GOLF/West of Ireland: Who's not here, as much as who is, is causing some angst among officialdom at Rosses Point, where the first "major" of the domestic season - the West of Ireland Amateur Championship - gets under way today.
The decision of Ireland's top two amateurs, Colm Moriarty and Justin Kehoe, to play in the Duncan Putter tournament in Wales rather than the West, sponsored by Standard Life, has privately angered leading officials.
Moriarty and Kehoe have decided to play in the Welsh event to further their aims of claiming berths on the Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team to face the United States at Ganton in September. What has rubbed salt into the wound is that the Duncan Putter is not one of the tournaments designated by the R&A that prospective players are expected to play in.
Ironically, the West's field has been strengthened by the presence of the Swedish squad - with handicaps ranging from scratch to plus-four - while Noel Fox, who is also on the Walker Cup squad, and who was on the Ireland team at last year's Eisenhower Trophy, has decided to play at Co Sligo rather than travel to Wales.
Declan Branigan (Seapoint) and Andrew Morris (Belvoir Park) have withdrawn from the championship, which will be defended by last year's winner, Stuart Paul, of Tandragee.
