady – watch this space!

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