Kenneth Kearney, the reigning Close champion, heads a group of seven Irish challengers in the British Amateur Championship at Muirfield and Gullane from June 1st to 6th. The Co Sligo international is joined by Noel Fox, Jody Fanagan, Bryan Omelia, David Dunne, Andrew McCormick and Dermot Connolly.

The event, in which Craig Watson will be defending the title, attracted a record entry of 534, which was 24 up on the previous target set, interestingly, at Muirfield in 1990.

This year's championship is more notable, however, for the fact that as many as 20 scratchmen, mostly from the US, were balloted out of the draw. Indeed only those with an exact handicap of plus 0.6 were sure of acceptance.

So, John Harris, who accumulated a record number of Walker Cup wins at Quaker Ridge last August, would not have got into the Muirfield field but for his status as a member of the US team. Harris happens to be a current scratchmen, whereas Spain's Sergio Garcia plays of an exact plus 5.5.

When Muirfield staged the championship in 1990, Dutchman Rolf Muntz took the title, and its widening appeal is now reflected in representatives from 26 countries among the 288 challengers. Watson will be attempting to become the first player since Peter McEvoy (1977 and 1978) to successfully defend the title.

Acceptances from continental Europe include the reigning British Boys' Champion, Garcia, and the European Individual champion, Didier de Vooght of Belgium.

Kearney, McCormick (Scrabo), Omelia (Newlands) and Fox (Portmarnock) will start their strokeplay qualifying at Muirfield on Monday June 1st, followed by Gullane No 1 the following day, whereas Fanagan (Milltown), Connolly (Douglas) and Dunne (Co Sligo) play their first qualifying round at Gullane.

The leading 64 go through to matchplay, starting on Wednesday. Obviously, the inclusion of the seven Irish players' means they will be unavailable to play in the East of Ireland championship at Baltray over the Whit bank holiday weekend.