Winners bound for Portugal

The national finals of this year's Musgrave Crumlin Children's Hospital Inter-club Challenge, which is supported editorially by The Irish Times, will be held in the Algarve region of Portugal.

Over 10,000 players have participated in the various club qualifying competitions so far this summer and all money raised in the challenge - which was won last year by Galway Golf Club - will go towards the on-going development work at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin.

Galway will defend the Connacht title at Roscommon golf club on September 13th - and, indeed, there was some tension in the recent club qualifier at Roscommon when the winning team of Charlie Farrell, Paula Quinn and Kevin Henry, all single figure handicap golfers, produced a grandstand finish to snatch their place in the provincial final: Farrell had a par (nett birdie), Quinn a birdie (nett birdie) and Henry a birdie (nett eagle) on the last hole for a combined 10 points under the rumble format to dramatically take victory with a team score of 89 points. The other venues and dates for the provincial finals have also been named: the Leinster final will take place at Mullingar golf club on September 6th; the Ulster final will take place at Nuremore Hotel and Golf Club on September 7th, and the Munster final will be staged at Beaufort golf club in Killarney on September 13th.

Any clubs who have staged qualifiers, but who have yet to forward names of the winning three-person teams, should contact tournament organiser Pat Cashman at 01-455 8455.

This year's final will take place at the Vilamoura course, old and new, Pinta and Salgados on October 2nd to 9th. The teams - plus their club captain - will be accommodated in the four-star Almansor Hotel which is conveniently placed for all four courses.

The tournament has been approved by the Royal and Ancient for payment of expenses which are covered by Musgrave, enabling all funds raised in the actual competition to go directly to Our Lady's Hospital.

Last year's inaugural competition raised £42,439 for the hospital, and it is anticipated that this sum will be exceeded this time.