By SHAY KEENAN
Five for British Amateur event
THE five players selected by the Golfing Union of Ireland to compete in the British Amateur Championship at Hillside and Hesketh Golf Clubs from June 13th to 18th are: Paul Cutler (Portstewart), Alan Dunbar (Rathmore), Andrew Hogan (Newlands), Dermot McElroy (Ballymena) and Reeve Whitson (Mourne).
AUGUSTA State won their second straight NCAA golf title on Sunday, beating Georgia in the final at Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Jaguars, who compete in Division Two in all sports except golf, had victories from Patrick Reed, Mitchell Krywulycz and Carter Newman to win the final 3-2.
Three Irish in BI side but Maguire a surprise omission
THREE Irish players have been named in the team of nine to represent Britain and Ireland at the Vagliano Trophy against Europe at Royal Porthcawl, Wales, on June 24th and 25th.
Irish Close champion Danielle McVeigh from Royal Co Down, Portuguese champion Leona Maguire from Slieve Russell and Stephanie Meadow from Royal Portrush, who will make her debut, join Amy Boulden (Wales), Holly Clyburn (England), Louise Kenney (Scotland), Kelsey MacDonald (Scotland), Pamela Pretswell (Scotland) and Kelly Tidy (England) on a team in which there are five new caps.
The big surprise, however, was the omission of Lisa Maguire, who was named as first reserve. The ILGU chief executive, Sinéad Heraty, said: “While the ILGU are extremely proud of Leona, Danielle and Stephanie and their selection to represent GBI we are also hugely disappointed at the omission of Lisa Maguire from the nine-strong team.”
Heraty said the Irish union will write to the LGU, asking them to explain the rationale behind the selection of this team.
Maguire is the Spanish Amateur champion, having beaten fellow Curtis Cup team-mates McVeigh and Clyburn on her way to victory. Maguire is 31st in the world rankings, above six of the nine players chosen ahead of her for the match in Portcawl. The team captain is Tegwen Matthews.
Sheehan's year gets even better
JOAN Sheehan is already having a memorable year as Lady Captain of West Waterford Golf Club, but recently it got even better for the 16 handicapper when she won John Keane’s Captain’s Prize to Ladies.
On a tough day for scoring the Lady Captain made light of the testing conditions to score a very impressive 39 points and take the top prize. That gave her a two-shot winning margin over Joanne Barron, with Ben Flynn third on 36 points, while Jean Conway was the gross winner.
Sheehan’s big day herself is on June 17th and 18th when she hosts her own Lady Captain’s Prize.
JAMES McCleane hosted one of the earlier Captain’s Prize competitions at Faithlegg Golf Club on Sunday last. In pleasant conditions, on the championship course, former League of Ireland official Tony O’Neill secured the ultimate amateur prize in club golf with an excellent round of 43 points.
The youngest member of the O’Neill refereeing family started his run for the title with a birdie at the par-three sixth. Using a hybrid he knocked his drive very close to the pin, in recalling the shot during his acceptance speech, Nailer commented “that as soon as I hit it, I knew it was inside 10 yards”.
Chance to play against Rory McIlroy
A CHANCE to play against European Ryder Cup star Rory McIlroy is up for grabs in an innovative and exciting competition launched by SKINS, the PGA’s official suppliers of compression wear for golfers.
The King of Skins competition is open to all amateur golfers and requires pairs of them to register as many nett birdies as possible over 18 holes in a bona fide club tournament.
It will be staged during the summer months and the pair recording the highest number of nett birdies in each of the PGA’s seven regions, including Ireland, will scoop a prize most amateur golfers would pay a fortune for.
The prize on offer is a day’s golfing with McIlroy at The Belfry, the iconic venue that has staged the biennial Ryder Cup match with the Americans a record four times.
They will play the famous Brabazon course and take on one of the world’s most exciting young golfers in a Skins contest on at least three of its holes.
As well as offering golfers the chance of a day to remember, the King of Skins competition aims to raise money for Unicef, McIlroy’s nominated charity.
To that end, the £10 (about €11.50) it costs each pair to enter the competition via a dedicated website – www.kingofskins.net – will go to Unicef.
Thomas wins with course record
IS there a better way to win a club major than shooting a course record? Perhaps not. It’s what all golfers would dream about. Yet that is exactly what happened at Tramore Golf Club on Sunday.
On offer was Frank Fox’s President’s Prize and 200 members teed off in the hope of landing the much-coveted prize.
Despite a tough scoring day, the honours went to scratch golfer Alan Thomas, who shot a superb course record of 66 in returning 42 points to win what was the club’s first major of the season.
Thomas just pipped Barry Herterich to the top prize on a countback after the 17-handicapper also recorded 42 points. In third spot was David Ryan (13) with the best of the 40 points ahead of Chris Gormley (10), while Ray Hurley (20) was fifth on 39.
The gross prize went to Chris Butler (1) with 35 points, but all the talk of the day was the wonderful course record of Thomas.
Great Irish Links Challenge success
SOME 250 golfers from around the world participated in the inaugural Great Irish Links Challenge which was held recently over the links at Ballybunion, Lahinch and Doonbeg. Despite some really challenging weather the event was a huge success and already a date of May 14th has been agreed for next year.
A feature of the event was three holes in one over the three days. Darius Rucker (a member of rock group Hootie and the Blowfish) aced the 16th at Lahinch, while Marshall Mize recording his ace at the eighth in Lahinch. Indicative of the conditions was Alan Farnsworth’s ace at the par-three ninth in Doonbeg – courtesy of a driver!
The event was played on a team basis at the three courses. The winning total was 199 points – a great score given the testing conditions. The winning team of Jimbo Covert (Florida), Joey Marino (South Carolina), Al Perkins (New Hampshire) and Dan Drawball (Pennsylvania).
