Elite men head for the Brabazon

Amateur Scene News round-up: While new Irish Open Amateur champion Noel Fox takes a week off, there will be no rest for six other members of the Irish Elite squad as they prepare for the Brabazon Trophy, which begins at Hunstanton Golf Club, Norfolk, on Friday.

John Foster (Ballyclare), Justin Kehoe (Birr), Andrew McCormick (Clandeboye), Michael McDermott (Stackstown), Colm Moriarty (Athlone) and Michael McGeady (City of Derry) will take their places in the star-studded line-up. Three Walker Cup players and 16 members of the squad for the 2003 matches will line-up in a strong international field.

Nigel Edwards from Wales and England's Gary Wolstenholme, the only survivors of the victorious Britain and Ireland Walker Cup side in America two years ago not to have turned professional, will be in action at the East Anglia course, along with Philip Rowe, who helped beat the Americans at Nairn in 1999.

The other Walker Cup candidates from the 2003 squad in the draw are Stuart Manley (second to Fox at Royal Dublin), Rhys Davies and Lee Harpin from Wales, Scotland's Jack Doherty and Graham Gordon, Moriarty and Kehoe from Ireland, and the English sextet of Matthew Richardson, Richard Walker, Jonathan Lupton, Graeme Clark, Richard Finch and Michael Skelton.

As in Royal Dublin last weekend, there is a strong overseas entry, including players from Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Portugal, Finland, Iceland, Spain, Belgium, Germany and France. One of the top continental challenges is likely to come from Switzerland's Raphael de Sousa, the 2002 Carris Trophy winner.

Meanwhile, in the US collegiate scene, two Irish players are again to the fore as qualifying for the NCAA finals in Karsten Creek, from May 27th-30th, reaches its climax. North of Ireland champion Gareth Maybin and former girls champion Martina Gillen from Beaverstown have been rewarded for their excellent golf this season.

The NCAA Division I men's golf committee announced during the week that the University of South Alabama players Maybin and Ryan Gildersleeve have been selected to compete in the NCAA East Regional in Auburn, Alabama.

Maybin enters the NCAA Regional seeded as the number one individual in the region. The sophomore has recorded three tournament titles this season and has finished in the top 10 in eight of the 11 tournaments in which he has competed.

Gillen was named on the 2003 Academic All-Mid-American Conference (MAC) team. The Beaverstown player helped lead Kent State (Ohio) to its fifth consecutive MAC title in as many years last month.

Gillen, a junior business management major, made her second successive appearance on the team with a 3.250 grade point average. She was named one of Golf World's top-50 college players to watch two years in a row, and has had seven top-10 finishes this season, including a second place finish at the MAC Championships.

For her efforts, she was named on the All-MAC first team for the third consecutive year. She currently has a 75.94 stroke average, which is good for second on the team and the conference, and was named the MAC women's golfer of the week during April.

Gillen is also one of six players named by the ILGU to compete in the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship at Lindrick GC from June 10th-14th. Gillen is joined by Claire Coughlin, Tara Delaney, Maria Dunne, Tricia Mangan, Heather Nolan and Marian Riordan for the trip to Lindrick. Mangan, Gillen and Delaney will also compete for the team award.

Danielle McVeigh (Royal Co Down) and Emma Gilmore (Mountbellew) will take part in the European Young Masters Championship in Augsburg, Germany, from July 24th-26th. The team captain is Helen Sweeney.