The Short Game

A round-up of today's other Golf stories in brief...

Cahir Park duo celebrate victory

THE 29th Lancôme Scotch Foursomes final took place on Sunday with a big field seeking glory, but in the hugely popular event victory was eventually claimed by two Cahir Park players. With a handicap of 15, Maria Keating and Katherine Fitzgerald fired an impressive 45 points.

Next up were two pairings from Dublin. The Malahide duo of Ciara Smith and Aileen Conlon claimed runners-up spot as the only other pairing with a score in the 40s.

Third spot went to Carol O'Flynn and Aoife Considine from Clontarf, who edged out Marie O'Brien of East Cork and her playing partner from Fermoy, Elaine Murphy, after both had carded 39 points.

THE Irish Association of Golf Club Secretaries held their annual match with their Scottish counterparts recently at County Sligo Golf Club.

In the two-day event the home team retained the trophy they had won 12 months ago. The Irish triumphed by 8-4.

Elite prepare for Walker Cup test

WITH less than a year to go before the next Walker Cup match, the preparations of the Britain and Ireland team are well under way, and the preliminary squad recently made a trip to the 2009 venue to get a feel for what awaits them.

Nine of Britain and Ireland's best amateurs made the trip to Merion, in the town of Ardmore, Pennsylvania: Tom Sherreard, Dale Whitnell, Shane Lowry, Paul Cutler, Steven Uzzell, Matthew Haines, Tommy Fleetwood, Sam Hutsby and Luke Goddard.

All played 72 holes during the three-day trip (September 9th to 11th), which was timed to be almost a year to the day before the next biennial clash with the Americans.

"Coming exactly a year beforehand was always the plan," said Rhodri Price, the BI team manager. "It really helps all the players familiarise themselves both with the course itself and the climate that they are likely to face during next year's match."

The Walker Cup takes place at Merion on September 12th and 13th 2009, and, with the last three matches all being decided by just a single point, it will, again, be the most eagerly awaited date on amateur golf's calendar.

Three clubs join British Open roster

CLITHEROE, East Sussex National and The London Club will all stage British Open Championship Regional Qualifying for the first time in 2010, as they join the roster of 16 venues chosen for that 150th anniversary Open at St Andrews.

Clitheroe, in Lancashire's Ribble Valley, is a parkland course first laid out in 1932 by five-time Open winner James Braid. The London Club is actually in rural Kent, a few miles away from the town of Sevenoaks. Built in the early 1990s, the Jack Nicklaus-designed course is currently the host venue for the European Open.

East Sussex National, just outside Uckfield, was host club (on its East Course) to the European Open in 1993 and 1994.

Abridge and Mere will both host Open qualifying for the first time in 2009 and feature again a year later.

Royal Dublin in the only Irish course among the 16.

Ennis fly the flag for  Ireland in European final

ENNIS, as 2007 Irish Senior Cup winners, represented Ireland in the recent European Club Trophy played at Bergish Land Golf Club in Germany, and they performed admirably by finishing in 12th position. The tournament comprised teams of three from each club, all of whom are national champions.

The Ennis team was managed by Kitty Morris, the victorious team manager from last year, and was made up of three of Ennis's under-18 stars for a number of years: Sarah Cunningham, Diandra O'Connell and Ciara Pender.

With a total of 479, Ireland finished a long way back from the overall winners, Germany, who carded 442, 10 shots clear of Austria, with Spain in third place.

Leading the individuals was Sophia Popoy with a three-round total of 218 after rounds of 71, 73 and 74, six clear of her closest challenger. O'Connell was Ireland's best scorer on 240 following rounds of 83, 79 and 78, with Cunningham on 244 and Pender on 246.

IS this a record for a single cut in competition? At Luttrellstown Castle lately, in Kieran McManus's President's Prize, junior member Philip McEntee - son of the former Meath footballer Gerry - had a superb round of 48 points, where he had nines of 41 and 40. Playing off an exact handicap of 21.0, he got cut 4.4 shots for his fantastic round and is now playing off 16.6.

Leo Keogh (15) won the President's Prize with a score of 36.

Strong U-16 team to take on England

THE Irish Boys Under-16 team to take on England in the inaugural friendly match at Bury St Edmonds Golf Club next Friday to Sunday has been chosen by the GUI.

The team is: Gary Collins (Rosslare), Graham Donohue (Enniscorthy), Paul Dunne (Greystones), Keith Egan (Curragh), John Ross Galbraith (Whitehead), Kieran Lynch (Skibbereen), Dermot McElroy (Ballymena) and Matthew McKnight (Lisburn).

The non-playing team captain is Richard Cusack (Greystones).

Paul Dunne, who has been playing golf only five years, was a member of the victorious Ireland team at the Boys Home Internationals, played at Royal County Down in August.

He has also already represented Ireland at the European Boys Team Championship, the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters and the European Young Masters.

Dermot McElroy won the Irish Under-15 Open Championship this year and finished runner-up in the Ulster Boys Championship.

Rosslare's Gary Collins won the 2007 Irish Under-15 Open Championship at Westport Golf Club.

This is the first time this friendly match has been played at under-16 and it will also be played in England next year and in 2010.

Delaney raises Kent's quota

A FULL 60 per cent of Kent State's line-up from the record-setting 2007-2008 campaign will be competing at the 2008 World Amateur Team Championships with the announcement that Tara Delaney from Carlow - a May graduate from KSU - was one of three golfers selected to represent Ireland at the competition, to be held from tomorrow until Saturday at Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia.

Delaney will joined by sophomore Martina Gavier (Cordoba), and a former classmate, Kira Meixner (Richmond, BC), who will be competing for Argentina and Canada, respectively.