A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Hogan and Scanlon battle back
A COUPLE of weeks back it was Michael Hoey who was celebrating on the Swilcan Bridge following his stunning Dunhill Links Championship victory. Well this week it was David Hogan and Gary Scanlon who were basking in the glory following victory in the Holmpatrick Cup at St Andrews.
After shooting 41 points on the opening day’s play on the New Course, the Esker Hills pairing of Hogan, who plays off eight, and Scanlon, a five handicapper, were trailing first-round leaders John Lawlor (9) and Gavin Rylands (11) by two points.
However, they battled back to turn it around on day two over the Old Course as they shot an impressive 43 points over the famous links course to eventually hold off the strong challenge from Loughrea duo of Cathal Madden (4) and Charlie Donellan (9) and Charleville’s John Hayes (14) and Tony Davoren (15) to win the Holmpatrick Cup “Race to St Andrews”, with three points to spare on a total of 84.
Trainor finishes race in style
BARRIE TRAINOR finished in style to win the €10,000 bonus in the season-long Lexus Race to Mount Juliet in association with PING and Fáilte Ireland at Mount Juliet over the weekend.
The Warrenpoint golfer produced two fantastic rounds of 68 and 70 to finish on six-under-par 138 to win the season’s final competition by four shots from Headfort’s Brendan McGovern, who shot 68, 74 for 142 and also clinched the Irish Order of Merit from last year’s winner David Higgins.
Following 38 qualifying events in the Irish PGA Order of Merit there were less than 600 points separating Trainor from last year’s winner Higgins at the top of the leaderboard with Damian Mooney also in with a chance of clinching the title in the season-finale 5,000 points adrift from the leader.
The winner won €4,000 on the day and received the €10,000 bonus with second and third places receiving cheques for €5,000 and €2,500 respectively.
The top eight golfers in the Order of Merit gain automatic qualification to the 2012 Irish Open and the PGA play-offs in Antalya, Turkey, include Barrie Trainor, David Higgins, Damian Mooney, Michael Collins, Simon Thornton, Mark Staunton, John Kelly and Mark O’Sullivan.
Charleville's Hehir takes Gold Pin
EITHNE HEHIR (Charleville) won the Gold Pin, while Evelyn Duggan (Castlebar) won the Silver Pin in wet and windy conditions at the ILGU Silver and Bronze Medal finals at Headfort Golf Club in Kells last Monday.
Brid McCarrick (Mullingar) was second best with 74 in the Silver finals, while Adrienne Crowley (Woodbrook) took the best gross prize after an 84.
The Bronze finals saw Sandra Barnett (Naas) finish an impressive second on 77, while Bernie ODea (Adare Manor) fired the best gross of the day.
The winner of the silver and bronze medals in each club is the player who returned the lowest aggregate of four nett scores in ILGU medal competitions run from January 1st to September 30th.
A total of 124 players took part in the silver medals over the New Course at Headfort, while 117 bronze players took to the fairways on the Old Course.
Irish out of luck in Skins Fourball Championship
THERE was no luck for the five Irish pairings hoping to gain success in the recent Skins PGA Fourball Championship, which was played at Forest Pines Golf Course in Lincolnshire.
Best of the Irish contingent were Colin Clancy from Castle and Michael McDermott (Pure Golf) who were in a tie for 19th place. They began with a superb opening round of 64 and followed it up with a 72 and 71 to finish on 12 under par in the 54-hole event.
A shot further back on 11 under par and in a tie for 21st place were Patrick Devine (Royal Dublin) and Eamonn Brady (Clontarf) who shot rounds of 73, 67 and 68.
Lee Owens (Killiney) and Paul McDonald (Paul McDonald Golf) were the only other Irish pairing to make the 36-hole cut and eventually finished in 25th place, following rounds of 69, 71 and 73.
David Ryan (Cahir Park) and Graeme Dunlea (Adare Manor) along with Richard Creamer (Tuam) and Kevin Foy (Stepaside GC) missed the cut.
The event was won in spectacular fashion by the Scottish pairing of David Orr and Paul McKechnie who came from four behind going into the final round to shoot an incredible 13 under par round of 60 on the last day – which included just one bogey.
That left them on 23 under par and three strokes clear of the English duo of Matt McGuire and Mark Sparrow.
Phelan finishes joint 14th in US
KEVIN PHELAN from Waterford finished joint 14th in a field of 84 players at the recent Brickyard Collegiate Championship at The Brickyard, Macon in the state of Georgia.
Phelan had rounds of 69, 74 and 75 for a two-over-par total of 218 over a long par-72 course measuring 7,175 yards.
Further down the field, tied 61, was former Scottish schoolboys champion Chris Robb (Tennessee-Chattanooga University) from Banchory.
Robb, a member at Inchmarlo Golf Club, had disappointing scores of 79, 74 and 77 for a total of 230 – a long way short of the true potential of Robb who won on the US college circuit last college year.
Winner by four strokes was Brooks Koyepka (Florida State) with three excellent rounds of 66, 70 and 69 for 11-under-par 205.
Georgia Tech (848) won the team title ahead of Florida State (865) and North Florida (868).
* THE team to represent Ireland in the biennial Carey Cup Matches against the Metropolitan Golf Association of New York (MGA), at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, New York starting today is: Alan Dunbar (Rathmore), Niall Gorey (Muskerry), Aaron Kearney (Castlerock), Gary McDermott (Co Sligo), Dermot McElroy (Ballymena) and Richard ODonovan (Lucan).
O'Donovan takes spoils in Rosslare
THE Rosslare Winter Alliance held the first of their six outings last Sunday week in glorious sunshine and despite a strong breeze providing a testing challenge for the competitors a score of 34 points saw Craddockstown’s Eoghan O’Donovan take the spoils in the gross category. Wexford’s Anthony Corish was the winner in the nett category with 40 points over the testing Links course, while team winners were Luke Kelly, Jason Lawlor, Colin Furlong and Gavin Sheehan on 47 points.
The next outing of the Alliance takes place on Monday, November 7th. For places on the timesheet contact Johnny Young at Rosslare GC on 053 9132032.
