Players may count cost of missing battle of Hoylake

Noel Fox is running the risk of alienating the Royal and Ancient selectors by competing in the Irish Independent-sponsored East…

Noel Fox is running the risk of alienating the Royal and Ancient selectors by competing in the Irish Independent-sponsored East of Ireland Championship, which starts at Baltray this morning. The problem for the 26-year-old Portmarnock international arises from a clash with the British Amateur, which starts at Hoylake on Monday.

It is both unfair and unreasonable to inflict such a situation on a leading amateur player. But Fox has been left in no doubt as to where the R and A believe his priorities should lie.

"Peter Benka, the chairman of the R and A selectors, had words with me on the issue during the Lytham Trophy last month," said Fox yesterday. "Noting that I had not entered for the Amateur, he indicated that I should do so if I had aspirations of being selected for R and A teams."

Fox went on: "It's a dream of mine to play in the Walker Cup and I'm prepared to do whatever is necessary to realise that dream - in a Walker Cup year. I look on the East as an important domestic championship and I don't think it's fair that it should be downgraded.

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"In my view, good golf is good golf, whether it is played in the East of Ireland or in the British Amateur."

Indeed it is. And it would be nice to think that the GUI would be prepared to share this view in support of one of their leading players. Benka's concern has to do with the fact that the British and Irish team to meet the Continent of Europe in the St Andrews Trophy matches on Friday and Saturday, June 30th and July 1st, is to be announced next weekend. Fox can hardly be faulted, however, for setting his sights on a championship which is only 40 minutes' drive from his home in Portmarnock and which he captured in 1996 with an aggregate of 298.

Since then, he won the West of Ireland at Enniscrone in 1998, and his most recent success was in the Irish Amateur Open Strokeplay at Royal Dublin last month.

All of which makes him a formidable challenger at Baltray, where the field of 150 (handicap limit: 2.0) will have an additional six youths, nominated by the GUI. Indeed a special youths' prize will be presented this weekend for the first time.

Most of the country's leading players have opted for the East instead of Hoylake. A notable exception, however, is the American-based Tim Rice who has opted to play in the Amateur. In fact there have been 11 withdrawals from the Baltray field, which will have a halfway cut tomorrow evening before the final 36 holes on Monday.

Significantly, the line-up still includes such notable stroke players as defending champion Ken Kearney, three-time champion Garth McGimpsey and the reigning Irish Close champion, Ciaran McMonagle, who had an outstanding victory in the South African Amateur Open Strokeplay at East London in March.

Kearney, who is in action at 9.30 this morning, produced a superb performance 12 months ago, carding rounds of 69, 66, 67, 75 for an aggregate of 277 to win by six strokes.

In the process, he set a record for the 72 holes, beating the previous target of 278 by Raymond Burns on retaining the title in 1993. As we have come to expect, the Co Louth links will be in excellent condition with fast, true greens and rough cut to a sufficiently sane level to be testing rather than penal. So the good putters can bank on a similarly rewarding exercise as they experienced recently at Royal Dublin.

On current form, Fox is the player to beat, but he insists: "You could make a strong case for Ken Kearney as the best player in the country. Anybody hoping to beat him, will have to play really well."

Just like the Portmarnock player did when winning the Irish Strokeplay.