Irish prosper Stateside

As Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley were enjoying a rare few days of rest and relaxation away from competitive duty prior to their participation in this week's World Cup at Kiawah Island, elsewhere in the United States, two of Ireland's newest professionals, Richard Coughlan and Keith Nolan, were successfully passing their latest examinations.

The two Walker Cup players tip-toed through the minefield of the second stage of the US Tour qualifying school to book their places in the finals at Haines City, Florida, from December 3rd to December 8th.

Coughlan was a comfortable fourth-place qualifier at the Country Club of South Carolina. The Birr man compiled rounds of 64-7072-71 for an 11-under-par 277, which left him three shots behind top qualifier Fran Quinn, an American with strong Irish connections. Interestingly, Joakim Haeggman, on 279, was also among the 23 qualifiers from the venue.

Nolan made far harder work of making it through to the final school. The Bray golfer had rounds of 68-71-73-76 for level par 288 at Kingwood in Texas, which got him in exactly on the limit along with Sweden's Niclas Fasth. Both Nolan and Coughlan are guaranteed their cards for the Nike Tour next season for making it past the second stage - but the prize of a full US card will be the incentive when the school is held over the West and South courses at Grenelefe Country Club in Haines City next month. Meanwhile, Harrington and McGinley will attempt to become just the second Irish pairing to win the World Cup when the event is staged at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, starting on Thursday. "I would not normally be playing at this time of year and if it was any other tournament, I would probably be wanting to go home," said Harrington, who is getting married in two weeks' time.

"But the chance of representing my country is too good to pass up. If you can't get up for playing for your country, you can't get up for anything. It looks like being windy and cold this week and that should suit me and Paul."

Darren Clarke was originally picked on the Irish team, but decided instead to play in two big-money events in Japan. At the weekend, he finished tied-eighth - behind stablemate Lee Westwood - in the Taiheyo Masters and, this week, he plays in the Dunlop Phoenix Open before heading off on his travels again for the Australian Open in Melbourne.