WALKER CUP: Brian McElhinney makes his debut in the Walker Cup today when he bids to help Britain and Ireland extend their record run of wins over the Americans to four matches come tomorrow evening.
And Ireland's Garth McGimpsey is determined to stay cool as the pressure heats up in the biennial clash with the US at Chicago Golf Club.
The threat of thunderstorms has eased, allowed captain McGimpsey to oversee his squad during yesterday's final practice round.
"The Walker Cup is a stressful couple of days. When I'm out there I'm feeling every shot. But there's nothing I can do about the golf and I can only keep a cool head to help the players as much as I can," said McGimpsey.
The action begins today with four foursomes matches, followed by eight singles in the afternoon.
MEN'S AMATEUR: Pre- championship favourites Ulster captured the Golfsure-sponsored Interprovincial Championship at Co Sligo after a final day victory over title holders Leinster.
Trailing 2½-1½ after the morning foursomes, Ulster players showed their true form in the singles with big margin wins for Irish champion Rory McIlroy, North of Ireland holder Gareth Shaw and former professional Jim Carvill.
McIlroy recorded his first singles win of the series when easily accounting for Brian O'Connor 6 and 5 while Carvill defeated Paul O'Hanlon by the same margin. Shaw, who finished top points scorer with six wins from six matches and threw in a hole-in-one on the 13th hole in Thursday's singles, overcame Aengus McAllister 5 and 3.
Darren Crowe halved with Des Morgan while his brother Stephen defeated Mark Campbell on the 15th before Connor Doran scored the decisive win over The Island's David Rawluk.
BRITISH BOYS: Ireland's Shane Lowry of Esker Hills bowed out of the British Boys' Championship after losing to the defending champion Jordan Findlay 5 and 4 in the semi-final.
Findlay will face Bernhard Neumann of Germany over 36 holes at the Hunstanton links today in his bid to become the first player for 75 years to retain the title.
WOMEN'S AMATEUR: Karen Delaney secured the vital half point against Catherine Tucker in the last match to ensure that Leinster retained the Interprovincial title at Royal Belfast yesterday.
Earlier in the afternoon, Munster's Tricia Mangan came from three down to beat Martina Gillen 2 and 1, Heather Nolan beat Maria Dunne by two holes and Gillian O'Leary had a good win, defeating Mary Dowling 2 and 1. Leinster, however, came back strongly with Tara Delaney halving her match with an eagle three on the 18th against Claire Coughlan and then came convincing Leinster wins from Maura Morrin, Deirdre Smith and Sinéad Keane.
Ulster clinched third place by beating Connacht 8-3.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Swedes Fredrik Widmark and Mikael Lundberg hold the top two places in the Cadillac Russian Open in Moscow. Widmark produced a second 67 to move to 10 under with Lundberg just one shot worse off with a 68.
English pair Ben Mason and Stuart Webster also both shot 68 to stand at eight under, one ahead of Spain's Jesus Maria Arruti (70) and Welshman Craig Williams.
LET TOUR: England's Kirsty Taylor followed her tour record 61 with a 68 to race into a six-shot halfway lead at the Wales Ladies' Championship of Europe at Machynys Peninsula near Llanelli. The 34-year-old stands on 15-under-par 129, with defending champion Trish Johnson, Ireland's Rebecca Coakley and Laura Davies, who had a joint best-of-day 67, tied for second on nine-under-par
SENIORS TOUR: While the small Irish contingent toiled under the Swiss sun, American Jerry Bruner stormed to a course record equalling 62 on the opening day of the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open at Bad Ragaz Golf Club.
Cork's Denis O'Sullivan was the only Irishman in red figures on a day of low scoring, finishing with a one under par 69 to lead his compatriots John Curtis of Dublin and Waterville's Liam Higgins, who are on one over and four over respectively.
PGA ASSISTANTS: David Mortimer came within a stroke of becoming the first Irishman to win the PGA Assistants' Championship yesterday at The London Club. The Newlands assistant fired a final round of 71 for a 212 aggregate, just a shot behind Matthew Tottey from North Wales. Mortimer's steady progress was halted by a double bogey at the 10th but he finished strongly with birdies at the 16th and 18th.
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