Nolan in fine fettle for Portmarnock

IRELAND'S hottest amateur, Keith Nolan, will return home from East Tennessee State in fine fettle for the European Team Championships at Portmarnock later this month, but not as National Collegiate champion, after he tantalisingly lost out in last weekend's NCAA Championship finals at Conway Farm in Chicago.

Nolan led the individual championship for three rounds. However. a final round 74 for a 72-holes aggregate of four under par 280 cost him dearly and, instead, the Bray golfer finished up in a tie for third place, one shot behind eventual champion Charles Warren, of Clemson, who heat Texan Brad Elver in a play-off.

Another player chasing a place on Ireland's team for the Europeans enjoyed a good championship too. Richie Coughlan, who finished on 284, assisted Clemson to third place in the team championship Both players will be competing in next week's Irish Amateur Open in Fota Island.

Two other players who participated in the NCAA Championships will be in action in Ireland even sooner. Tim Rice (Limerick) and Ricky Elliott (Royal Port rush) are in action in the Leinster Youths' Championship which takes place at Trim next Monday and Tuesday. Ballyclare's Johnny Foster, winner of the Munster youths', and Ballinasloe's Nigel Howley, who captured the Connacht title earlier this season, are seeking to add to their recent successes.

Meanwhile, Ireland's top women players are adopting a more aggressive approach to competition this season, a point highlighted by the entry of nine of them for the British Open Amateur Championship which takes place at Cruden Bay next week.

Although Irish champion Suzanne Fanagan is an absentee from the raiding party, the Irish mini-invasion for a championship won in 1985 by Lilian Behan constitutes a healthy mix. Three of Ireland's six-strong team for the European Championships next month are making the trip: Curtis Cup player Eileen Rose Power (Kilkenny), Leinster champion Hazel Kavanagh (Grange) and Scottish-based student Michelle McGreevy (Rossmore).

The other Irish competitors in the championship are: last year's Irish champion Barbara Hackett (Castletroy), Elaine Dowdall (Wexford), Sinead Keane (Curragh), Yvonne Cassidy (Dundalk), Irene Murphy (Cork) and Lilian O'Brien (Claremorris).

Five members of the successful British and Irish Curtis Cup team from Killarney last year are in the field of 126 players. The title is being defended by American Kelli Kuehne, who won at Hoylake a week after being on the losing Curtis Cup team.

The trophy cabinets at Co Sligo Golf Club were crammed with the fruits of battle after a number of successful excursions on to the fairways last season. But the next few days will tell a tale or two about their chances of enjoying similar success in 1997.

First into the fray on Thursday will be the club's women's team who are seeking a third consecutive Connacht Shield title. Co Sligo beat Ballinasloe in 1995 and Galway Bay last year - this year they face Ballinrobe in the decider. Then, on Saturday, Co Sligo, who achieved the notable double of Irish Senior Cup and Barton Shield last year, set out in defence of their Barton Shield crown when the provincial finals take place in Oughterard.