Amateur Scene: After the disappointment of the first-round defeat in the European Championships, the Irish selectors have named a strong team for the European individual championship at Nairn Golf Club in Scotland on August 20th to 23rd.
The six players selected include Irish Close champion Mark O'Sullivan, Irish strokeplay champion Noel Fox, North of Ireland and Connacht Youths champion Brian McElhinney, Colm Moriarty, a double winner in Australia earlier in the year, Gareth Maybin and Justin Kehoe.
They will bid to emulate Hermitage's Stephen Browne, who won the title in Denmark in 2001 but has since joined the professional ranks. The only other Irish winner of the title was Paddy Gribben in 1998.
All six are included in the draw for the Shell-sponsored South of Ireland Championship, which starts at Lahinch next Saturday.
This year's "South" - where Moriarty is the defending champion - has the lowest qualifying cut in the history of the championship. Because of the quality of the entry three scratch players will have to play in the first round.
Moriarty from Athlone is among those who meet one of the 64 first-round winners on Sunday. Moriarty will play the winner of the match between Dwane Twomey (Muskerry) and Stephen Crowe (Dunmurry).
The lowest-handicap player in the championship is international Fox (Portmarnock) who is entered off plus 3.5, followed by Moriarty on plus 3.1 handicap.
Included in the draw for the first round is Davy Fitzgerald (Dromoland Castle), the Clare hurling goalkeeper, who will meet Michael O'Kelly (Limerick), the beaten finalist 10 years ago.
Previous winners and finalists of the South have gone on to make their mark in the professional ranks. The names Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Padraig Harrington, David Higgins, John O'Leary, John McHenry and Des Smyth spring to mind.
Meanwhile, as the best European professionals take to Portmarnock for the Irish Open, the cream of the women's amateur game in Europe will be in Co Louth Golf Club, Baltray, on Friday and Saturday for the Vagliano Trophy match between Britain and Ireland and the Continent of Europe.
The Britain and Ireland side has won the trophy on 14 occasions but it is 12 years since their last success in this biennial event - they won 13½ to 10½ in Morfontaine in 1993.
This is the first time the event is staged in Ireland and the recently altered Baltray Links will prove a stern test. It will also bring back memories to two of Ireland's greatest golfers, Philomena Garvey, 15-times Irish champion, and Clarrie Reddan, who played on Vagliano and Curtis Cup teams. Both are Baltray natives.
The task of stopping the Continent's run is vested in Monkstown's Ada O'Sullivan, whose first experience of captaining an LGU team was in the Espirito Santo Trophy at the Saujana Golf and Country Club, Malaysia, last October; she will also captain next year's Curtis Cup team against the USA in Formby.
The Monkstown player, who still plays to scratch, has had a long career and played for Ireland from 1982 to 1997. Before a back injury forced her into premature retirement from active international service, she was the Irish Strokeplay champion in 1987 and the European Masters Strokeplay champion in 1994.
Tricia Mangan from Ennis is Ireland's only player on the team, while recently crowned Irish Close champion Martina Gillen from Beaverstown is a reserve.
Four of Ireland's up-and-coming players will test their skills against the best in Europe in the European Young Masters Championship at Augsburg Golf Club, German, on Thursday and Friday.
Danielle McVeigh (Royal Co Down Ladies), who last week was named on the Irish girls' team for the Home Internationals, and Emma Gilmore (Mountbellew) will be joined by Rory McIlroy (Holywood) and Simon Ward (Nuremore) for the 54-hole stroke event.
Heather Nolan (Shannon) and Maura McNicholas (Ennis) will be new names on the Munster team to defend their AIB-sponsored interprovincial title at Galway Golf Club from August 6th to 8th. The pair come into the team in place of Bridget Gleeson Healy, who takes over as captain, and Sheila Galvin, who is unavailable this year.
CONNACHT: Sinead Benedetti (Roscommon), Suzanne Corcoran (Portumna), Sarah Gallagher (Claremorris), Michelle Holmes (Enniscrone), Deirdre Judge (Roscommon), Darragh McGowan (Athenry/Ballybofey & Stranorlar), Eileen McMullen (Donegal), Sinead O'Sullivan (Galway). Captain: Susan McGann O'Brien.
LEINSTER: Pat Doran (Donabate), Maria Dunne (Skerries), Martina Gillen (Beaverstown), Sinead Keane (The Curragh), Una Marsden (Tullamore), Maura Morrin (The Curragh), Sue Phillips (Woodbrook), Deirdre Smith (Co Louth). Captain: Patricia Nannery.
MUNSTER: Claire Coughlan (Cork), Tricia Mangan (Ennis), Maura McNicholas (Ennis), Heather Nolan (Shannon), Gillian O'Leary (Cork), Eileen Rose Power (Kilkenny), Marian Riordan (Tipperary), Mary Sheehy (Tralee). Captain: Bridget Gleeson Healy.
ULSTER: Joanne Campbell (Royal Co Down Ladies), Maura Diamond (Portstewart), Emma Dickson (Royal Co Down Ladies), Gemma Hegarty (Greencastle), Helen Jones (Strabane), Bronagh Lunney (Belvoir Park), Naoimh Quigg (City of Derry), Vikki McWilliams (Holywood). Captain: Claire Robinson.
