The Loop

This winner of the Major Championship Challenge is going to Ireland

If there's an easier way to win a $9,000 all-expenses-paid golf trip to Ireland, we haven't heard about it.

"I was in shock!"

That was Brendan Fehr's reaction when he found out he was the winner of an all-expenses-paid golf trip for two to Ireland thanks to his entry in Golf Digest's Major Championship Challenge.

"I've subscribed to Golf Digest long enough to know that it's owned by Conde Nast, so when Conde Nast came up on my caller ID, I answered the phone."

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Fehr, 35, of West Valley, Ariz., picked Bubba Watson to win the Masters. "I love Bubba," says Fehr. "He's an amazing person. He has such imagination around the golf course, and that's the reason he won."

Fehr was one of 953 who entered the first leg of Golf Digest's Major Championship Challenge, a fantasy golf competition based on the "five majors." (We're counting the Players Championship as the fifth major.)

Thirty entrants correctly picked Bubba Watson to win at Augusta, and oddly enough, 15 had his winning score of 10 under par, which was our first method for trying to break a tie. Of those 15 finalists, Fehr won in a random draw. (Only one person picked Masters runner-up Louis Oosthuizen.)

Each Major Championship Challenge winner from the five majors will get to choose from three themed tournaments in Ireland, donated by Carr Golf Travel, which has been coordinating golf trips to Ireland and Scotland for 22 years. Fehr got to pick from the__World Invitational Father & Daughter Tournament__ (July 9-12), World Invitational Father & Son Tournament (Aug. 8-12) and the Celtic Couples Challenge (Sept. 24-28).

"I'm taking my wife to the Celtic Couples Challenge in Killarney," says Fehr, "which is great because in October we're celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary." Fehr, a 20-handicap with Irish heritage, has never been to Ireland, but says his mom did choose to keep the Irish spelling of his first name.

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Fehr and his wife will be treated to four nights in 5-star lodging, and they'll play golf at Tralee (pictured above), Ballybunion (Old), Waterville and Dooks, three of which are on the Golf Digest's ranking of the 100 Best Courses Outside the U.S.

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"Killarney is a hub of sessions and fun," says Marty Carr, President of Carr Golf Travel. "You walk out of your hotel and you can hear the music and smell the beer coming out of the pubs." The estimated value of the prize, which includes airfare, transportation, lodging and golf, is $9,000.

Click here to register and play in one of four more chances at the three themed tournaments listed above. The grand prize winner—the one who accumulates the most prize money throughout the majors—wins a trip for four to Killarney Golf and Fishing Club in County Kerry for six nights, and five rounds at Tralee, Ballybunion (Old), Waterville, Doonbeg and Killarney.

"Golf in Ireland along the Atlantic Coast? It doesn't get much better than that," says Fehr, who feels good about his game, but thinks his wife might need to get to the range. "She's competitive, like me, and we have plenty of time, so I think we'll be OK."

--Matt Ginella