The Short Game

Brothers on a mission: From an entry of 129 clubs in Leinster, Old Conna and Royal Dublin have qualified for the 2006 FBD-sponsored Barton Cup final.

The first leg takes place in Royal Dublin on Saturday next, with the first of five matches away at noon. Royal Dublin last won the trophy in 1979. This year brothers Darragh and Conor Coghlan will be trying to emulate their grandfather, Fergie Coghlan, who was on the winning team in 1979.

Old Conna were the winners in 1992 when current manager Declan Kerrigan played. On their way to the final, Old Conna defeated Delgany, Charlesland, Greystones, Killeen, Woodbrook and Kilkea Castle. Royal Dublin beat St Anne's, Beech Park, Moate, Athy, Cill Dara and Portmarnock to reach the final.

Irish pair in third place

Three putts from 25, 40 and 10 feet on the last three greens on the Roman Road course at Celtic Manor earned the Irish partnership of Paudie Ryan and James Keane third place in the International Pairs World Final at Celtic Manor, Wales, last week.

The Irish pair, from Ballykisteen GC in Tipperary, were just four points behind surprise winners, Felix Cortez and Gary Sales from the Philippines, with the French pair Robert Foort and Celine Mex taking second place.

Cortez, incidentally, is a remarkable character. Two strokes left the retired Filipino businessman paralysed down his left side for three months last year, and he feared he'd never play golf again. But he persevered, and a year on, with his employee Sales, a six-handicapper, by his side, he is a world champion. They shot 46 and 40 points over the 36-hole event to win by three.

Ryan, the vice-captain at Ballykisteen, and Keane scored an impressive 42 points on the second day to force themselves into contention, as just seven points covered the top seven pairs. The second Irish pair in the finals, Danny McGrath and Ian Pierce from Tuam, with 40 points on the second day, shared 10th place.

Castle on course

The regional finals of the 2006 Menolly Homes Ltd ILGU Inter-Club fourball will take place at Roscommon Golf Club today. Defending champions Castle have already survived two scares, first Dún Laoghaire and then Hermitage in the last round, that required extra holes, and now face last year's hosts, The K Club.

Ballybofey & Stranorlar, making a second consecutive appearance in the regional finals, face a strongly fancied Cliftonville. Waterford saw off neighbours East Cork and Callan on their way to the final eight and meet Lee Valley. And Birr, having taken care of last year's beaten finalists, Mullingar, face Mountbellew.

O'Kane leads way

Druids Glen staged a fundraising event for The First Tee of Ireland at Druids Heath Golf Course recently. The event was a three-person team event and the winning team, captained by Leo O'Kane, carded an impressive score of 74 points.

Druids Glen is the first affiliate venue in Europe and the first in Ireland to implement The First Tee Life Skills Experience, a curriculum for teaching young children valuable life skills through the game of golf. Since the launch of The First Tee in Ireland last October, over 200 children from Wicklow, Limerick and Waterford between the ages of eight and 15 have been exposed to the positive values inherent in the game of golf.

Teaching venues include Druids Glen, Rathbane (Limerick) and Faithlegg in Waterford. Sillogue golf course near Dublin Airport is set to become the latest venue to offer this unique education programme.

Information at www.thefirstteeireland.org

Counihan's record

With Dún Laoghaire Golf Club set to move to their new location in Ballyman Glen, student member Jerome Counihan earned his place in the old course's history with a course record of five-under-par 64 in last week's medal

The 23-year-old, who has just graduated from Trinity College with an Engineering degree, fired six birdies and dropped just one shot.

Counihan, who has come through the junior ranks at Dún Laoghaire, started the year playing off five and this year represented the club with distinction in Junior and Senior Cup competitions. A member of the Trinity College team in the intervarsity competitions, he has reduced his handicap to 2.9.

