What better illustration of the vaunted position Irish amateur golf now holds than the number of top-ranked Irish players with high hopes of winning the Irish Amateur Open Championships title at The Royal Dublin on Sunday.
The World Amateur Golf Ranking is now the barometer of success, and Ireland boasts four men in the world’s top 100 in the starting field today – one more than nearest rivals Scotland, who count reigning British amateur champion and world number 22 Bradley Neil as well as defending champion Jamie Savage (48th) in their 15-strong raiding party.
There are 58 Irishmen in the 120-strong international field comprising players from 21 nations that will battle the muscular Dollymount links over the next three days, with the top 50 and ties qualifying for Sunday’s final round.
Neil and Savage will be among the favourites to hang around the lead until Sunday, especially the former, who was ninth in the Lytham Trophy at Walker Cup venue Royal Lytham and St Annes last Sunday.
But of the six Irish players in the world’s Top 100, all bar the US college-based absentees Paul Dunne and Chris Selfridge have high hopes of taking the title.
Stunning talents
Not only is 34th ranked Gary Hurley from West Waterford joined by No 49 Jack Hume and the 2012 winner Gavin Moynihan (65th) and two stunning talents in West of Ireland champion Dermot McElroy or Faithlegg international Robin Dawson, we’ve also got one of the hottest amateurs on the planet in Ardglass’s Cormac Sharvin.
The 22-year-old Co Down man finished joint second in the Lytham Trophy last Sunday to leap 22 places to 41st in the world.
Joint second behind Savage last year, Sharvin is now a serious contender for a Walker Cup place and knows that a run of big performances over the next four months will secure a debut at Royal Lytham and St Annes from September 12th-13th.
Irish team
GB&I skipper Nigel Edwards is well aware of his talents and those of the rest of the Irish team that won the Home Internationals last year and finished second in the European Team championships.
Rather than wondering if Ireland can get two or even three players in the Walker Cup team, there is now talk in amateur circles of up to five Irish representatives
“I think that’s definitely possible,” Sharvin said of a huge Irish presence in the Walker Cup side.”Out of the four home nations we’ve got the strongest team right now.
“With the likes of Gary [Hurley], Jack [Hume], Gavin [Moynihan], myself, Paul [Dunne] and Dermot [McElroy] it is nearly as strong a team as we have ever had, apart from the Shane Lowry/Rory McIlroy era perhaps.”
