With Trump International Golf Club beside her name, Aoife Kelly had one of the more intriguing storylines coming into this week’s AIG Irish Women’s & Girls’ Amateur Close Championship.
The Galway native also plays out of Galway Bay Golf Club but she is a primary teacher in Dubai and it was there that she burst onto the scene and put herself in a position to feature in Roscommon.
It has been a phenomenal rapid rise for the 34-year-old who only played golf for the first time in July 2020 and has since established herself on the World Amateur Golf Rankings via some big tournament successes.
“Sport is just my thing,” said Kelly.
“You know the way some people just have a bit of a knack for sports, even coaching, there’s nothing technical about what I do.
“There probably is but I’m not aware of it, if that makes sense? I’m a very visual learner when it comes to golf.”
Kelly grew up in Renmore on the outskirts of Galway City before she moved to London to qualify as a primary teacher.
“Since I was very young I always wanted to teach kids,” said Kelly.
“I used to help out even when I was in secondary school, I would go back to my primary school and help out for the couple of weeks we had off.
“I would go around supporting the teachers at that time. It was something I always wanted to do.”
Kelly was in London for almost eight years before she got offered a job in Bahrain and a chance to move out and live independently.
However, when that fell through she decided to explore the opportunity to go to Dubai and work there instead.
She had already been introduced to the idea of golf before she made her move.
“While I was teaching in London I worked part-time in my friend’s bar, he basically just wanted me in to chat to customers so I didn’t do much but pull pints and talk to customers,” said Kelly.
“One day there was a guy sitting at the bar and he was huffing and puffing and I asked him what was wrong with him.
“He said he was trying to organise a golf social outing and I said ‘what’s that?’ He was like, when people come together and play golf and I was like, ‘could I do it?’”
Kelly was given a handicap of 25 for her first venture onto the golf course and she went to a local car boot sale to pick up her first set of golf clubs.
Her driver cost her £5, with that and the rest of her makeshift golf bag she managed to finish a brilliant second in the event.
Before she moved to the Middle East, Kelly returned home for a few weeks and her brother bought her a new set of clubs as a going away present.
Next stop was Dubai, and the next chance meeting that would really push her golf career into overdrive was with Steven Kelbrick.
Kelly had been making steady progress until one day at Trump International Dubai when she met a professional golfer out on course.
She had already won a tournament before she joined the club in 2021 and it was two weeks later, when she met up with Kelbrick on the third hole.
“I caught up with him and he said, play through and I said no you’re fine because I was obviously still nervous, I had just started,” said Kelly.
“I said sure play down with me and he hit the ball then and I was like oh my god this guy is a pro and he was a player off +3. very passionate golfer and a member of the club so we ended up going around and he quizzed me when we were on the sixth hole about what shot I was going to take and what club I was going to take off the tee.
“I told him I was going to take iron because of this and then when we got down to my shot he said what are your going to hit here now and I said well I’m going to hit a wedge because my nine could go long and long is a bad miss here.
“He started laughing and I said what are you laughing at? He said I can’t believe you are speaking to me the way you are, so new to the game, so he kind of took an interest in me then and is almost like my golf mentor since.”
By that summer Kelly was playing off a seven handicap and her game had improved immeasurably.
She worked with him for 12 months before he found her a coach, and that was Jamie McConnell at the Claude Harmon Performance Academy in Dubai.
“He is a really good coach, he’s emotionally connected and not just coach,” said Kelly.
“He texts me after tournaments, he’d look at my stats and say what went well and things like that so I started playing the ladies opens with not much expectations.
“First one was really exciting because it was the first time they put us at the back tees and that was the one that I won, I was quite proud of that.”
Kelly shot a brilliant round of 74 (+2) to take home the 2023 Ras Al Khaimah Ladies Open at Al Hamra Golf Club on 25 February.
That gave her a brilliant foundation to build on and this May she won her first WAGR event at the GEM International Amateur Golf Tour at Arabian Ranches Golf Club.
It was a huge seven-shot victory and paved the way for a return to Ireland and a chance at glory in Roscommon this week.
“I really enjoyed the WAGR event and especially winning coming back from five shots behind on the last day,” said Kelly.
“I’ve gone to Gary Madden since I came back for a couple of lessons just to see what he thought, and he was quite impressed. I’ve clicked with him really nicely and I’ve learned a lot from him in the couple of sessions I have had.
“He’s got me really excited for my future in golf and it would be huge if I won this week and I put a good bit of thanks down to him for it.
“Whether I shoot +15 or -15 it will be a great experience for me regardless so that’s how I’m feeling about it.
“It would be brilliant to get in the top 20 even, it would be awesome considering it will be my first one.”