Family affairs

Enniscorthy GC are running two "family days" on August 31st and September 1st. The first event is a parent-and-child fourball betterball Stableford format, at €30 per pair. September 1st sees the first "sibling championship" to be run by the club. This is for teams of three brothers, three sisters, or a mix of the genders. Format will be Stableford, with the best two of the three cards to count. Entry fee is €60 per team. Booking at www.enniscorthygc.ie or phone 053 9233191.

Daly delivers

Sixteen-year-old Ronan Daly, a five handicapper from Old Conna Golf Club, Bray, demonstrated rich potential when winning the Allianz Dublin Boys Championship by five clear shots at The Grange.

Trailing Peter Keane (Greystones) by two shots after a four-over-par 73 in the wind-tossed first round, Daly raced away from the field with a 67 in the afternoon's more favourable weather, to post an impressive winning gross of 140.

Seventy-three players under 16 years of age and of handicap 16 or lower competed, with runners-up place being filled by six-handicap Simon McGirr (Hazel Grove) on 145 (76-69). Two-handicap Rob Farrell (New Ross), with rounds of 77-70, finished third on the strength of a better second round.

The best nett category went to 15-handicap Conor Croke (Hazel Grove) on 129 (66-63), five shots clear of Derek Kelly (73-61) from Sutton.

Conor O'Dwyer Pro-Am

A Peugeot 207 SE, five-door, 1.4 litre petrol for a hole-in-one is on offer to the professionals in the Conor O'Dwyer PGA Pro-Am in Kilkea Castle Golf Club on Friday next.

Top Irish professionals including Gary Murphy and Damien McGrane are in the field of 40 teams.

It is the first pro-am to be run at the Kildare course, which measures 6,100 metres off the championship tees.

The money raised will benefit the Children's Research Unit at Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin, Dublin.

McGees make mark

It was a close-run thing, but the Citywest pairing of Pat McGee and David McGee were the winners of the All-Ireland Father and Son Open Fourball at Mullingar on Saturday.

The eight (Pat) and 12 handicappers fired 44 points to win on a countback from Seán Flanagan - a two handicapper from Tullamore - and Moate's Ian Flanagan (16). In third place were Mick (8) and Ian Kennedy (13), both from Roganstown, a further point back.

There was some success for the host club as John (15) and Colin Cunning (1) took home the gross prize with 37 points.

Meanwhile, in the Eileen Leydon Sisters Trophy at Grange Golf Club in Rathfarnham on Thursday last, success went to the host club's Mary Murray (31) and Rosslare's Nell Hooper (33) with a score of 41 points. That was one better than Mena Garry (25) from Naas and Teresa Howe (29) from Glencullen, while Delgany members Rita Garvey (23) and Una O'Sullivan (24) were third with 39 points.

The gross winners, with a score of 28 points, were The Island's Gertie McMullen (5) and Marie Gotie (17).

Rogers success

Andrea Rogers - Lady President of Abbeyleix Golf Club, Co Laois, this, year - has her big day next Sunday. While that might be the highlight of her 2006 campaign off the course, she enjoyed some success last week when she won the men's committee prize.

The 28 handicapper fired 40 points to win on the back nine from Geraldine Murphy (18), while in third spot was Sylvia Donovan (29) with 36 points. The gross winner was Kathleen Kavanagh (11) with 25 gross points.

The draw for Andrea's Lady President's Prize takes place on Thursday at 9pm.

Ryder Cup volunteer

Fancy helping out at next month's Ryder Cup? Well, if so there might just be an opportunity for you. Ryder Cup Travel Services are seeking to recruit volunteers to assist in the daily operation of this event at The K Club from September 19th to 24th.

All volunteers will be able to attend the Ryder Cup matches each day. There are a few conditions: applicants must be over 18 years of age, must be flexible as to working hours and must be available for a minimum of four days (from September 21st to 24th).

All volunteers will be able to attend the Ryder Cup matches each day, while they may also attend the RCTS Celebration Evening (on Thursday and Friday).

Further details are available from helen.kelly@rcts.co.uk or by writing to RCTS at PO Box 1836, Dublin 4. Applicants are asked to include name, address, contact number and email address.