Champion faces busy schedule

Irish champion Ciaran McMonagle jets out on a golf-playing sunshine holiday to the United States today, but the Donegalman can prepare for some more globetrotting on his return home.

Yesterday, the 23-year-old national champion from Dunfanaghy was named along with Portmarnock's Adrian Morrow in a two-man team to represent Ireland in the prestigious Simon Bolivar Cup which will be held at the Maracaibo Country Club in Caracas, Venezuela, on October 14th-16th.

McMonagle aims to use his holiday to the West Coast to fine-hone his game on some of American's top courses in preparation for the Home Internationals which take place at Royal Co Down on September 22nd-24th, and, apart from the Bolivar tournament, he is also expected to be included in the Irish team for the biennial trip to play the Metropolitan Golf Association in New York in October.

It all amounts to some serious travel over the next few months for McMonagle, who also intends to return to Florida - as he has done for the past two years - to spend the winter months working on his game. "I'm thrilled to get the call-up for Venezuela," admitted McMonagle. "It will be a terrific experience, and it is also one of the top amateur competitions in the calendar." Two years ago, Ireland were represented by Ken Kearney and Jody Fanagan in the competition when they finished in fourth place.

The Irish close champion believes that his game has benefitted significantly from his winter sojourns to Florida and it is a policy he intends to maintain for the immediate future . . . but, before then, he will have the Home Internationals (when Ireland will be attempting to end a seven-year drought in the championship), the match with the MGA and the Bolivar Cup to occupy his competitive nature. All of which confirms that the season for the top amateur players is stretching on for longer than ever before.

If things had gone differently, McMonagle would have been cancelling his American holiday to play in the Walker Cup match in Nairn next week. As winner of the Irish close, he put himself into the reckoning for a call-up to the British and Irish team. However, just one Irishman, Warrenpoint's Paddy Gribben, earned selection on that 10-man team and, coincidentally, one of the American team attributes winning his place to a decision he made to cancel a golfing holiday to Ireland during the summer.

Jonathan Byrd, a colleague of Irish international Michael Hoey at Clemson University, had planned a hectic summer schedule but also aimed to take some timeout to accompany his dad and brother on a holiday to Ireland. However, his win in the Northeast Amateur on the American circuit early in his campaign led him to cancel those plans and go all-out for a place on the US Walker Cup team. "The holiday to Ireland would have been special," he recalled, "but the chance to play in the Walker Cup was even better."

Byrd's decision paid off because he has been named on an American team which also includes Matt Kuchar, Edward Loar, Hunter Haas, John "Spider" Miller, Dave Gossett, Bryce Molder, Steve Scott, Tom McKnight and Tim Jackson for the two-day match in Nairn. Meanwhile, the popular BMW Irish Mixed Foursomes - which attracted a record entry of 296 clubs this season - reaches the end of the road at Strandhill on Thursday and Friday with the national finals of the competition.

Templemore will be seeking to become the third Co Tipperary club to win the championship in the past five years. They take on Warrenpoint, winners in 1991, in the first semi-final while the second semi-final features first-time Connacht pennant winners Bearna facing Leinster champions Tullamore.