Ireland's two US Tour rookies, Richard Coughlan and Keith Nolan, will bring their respective quests for a first pay cheque to the United Airlines Hawaiian Open in Honolulu this week, grateful to leave the rains of California behind them.
Indeed, those rains could lead to a long-term disruption for the Irishmen. The US Tour's decision to reschedule the third and final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am until August 17th (instead of its intended new date of March 2nd), could impinge on any desires the Irish pair may have to play in the Smurfit European Open in August.
Both Coughlan and Nolan were - and, in fact, are, assuming they complete the third round - in line to win prizemoney in that particular event, which two weeks ago fell victim to the rains of El Nino. The final round will now be played the day after US PGA Championship concludes in Seattle. The European Open takes place at The K Club on August 20th-23rd and the logistics of either Irishman being able to travel home in time from the US west coast is debatable. By then, the pair will be aware how crucial or not that prizemoney will be to them in their efforts to keep their tour cards.
More immediate concerns, however, centre around this week's Hawaiian Open where Coughlan and Nolan will endeavour to complete all four scheduled rounds and pocket some prizemoney.
Despite their failure to survive the half-way cut in the Buick Invitational in San Diego - where Scott Simpson beat Skip Kendall in a sudden-death play-off for the title after the tournament was reduced to 54 holes - Coughlan and Nolan headed off to Hawaii in good spirits and citing the failure to get any practice rounds prior to the Buick as the main reason for their problems.
As Coughlan said: "I'm hitting the ball well . . . and I'm stroking the putts well, so it's just a matter of getting a break here and there."
One man who won't be playing in Hawaii is Tiger Woods, who retains his world number one ranking after finishing in tiedthird position in San Diego. Woods still tops the rankings but Greg Norman, who won his own tournament in Sydney, and Ernie Els, who won in South Africa, have closed the gap. Norman is less than half a point behind Woods, in fact.
Irish champion Ken Kearney has been selected as part of the European team which will compete in the inaugural inter-continental amateur tournament in Perth, Australia, on April 23rd25th. The match will feature teams representing Europe, Asia and Australasia. The winners of this year's Golfaid for Telethon's "People in Need" will win golf and dinner at The K Club for 72 members, as well as raising funds for charities in their area!
Last year's Golfaid, which was won by Elm Park who completed the fastest round of golf in Ireland in 15 minutes and 52 seconds, raised £85,000 for charity. This year's event is being supported by Dunnes Stores and the four clubs with the fastest qualifying times will take part in the final at Mullingar on April 22nd.
Former international Tony Hayes (Hermitage) has been appointed captain of the Leinster team, succeeding Mark Gannon (Co Louth) who will be a national selector this season. John Long (Rosslare) has been re-appointed captain of the Leinster youths' team.
