New £50,000 pro am planned for next year

A NOVEL, new tournament with a prize fund of £50,000 is to be launched by the PGA Irish Region next season. The Quinn Direct PGA Charity Trophy will be a 36 hole, two day pro am to be played at Slieve Russell on May 19th and 20th, probably two weeks after the Smurfit Irish Professional Championship.

Dates and a venue for that event have yet to be finalised but it seems likely to be retained opposite the Italian Open on May 1st to 4th. Meanwhile, the pro am will carry a top prize of £8,000 while the sponsors will be giving an additional £20,000 to the Irish Society for Autism.

The new tournament, which replaces a £15,000 pro am previously sponsored by the Quinn Group, looks certain to have a top quality professional field. Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Philip Walton, Eamonn Darcy, Des Smyth and Christy O'Connor Jnr have already committed themselves to the event.

It is being staged on the Monday and Tuesday of the week of the Volvo PGA Championship so that the European Tour players, along with qualifiers from the Irish Order of Merit, will have adequate preparation for Wentworth, which starts on the Friday.

Meanwhile, Mike Hulbert, who was reduced to putting one handed during the 1995 season, showed last weekend that he has reverted successfully to the orthodox method. Hulbert and Donna Andrews became a very effective partnership when capturing the J C Penney Mixed Foursomes tournament at Innisbrook, Florida.

The event, which was reduced to 54 holes because of rain, brought an end of year windfall of $182,500 to each of them, who were 16 under par. Andrews, winner of four tournaments on the LPGA Tour two seasons ago, struggled somewhat this season while Hulbert languished in 93rd position in the final money list with earnings of $235,131.

This gave him a modest average of $7,348 for each of the 32 tournaments in which he competed. The winning duo would have readily conceded, however, that most attention focused on the young partnership of Tiger Woods and Kelli Kuehne, who finished a stroke behind in a share of second place. It marked the professional debut of 19 year old Kuehne, who played in the Curtis Cup in Killarney.

The celebrated, big hitting pairing of Laura Davies and John Daly, finished disappointingly in a share of fifth place. But they clearly enjoyed the experience, judging from the reaction of Davies who said: "I love people like John who don't worry about the guidelines."

She went on: "But I also admire his golf. I can learn from him. For instance, he has a 64 degree wedge and Matthew (her caddying cousin) and I watched in amazement as he made it check up on a downhill landing area. We're going to get one made."

For Daly's standpoint, however, their performance mirrored a grim season.

. Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, was named to host the 85th PGA Championship in 2003. The Donald Ross designed Oak Hill, founded in 1901, has hosted many memorable events including three US Opens, the 1980 PGA Championship and last year's Ryder Cup.