No Bull, we have cure for fatigue

So you've been feeling a little tired going down the final stretch. The mind is wandering, the legs feeling a little leaden and heavy. You find you're gratefully taking to the bench by the tee box while your colleagues are driving off - that energetic terrier you were on the first all but gone to ground. The beef and energy isn't quite in the drive anymore and the putts are falling six feet short or screeching across the green. But you know what's wrong. You've got golf fatigue.

Listen up. It's in the mind as well as the body and The Irish Times in tandem with Red Bull have come up with a cure. It's called Pinehurst Golf & Country Club, which was the venue for the 2005 US Open Championship and will be for this year's Red Bull Final 5 Golf Tournament.

The Red Bull Final 5 Golf Tournament for club golfers has been running successfully for the last two years. All you have to do is build a good score over the last five holes of an 18-hole competition and you could win a trip to the famous golf course.

The concept is simple and rewards the player with the best score (nett) over that final handful stretch of holes up the home straight. Statistically, those final five holes are where golfers of all standards tend to make most errors.

The format has been highly popular, with over 24,000 golfers in over 130 golf clubs throughout Ireland taking part in the club qualifying rounds in 2005, culminating in the All-Ireland finals, which took place in The Heritage and Headfort Golf Clubs last summer. The winner from each of these finals went on to represent Ireland last November in the World Final at the world-famous TPC Sawgrass course in Florida.

For this year, The Irish Times has teamed up with Red Bull to enhance the Final 5 tournament by bringing readers regular updates and results from the club qualifiers throughout April, May and June.

There will be separate women's and men's national finals this August, in Glasson GC and Headfort GC respectively. The competition is also increasing the number of qualifiers, who will represent Ireland at the world final on November 15th-19th to five (three men and two women). The package to the US for the winners will include flights, accommodation and three rounds of golf against representatives of other European countries as well as the US.

In essence, the Red Bull Final 5 is a competition within a competition. Whatever club event you are playing in, you can also incorporate the Final 5.

The tournament is going into its third successful year now and has shown a marked growth in the numbers of people taking part. It has gone from 18,000 in the first year, 2004, to last year's entry of 24,000. Since the women's only competition was introduced last year, the competition really lifted in the numbers taking part.

The Irish Times input will involve reports on the last Tuesday of each month in our golf supplement, including any interesting facts, and a list of that month's qualifiers as well announcing the finalists and coverage of the final.

Red Bull has continued to support the game at grassroots and professional level throughout 2006 and in recent years the company has given the cream of Irish junior talent and Irish professional golfers the opportunity to take part in the Red Bull Masters class with Tiger Woods' former coach and current Sky Sports golf commentator Butch Harmon and his brothers.

For further details check out www.redbull.ie.