Golf: Irish internationals Colm Moriarty and Justin Kehoe consolidated their claims for places on the Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team to face the USA at Ganton in September with high finishes in the Duncan Putter Trophy at Southerndown Golf Club in Wales over the weekend.
Stuart Manley from Mountain Ash captured his second successive title with a four-round total of 290, just one ahead of Moriarty, with Kehoe fifth on 300.
And the decision to miss the West of Ireland Championship was certainly justified, the Irish pair playing some of the best golf over the weekend.
When he led the field by three shots going into the final round, Moriarty looked well placed to add the Welsh title to his South of Ireland victory last year. However, Manley, winner at the same venue last year, produced a two-under-par 68 - the only sub-par round of the weekend - to beat the Athlone man by just one shot.
Moriarty had rounds of 74, 75, 70 and 72 for 291, while Manley went one better with rounds of 73 74, 75 and 68. Rhys Davis, the Porthcawl teenager, shared third place with Nigel Edwards from Whitchurch on 298.
Kehoe could well have been better placed to make a charge on the second day but for a disappointing 83 in the second round, which left him with too much ground to make up.
With closing rounds of 70 and 73 for a total of 300, however, he showed the form that won him the World Universities Championship last year.
Another Irish member of the Walker Cup elite squad, North of Ireland champion Gareth Maybin, must be very much in the selectors' thoughts after another high finish on the US Collegiate circuit.
The University of South Alabama student was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week last week after winning his third tournament of the year.
Maybin retained the individual title he won last year with a 211 total over three rounds at the Seventh Annual ASU Indian Classic in Jonesboro, Arkanas.
He won the tournament by one stroke from team-mate Ryan Gildersleeve and helped the Jags to a ninth-place finish. It was the second weekly honour of the season for Maybin. He has finished in the top 10 in eight of his nine tournaments this year and claimed three titles. He is ranked 57th in the Golfweek rankings and leads the Sun Belt with a 71.74 stroke average.
The Jaguars team will next compete in the 2003 Sun Belt Championships this week in Niceville, Florida.
Maybin fired opening rounds of 69 and 70 to enter the final round in a tie with Billy Zihala of Arkansas-Little Rock and one stroke ahead of Gildersleeve but managed to hang on with a final round of 72.
"We struggled a bit with our three, four, and five spots a bit, but Ryan and Gareth played real solid for us," said head coach TJ Jackson.
The Jags (890) shot a final round 301 to record their ninth top 10 finish of the season. North Texas, with three golfers in the top 25, captured the team title.
