In-form Coughlan keeping Close focus

Irish Women's Close Championship: In just a month's time, if the draw were to so ordain, Claire Coughlan could well find herself pitted against the most hyped player in women's golf, Michelle Wie.

For now, the 24-year-old Cork golfer - who will make her debut in the Curtis Cup at Formby on June 12th-13th - must retain her focus for the Lancome Irish Women's Close Championship, which commences at The Island in Donabate today.

This year's championship has been brought forward because of the Curtis Cup, but it has produced a quality field that not alone features Coughlan - and the other members of Ireland's winning team from last year's Home Internationals - but also Martina Gillen, the defending champion, who has been placed in the final two-ball of today's first round in deference to the fact that she will only have completed her transatlantic flight from Kent State, where she is on scholarship, earlier in the day.

Gillen, a member of the nearby Beaverstown club, claimed her first Irish Close title when defeating Maria Dunne, of Skerries, at Murvagh last year. Yet, more than anyone, the Dubliner will know that the task of retaining the title will be a tough one, with Coughlan probably cast in the role of favourite.

Coughlan, the Irish Women's Open strokeplay champion, won the Leitrim Cup as leading strokeplay qualifier a year ago and showed impressive form when finishing runner-up to Curtis Cup player Emma Duggleby in the Helen Holm trophy at Royal Troon last month.

"To be honest, I can't wait for the Curtis Cup but the important thing is that I focus on this week first," insisted Coughlan. "What happens happens . . . I'm not putting any pressure on myself. Really, I've got to keep my head down this week, to keep going, and play my game."

The evidence from Coughlan's recent form is that she has benefited from the Britain and Ireland elite squad system and is playing some of the best golf of her career.

If there must be a temptation in the future to sample life on the professional tour, she is determined to stay very much in the present.

"I'm happy being an amateur, I'm enjoying myself . . . but these are exciting times for ladies golf with the likes of Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam. They're helping to raise the profile of the sport."

Coughlan, a winner in 1999 when defeating Eileen Rose Power in Carlow, played a key role in Ireland's win in the Home Internationals last year but her colleagues from that triumph, the first by an Irish team since 1986, will present some of the sternest competition in the quest for this year's title over a links that looked resplendent yesterday as players - Gillen, of course, apart - took in a practice round.

Sinead Keane, Maura Morrin, Tara Delaney, Helen Jones, Heather Nolan, Tricia Mangan and Maria Dunne were also members of Ireland's winning team and, while each one of them must have a chance to claim the top prize come Saturday, it is testimony to the rising standards in the women's game that the list of potential champions extends outside this group.

Indeed, year on year, it seems more promising young players, like Gemma Hegarty, who recently won the Royal Co Down Scratch Cup, and Emma Gilmore, are emerging, while some experienced players should not be discounted either. Eileen Rose Power, a former Curtis Cup player, won the championship when it was last staged here at The Island, in 1990 (the first of her three successes), and Tracy Eakin, who has regained her amateur status, should make a strong challenge.

Yet, as in any championship featuring two rounds of strokeplay qualifying, the main objective from the first two days is survival. The top 32 players from qualifying go on to compete in the matchplay phase, which gets under way on Thursday.

Qualifying rounds draw (Tuesday and Wednesday):

9:00-12.00: G Hegarty (Greencastle), A Taylor (Malahide) 9:10-12:10: J Gannon (Co Louth), P Murphy (The Island) 9:20-12:20: P Doran (Donabate), S Hayes (Hermitage) 9:30-12:30: A Langstone (The Island), A Parker (Greenore) 9:40-12:40: R Cassidy (The Island), D Walsh (Milltown) 9:50-12:50: M McNicholas (Ennis), N Quigg (City of Derry) 10:00-1:00: D McGowan (Ballybofey/ Stranorlar), H Nolan (Shannon) 10:10-1.10: S Atkinson (Woodbrook), J Black (Knock) 10:20-1:20: A Geoghegan (Athlone), C Armanasco (Enniscrone) 10:30-1:30: T O'Reilly (Grange), D Smith (Co Louth) 10:40-1:40: M Dunne (Skerries), T Eakin (Killarney) 10:50-1:50: M Hayes (Tralee), A Thompson (Douglas) 11:00-2:00: H Jones (Strabane), C Tucker (Limerick) 11:10-2:10: C Coughlan (Cork), M Morrin (The Curragh) 11:20-2:20: S Keane (The Curragh), S Phillips (Woodbrook) 11:30-2:30: M Gillen (Beaverstown), E Rose Power (Kilkenny) 11:40-2:40: T Mangan (Ennis), T Delaney (Carlow) 11:50-2:50: S McVeigh (Royal Co Down), J Kinnear (Belvoir Park) 12:00-9:00: I Johnstone (Fortwilliam), P Murray (Naas) 12:10-9:10: L Kilmartin (Tipperary), L Holmes (Enniscrone) 12:30-9:30: A Kilmartin (Warrenpoint), D Marie Conaty (Ashbourne) 12:40-9:40: D McVeigh (Royal Co Down), E Gilmore (Mountbellew) 12:50-9:50: Cl Cahill (Hermitage), M Geaney (Killarney) 1:00-10:00: S Carty (The Island), O Shannon (Malahide) 1:10-10:10: S Cleary (Woodbrook), S Mullaney (Co Louth) 1:20-10:20: M Mulcahy (Killarney), O Cunneen (The Island) 1:30-10:30: M Gartland (The Island), E Neville (Athenry) 1:40-10:40: K Yates (Co Louth), S O'Brien Kenney (Grange) 1:50-10:50: A McCartan (Greenore), A Crowley (Woodbrook) 2:00-11:00: S Byrne (Ardee), G McMullan (The Island) 2:10-11:10: J Campbell (Royal Co Down), A Dwyer (The Island) 2:20-11:20: S O'Sullivan (Galway), V Power (Brampton Park) 2:30-11:30: M Cassidy (Co Louth), P Gleeson (Milltown) 2:40-11:40: M Riordan (Tipperary), M Diamond (Royal Portrush) 2:50-11:50: M Dowling (New Ross), M Sheehy (Tralee).