Shay’s Short Game: Galbraith and Gleeson finish sixth in Buenos Aires

Galbraith and Gleeson finish sixth in Buenos Aires

Ireland’s John Ross Galbraith and Alex Gleeson finished sixth behind the Uruguayan team of Agustin Tarigo and Juan Alvarez in the 45th edition of the Tailhade Cup in Argentina. Tarigo and Alvarez finished on eight under par 560 at Los Lagartos Country Club in Buenos Aires to win by 20 strokes from Paraguay’s James Yoon and Gustavo Silvero (580) with France’s Edgar Catherine and Victor Veyret third on 581. Gleeson and Galbraith finished on 21 over par.

Gleeson with rounds of 74, 70, 71 and 71 for 286 was ninth in the individual standings on two over par, eight shots behind Tarigo, who carded rounds of 70, 71, 67 and 70 for 278 while Galbraith shot rounds of 77, 78, 75 and 74.

Fred Daly Leinster qualifying format to change

The format for the Leinster qualifying section of the Fred Daly will change in 2017. The Fred Daly Trophy originated in Ulster, Dr John Frazer from Balmoral presented the trophy to the Ulster Branch in honour or Fred Daly in 1973 to help promote Junior Golf in the province. It became an all-Ireland competition in 2004.

The format for the Leinster qualifying section of the Fred Daly will change in 2017 from Strokeplay to Matchplay on a home and away basis e.g. three at home and two away. All teams who do not get through to the second round will be automatically included into another Matchplay draw and conditions will be the same as stated for the Fred Daly (first round). The finals will be held at The Links Portmarnock on July 28th 2017.

Lenny made South Leinster coach

Leinster Golf has appointed Gavin Lunny from Naas as Provincial Coach to the South Leinster area. Lunny comes to the role with a strong base having set up the Naas Golf Academy back in 2006. Since then he has progressed from working with beginners to juniors, International and Walker Cup players and PGA members. Lunny is qualified to PGA ASQ Level 3 and is currently undertaking the PG/MSc at Birmingham University in sports coaching.

In his new position Gavin will undertake the delivery of a co-ordinated programme of coaching elite panels from the Carlow, Kilkenny and Waterford areas.

Leinster Elite Golf Coaching Team: Gavin Lunny (Naas), Eamonn O’Flanagan, Shane O’Grady (Black Bush), Paul Thompson (Powerscourt), Leslie Walker (Dundalk) and Johnny Young.

Maguire makes welcome return to form

Lisa Maguire made a welcome return to form last week when she played her part in Duke University’s victory in the East Lake Cup at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. The Duke women’s golf team beat Washington 3½ -1½ to win the championship. The Blue Devils’ winning points came from Virginia Elena Carta, Sandy Choi and Maguire to close the fall campaign with their first win of the 2016-17 season.

The County Cavan native has struggled with her game for a few years, falling to 1,131st in the World Amateur Golf Rankings from number 10 just five years ago. She’s been rebuilding her swing with the help of her college coach Dan Brooks and Black Bush’s Shane O’Grady at home while US based Englishman Nick Bradley was also briefly involved.

Maguire led for 10 of the first 14 holes against Eunwon Park, but the match went to all square with three holes remaining. She got up and down for par at the 16th to go ahead again but lost the 17th before a safe par at the par-five 18th gave her a one-hole win.

Alison Nicholas to captain Europe’s 2017 Junior Solheim Cup team

Victorious Solheim Cup team skipper Alison Nicholas will captain the 2017 European PING Junior Solheim Cup team, appointed by the Ladies European Tour and PING. Nicholas, who counts the 1997 US Women’s Open amongst her 16 international career titles, including 12 on the Ladies European Tour and four on the LPGA, was a six-time Solheim Cup player and two-time captain, who led the European team to victory at Killeen Castle in 2011.

“It was a great phone call and it will be fantastic to be involved with the juniors,” said Nicholas, after receiving the news during the inaugural Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi, where she is commentating on the live international television coverage.

“It was a real honour and privilege to be asked. It will be exciting to see the future of ladies’ golf and work alongside the juniors and I’m honoured to work with the Solheim family again. I went along to the 2013 match and it was fun to see such talent and I think the tournament is an important part of the players’ progress. PING want to help young people progress in the game. The players will build great friendships, have a fantastic experience and learn about being part of a team.”

The Qualifying for the 2017 PING Junior Solheim Cup begins in January, with Portuguese International Ladies’ Amateur Championship, Montado Golf Resort, Portugal (January 25th-28th) being the first of the ranking events where the top girl golfers from Europe can earn points.

The Portuguese event is the first of nine qualifiers for the biennial match to be played at Des Moines Golf & Country Club in Iowa next August.

The qualifying process runs from January until mid-July, following the European Girls’ Team Championship. The first six players in the PING Junior Solheim Cup European ranking will earn an automatic place on the European team, with the team being completed by six Captain’s picks.

All amateur events and the European Women’s Amateur Ranking will be taken into consideration when deciding the Captain’s Picks. To qualify for the European team, participants must be girls aged 12-18 years old (born 1999 or later) and must not have reached their 18th birthday prior to January 1st 2017. Prospective team members must be amateurs and cannot be members of a competitive collegiate golf programme. They must also be European citizens.

The inaugural PING Junior Solheim Cup was staged in 2002 at Oak Ridge Country Club in Hopkins, Minnesota, and has been competed for eight times, with five wins to the United States, two wins to Europe and one tie.

The list of qualifying events for the 2017 PING Junior Solheim Cup, to be held on August 14th-15th, 2017 at Des Moines Golf & Country Club, are as follows:

Portuguese International Ladies’ Amateur Championship, Montado Golf Resort, Portugal (Jan 25th-28th)

Spanish International Ladies’ Amateur Championship, Sherry Golf Jerez, Spain (March 1st-5th)

French International Lady Junior Championship, GC St Cloud, France (April 13th-17th)

Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Championship, Troon GC, Scotland (April 21st-23rd)

Allianz German Girls’ Open, GC St. Leon-Rot, Germany (June 2nd-4th)

Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship, Pale & Kenfig CC, Wales (June 13th-1th7)

ANNIKA Invitational Europe, Halmstad GK, Sweden (June 20th-22nd)

European Girls’ Team Championship, St Laurence GC, Finland (July 11th-15th)

European Ladies’ Team Championship, Montado Golf Resort, Portugal (July 11th-15th)

Hanratty impressive at Seapoint

Kate Hanratty from Donabate carded an impressive 46 points off a 25 handicap to win the ILGU Junior Medal Final at Seapoint GC. Fifty one girls under the age of 18 played in the National Final and put on a wonderful display of golf. The Silver medal went to Jennifer O’Brien (Elm Park) with 43 points while the Bronze went to Aoife Kate Leavy (Castle) with 41. Beth Coulter from Kirkistown Castle won the gross,

2016 ILGU District AGM’s

The dates and venues for the 2016 ILGU District AGMs are: East Leinster, Saturday 22nd October at Westmanstown Golf Club - 12.00pm; Ulster,Thursday, November 3rd at Shandon Park Golf Club - 2.00pm; Connacht Saturday, November 5th at McWilliam Park Hotel Claremorris - 2.30pm; Munster Saturday November 12th at the GAA Complex Mallow - 12.00pm; Mid Leinster Saturday, November 19th at Carlow Talbot Hotel - 11.30am