SHORT GAME:THE 10th annual Irish Seniors Festival of Golf in the Algarve again promises to be a wonderful occasion, with the opportunity to play in four competitions over four courses.
The week-long trip provides team and singles competitions for men and women over four of the finest golf courses in the Algarve from March 24th to 31st.
There will be mixed team and singles events for both men and women on Pinta, Gramacho, Silves, and Alto Golf Clubs.
The Golfing Union of Ireland will be responsible for organising the draws and running the competitions.
Bookings can be made through Tony Heverin Travel, 11 North Frederick St Dublin 1 (phone: 01-8746443) and Bryan Somers Travel, Saintfield, Co Down (+44 0 2897511232).
The cost of the festival is €939 which includes flights, accommodation, four rounds of golf, a gala dinner and airport transfers.
Schneider tested by spirited Hurley
GERMANY’S Marcel Schneider won the Australian Amateur Championship on the 37th hole in a hard-fought match with Queensland’s Daniel Nisbet.
Schneider was four down in the match at various stages but rallied with birdies on four of his last six holes to reel in Nisbet.
Earlier Ireland’s Gary Hurley lost out to Schneider in the second round. The latter had held the upper hand, and was four up with five to play, when Hurley launched a spirited comeback, and the match was still alive with Hurley one down playing the last.
Indeed, Hurley looked like sending the match into extra holes until Schneider holed out from over the back of the green for a half to win the match. Hurley, along with Niall Gorey, Reeve Whitson and Dermot McElroy, will now move on to the Lake Macquarie Amateur Championship, over 72 holes, which takes place at Belmont Golf Club in Sydney starting on Thursday.
World number one Lydia Ko won the women’s championship defeating local hope Breanna Elliott in the final.
The 14-year-old, from North Harbour, New Zealand, won 4 and 3 in the 36-holes final to become one of the youngest ever winners of a tournament, first staged in 1894.
Connacht conference cancelled
THE Connacht Golf Industry Conference which was scheduled to take place in Westport on Sunday, January 29th, has been cancelled. Organiser Paul O’Neill confirmed interest in the event had not materialised amongst the golfing public in the region and he had no option but to cancel the event.
At the moment, although there is a groundswell of optimism for the setting up of a umbrella marketing organisation to cover golf in the region, the conference concept is obviously not the way forward.
O’Neill commented that he would be in touch with all 41 clubs in February with a view to launching the Ireland West Golf Clubs Association before St Patrick’s Day.
GALGORMCastle will mark the start of an exciting summer of Professional Tour Golf in Northern Ireland.
Galgorm Castle will host the EuroPro Tour international event for the third year from Tuesday, May 29th to Friday, June 1st.
First pro women’s tournament in Ukraine
THE Ladies European Tour Access Series (Letas) will make history this spring when it stages the first professional women’s golf tournament in Ukraine.
The GolfStream Ladies Open will take place at Kiev Golf Club on May 21st-23rd and will be preceded by a pro-am tournament at the same venue on May 20th.
Di Barnard, tour director of Letas, said the new event marked a significant development for the LET Access Series, which was only launched in 2010 and serves as a feeder tour to the Ladies European Tour.
“The GolfStream Ladies Open will be the first ever elite women’s golf tournament in Ukraine, the second largest country in Europe, and naturally we are thrilled to be breaking new ground by bringing some of the world’s most promising female golfers to the region,” she said.
“Letas is experiencing tremendous growth at present and we thank GolfStream and Kiev Golf Club for believing in our great product.
“It is an exciting time for the Tour and our presence in Ukraine will bring increased awareness of women’s golf as well as the fantastic facilities that the country has on offer.”
The tournament in Ukraine in May will see a field of up to 120 competitors play a 54-hole strokeplay event, which will carry a minimum prize fund of €20,000.
Leona Maguire set to defend title
SLIEVE Russell’s Leona Maguire will defend her Portuguese Amateur title when Europe’s top amateurs tee up in the 72-hole event at Montado, Lisbon, starting on Thursday.
Leona, who last year fired a final round four-under-par 68, was runaway winner in 2011 finishing 15 shots clear of Karolin Lampert from Germany and Karlijn Zaanen from the Netherlands.
There are 11 Irish players in the quality field of 108. This year sees Leona once again joined by sister Lisa, who finished 10th last year, Irish Girls’ Champion Paula Grant from Lisburn, current international Gillian O’Leary (Cork), Victoria Bradshaw (Bangor), Jessica Carty (Holywood), Sarah Cunningham (Ennis), Louise Mernagh (Woodenbridge), Aedin Murphy (Carlow), Jean O’Driscoll from Muskerry and Massereen’s Lucy Simpson.
The 82nd Portuguese Amateur marks the start of the Ladies International season in Europe and is sure to be tightly-contested amongst Europe’s elite players.
With Nairn GC in Scotland hosting the Curtis Cup in June, there will be a strong British and Irish representation with each player eager to impress the LGU selectors early in the season.
Ireland will also defend their Nations Cup having defeated France by nine shots last year.
US name final trio for Curtis Cup
THE US Golf Association have named the final three players to the eight-player team that will represent the USA at the 2012 Curtis Cup match, at the Nairn Golf Club, Scotland, from June 8th-10th
The players are: Lisa McCloskey of Houston, Texas, Erica Popson, of Davenport, Florida and Emily Tubert, of Burbank, California.
They join Amy Anderson, of Oxbow, North Dakota; Lindy Duncan, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Austin Ernst, of Seneca, South Carolina; Tiffany Lua, of Rowland Heights, California and Brooke Pancake, of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
