Although Canice Screene was born and raised in England, she plays under the Irish flag.
“I’ve always felt 100% Irish,” she said. “There’s never been a part of me that’s considered myself English, even though I grew up in England. It’s always my favourite time of the year when we have events in Ireland.
“My whole family are Irish, my aunt and uncle live about 25 minutes away so I’m staying there, and my mom’s coming over to caddy. I’m really excited to start the week.”
Screene, 24, is among a field of 126 players competing at this week’s Women’s Irish Challenge at Malahide Golf Club.
Currently sitting 23rd in the LETAS Order of Merit, she has enjoyed a smooth start to the season with four top 10 finishes in seven starts.
Screene, who turned professional in January 2025 and completed a Masters in developmental psychology later that year, attributes her improved performances to being able to fully focus on golf.
“Last year, I would literally get home and then have to start working on my dissertation,” she said. “I didn’t realise how much splitting your focus doesn’t help the golf. This year, when I’m not splitting my focus, I have seen better results.
“I would probably say the two are correlated. I just love school. I’m such a nerd, so I miss not having something to learn or an assignment to do. I did psychology and African studies as my two degrees.
“I was really interested specifically in kids and also the psychology of race and growing up not white in a world and seeing how that psychologically impacts people.
“That’s definitely where I see my life going after golf. I’d like to get my PhD and study kids and race in more detail.”
After playing majority of her 2025 season on the LET, Screene is back on the LETAS and aiming to score her first professional victory.
She said: “I played a lot on the LET and my confidence took quite a knock after feeling like I was playing well, but just not seeing any results. To start the year the way that I did, I feel that has given me so much confidence.
“Getting used to seeing myself up the leaderboard, wanting to contend, and I can see the way that I now look at tournaments. I’m not just here to see how I get on. I want to win, and that’s changed with my confidence starting the year well.”
Outside of golf, Screene ran a podcast called “Let Me Tell You” after she graduated which she has since put on the sidelines but is planning to revive.
She said: “I started a podcast after I graduated because I love to talk. I joked with my friends in college, I would always start a story like, “Let me tell you.” So that’s kind of how the name came about.
“I talked a lot about how my life was going to change so much coming from playing college golf and not knowing whether I wanted to continue with golf, so that’s sort of why I started the podcast, and then it got into lots of different topics, and I absolutely loved it.
“Maybe it’s time to come back because I really enjoyed like having people on it and just talking about golf life, all different things. I’d love to get back into it, so I think maybe I’ll bring it back this year.”
For now, Screene’s immediate priority is to secure her LET card for the 2027 season by finishing in the top seven of the LETAS Order of Merit.
“I would love to get back on the LET,” she added. “I’d like to get a win this year. I’ve been close enough, and I can definitely feel it. But looking in the future, I’d like to get more established on the LET.
“Potentially also look into the LPGA. I’ve always thought that’s my end goal, maybe four or five years down the line, but for the most part this year, it’s just focusing on getting as high on the Order of Merit as I can.”
Screene will begin her first round of the Women’s Irish Challeng at 9.10am (local time) from the 10th tee alongside Sweden’s Lovisa Gunnar and the United Arab Emirates’ Hyeonji Kang.
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