EISENHOWER TROPHY: Ireland handicapped throughout the tournament by being a man down due to the sickness bug suffered by Amateur Champion Alan Dunbar finally succumbed under the intense pressure and finished a disappointing joint 27th in the World Amateur Team Championships for the Eisenhower Trophy in Turkey yesterday.
Florida-based Kevin Phelan and teenager Gavin Moynihan produced spirited performances over the first two rounds at Antalya but on the final day of the weather-affected event which had to be curtailed to 54 holes the pressure finally got to both of them.
Phelan who hails from Waterford took two over par 73 and Moynihan posted a 74 which gave them a tournament aggregate of 430-two over par.
Severe thunderstorms started to cause problems for the organisers on Friday and they spilled over into Saturday and for the second successive World Championship only 54 holes could be completed.
USA won the title with a 24 under par total of 404 with Mexico second and Korea defending champions France and Germany tieing for third spot. England were eighth.
Yesterday Ireland completed their tournament on the PGA Sultan course and Phelan carded halves of 36 and 37 while Moynihan had a double bogey six on the fourth and finished with a double bogey six.
In 2014 the Espirito Santo and Eisenhower Trophies will be contested in Japan.
US TOUR: John Daly slumped to a wretched 15-over-par 86 to tumble out of contention at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.
The former British Open and US PGA major winner is fighting to earn a tour card for 2013 and was ideally placed to move a giant stride towards that goal when he shot a 63 in his second round on Friday to climb to sixth place.
But as Jonas Blixt, Brendon de Jonge and Ryan Moore marched on untroubled at the top of the leaderboard, all reaching 19 under par to share the lead after three rounds, Daly endured one of those days of which he is capable. Saturday’s score from the 46-year-old was by nine strokes the worst in the field.
CHALLENGE TOUR: Chris Doak claimed the first European Challenge Tour title of his career after he emerged victorious on the third hole of a tense play-off, beating Tim Sluiter and securing his European Tour status for 2013 in the process. The Scotsman’s win came courtesy of a three foot putt for a third successive par on the 18th after his Dutch counter-part missed an eight-footer for par.
LADIES OPEN DE FRANCE: Australian Stacey Keating came from three shots behind overnight leader Diana Luna of Italy to capture the Lacoste Ladies Open de France at Chantaco Golf Club yesterday.
With an encouraging final two rounds of 69 Ireland’s Rebecca Codd finished 15 shots behind Keating on 281.
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