Other golf news in brief
McDonagh lands Irish Youths title on home soil
LOCAL hero Kelan McDonagh was on top of his game to capture the inaugural Irish Youths Amateur Close Championship on home soil at Athlone Golf Club last week. A 4 and 3 success over Headfort's Brian Casey earned McDonagh a place in the final against Casey's clubmate Rory McNamara, who overcame Shaun O'Connor from Skerries by 2 and 1 in the opening semi-final.
McDonagh, a student at NUI Maynooth, birdied the opening hole to establish a lead he never relinquished as he drew from experience gained in finishing third in the East of Ireland Championship and reaching the quarter-finals of the Irish Amateur Close Championship at Enniscrone earlier this month. A lost ball forced McNamara to concede the third hole to go two down, but the Headfort man responded with a fighting birdie to win the par-five fifth.
McDonagh followed with par-birdie-birdie to win the sixth, seventh and eighth holes for a four-hole lead.
The players traded pars around the turn before a dropped shot from McNamara on the 12th left McDonagh five up. Birdies were shared on the 13th before McDonagh closed out the match with a par on the 14th to win by 5 and 4.
The plate was won by Omagh's Nial Kearns, who beat leading qualifier Gary Hurley of West Waterford in the semi-final before accounting for Royal Dublin's Darragh Coghlan by 5 and 3.
McElroy up against quality field
DEFENDING champion Sheena McElroy (O'Brien Kenney) from Grange will seek her second consecutive title when competitors tee up at the ILGU's Senior Women's Close Championship at Ardee Golf Club, which starts this morning and runs through Friday's final.
In a quality field, past Irish internationals Mary McKenna (Donabate), Phil O'Gorman (Laytown and Bettystown), Helen Jones (Strabane), Mary Gorry (Baltinglass), Rhona Brennan (Bandon) and Rita McGoldrick (Enniscrone) will join Mary Madden (Ballinasloe), Marilyn Henderson (West Rhine), Valerie Hassett (Ennis) and Niamh Giblin (Dún Laoghaire) as a handful of players most likely to pose the greatest threat to McElroy's title defence.
Competitors will play 18 holes over the parkland layout, using a mixture of ladies and gents tees, today and tomorrow, with the top-16 qualifying for the matchplay stages on Thursday and Friday.
An additional incentive for the field this year will be the valuable Order of Merit points on offer for selection on the Senior Women's European Team Championships to be held at Dún Laoghaire in early September.
Roma English (Larne) will captain the side, while Gorry has been appointed manager.
Lloyd wins Junior Masters in Kent
ENGLAND's Chris Lloyd shot a final round of nine-under-par 63 to win the Henry Cooper Junior Masters at Nizels Golf Country Club in Kent.
Lloyd, on 23-under-par 265, finished four clear of Adam Carson, the only player in the field to break 70 in all four rounds.
Carson carded 67, 66, 68 and 68 for a 19-under-par 269, with Max Smith making it a clean-sweep for England by taking third place on 270 after rounds 71, 69, 64 and 66.
Reeve Whitson from the Mourne club was best of the Irish on 13-under-par 275.
Whitson carded 68, 71, 69 and 67 to share sixth place. Dermot McElroy from Ballymena was on 11-under-par 277 after rounds of 72, 66, 71 and 68. Paul Dunne from Greystones shot 68, 71, 71 and 72 for a six-under-par total of 282 and a share of 12th place. Michael Durcan from Co Sligo, Garth McGee from Malone and Chris Selfridge from Moyola Park all missed the cut.
Cutler to play in North of Ireland
THE inaugural North of Ireland strokeplay competition will take place at Galgorm Castle Golf Club, in partnership with Specsavers of Ballymena and Nike Golf, Sunday, August 30th.
The new, 36-hole event hopes to attract the leading amateurs from all over Ireland and Britain. This year’s East of Ireland champion and Walker Cup panellist Paul Cutler has already signed up to play.
Open to the 60 lowest handicap entrants plus the 12 lowest handicap entrants from Galgorm Castle Golf, the event is over 36 holes with an entrance fee of €35 (£30) to include a light lunch. An excellent prize fund is available where prizes are for first, second and third gross, plus first, second and third nett and best gross for both the morning and afternoon rounds.
Entry forms are available at Galgorm Castle by contacting the club on 048 256 46161 or downloaded from www.galgormcastle.com
** EVER wonder what it’s like to play off the championship tees just like the professionals? Well Westport are giving players the chance this Friday when they host a Championship Open Day on the Blue Course.
The entry fee will be € 25 for visitors and € 5 for members.
Moynihan wins Cotter Cup
GAVIN MOYNIHAN became the youngest winner of the Cotter Cup at Donabate over the weekend when the 14-year-old from the host club beat Shay Letham from Corballis in the final.
Moynihan overcame fellow Donabate member Noel O’Connell in the semi-final, while Letham beat Robert Diggin in an all Corballis contest.
** PATRICE DELANEY from Birr GC beat Emma O’Driscoll from Ballybunion on the home green to retain the Munster Girls Championship played at Killarney last week. Chloe Ryan from Castletroy beat Roscommon’s Aisling Hill 4 and 3 to win the Alice Coman Plate.
Mullingar Scratch Cup draws the best
ALL six members of the Irish team who will be attempting to win the European Team Championship for a third year in a row at Conwy GC, Wales, this week are included in a strong field for the Mullingar Scratch Cup, which will again be sponsored by Grant Thornton, on August 2nd-3rd.
The holder of the trophy, Shane Lowry, from Esker Hills, is unable to defend his title following his wonderful win in the Irish Open at Co Louth in May.
The quality field will include Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney, recent winner of the Brabazon Trophy, and Alan Dunbar from Rathmore, winner of The St Andrews Links Trophy.
The East of Ireland champion, Paul Cutler from Portstewart, Simon Ward from Co Louth and Darragh Lernihan from the Castle will also tee-up.
Last year’s runner-up Des Morgan of Mullingar is expected to make a real challenge to provide the first host club winner.
