Amateur Scene News round-up: While Noel Fox may not be on the best of terms with his putter at the moment, after finishing in a tie for fifth place in the Lytham Trophy at Royal Lytham and St Annes over the weekend, the defending champion will start among the favourites for the AIB-sponsored Irish Amateur Open Strokeplay Championship over the Montgomerie course at Carton House starting on Friday.
Fox, the 30-year-old Walker Cup player from Portmarnock, was so concerned over his ineptitude on the greens that he intends to spend the next few days trying to sort out the problem.
"I played as well as I have done all season at Lytham but I could not buy a putt. I'd donate any organ from my body to science if someone could show me where I'm going wrong.
"The pin positions were much tighter in the last two rounds, but my average of 35 putts was unacceptable," said Fox.
Despite his putting woes, Fox has his sight set on a third strokeplay title after his successes in 2000 and again last year, both at Royal Dublin.
However, the Montgomerie course at Carton House will offer a new challenge for the elite of the amateur game.
Fox will lead a strong home challenge which includes reigning European champion Brian McElhinney (North West), Johnny Foster (Ballyclare), who won this year's South African Championship Plate, and Darren Crowe (Dunmurry), who showed excellent early season form in Australia.
They will be joined by Walker Cup hero Nigel Edwards. The 35-year-old Welshman is just one of 99 players out of a field of 120 with a handicap of scratch or better to qualify for the event, which saw the cut fall at 0.3.
There is a large overseas entry, with players from South Africa, Finland, Czech Republic, Holland, Austria, France, England, Scotland and Wales. The quality of the field is indicated by their handicaps, which includes one player off plus five, one off plus four, seven off plus three, 26 off plus two and 35 off plus one.
The lowest handicapped player in the field is South Africa's Anton Haig, the 2003 South African Matchplay Champion. The 17-year-old, who was warned by doctors four years ago that he might be disabled at the age of 20, plays off plus five. Haig only took up golf in 1999 when he was diagnosed with a disease which causes parts of bone to chip.
Also included in the field are seven players who qualify under a condition of the event which provides that any Irish entrant under the age of 25 on January 1st who, having entered and reached the matchplay stages of the West of Ireland championship, gains a place in the field. They are Brendan McCarroll (Ballyliffin), Harry Diamond (Holywood), Brian O'Connor (UCD/Hermitage), Ciarán McAleavey (Banbridge), Garrett Mallon (North West), Patrick Devine (The Island) and James Barton (Ballinasloe).
The Irish Amateur Open Championship was first played in 1892 and was held every year, with the exception of the World Wars, up to 1960. Former champions in that era included Joe Carr (three times), Jimmy Bruen, Tom Craddock, Cecil Ewing, Jack Burke and Norman Drew.
The event was revived in 1995 when Padraig Harrington triumphed at Fota Island. Keith Nolan was the winner at the same venue in 1996 and '97. The event moved to Royal Dublin in 1998 where Michael Hoey was victorious. Gary Cullen won in 1999, Louis Oosthuizen in 2002 and Fox in 2000 and 2003.
However, one player missing from the field at Carton House will be former North of Ireland champion Gareth Maybin, and for a very good reason.
The South Alabama student is expected to play in the NCAA finals later this month after another successful season with the Jags.
Last week Maybin finished his Sun Belt Conference career in high fashion by shooting a final-round 74 to take the individual honours at the conference tournament at the Bluewater Bay Resort.
Maybin holed a six-foot par putt on the final hole to finish the three-day tournament at two-under-par 214, holding off Brian Thornburg of New Mexico State by just one shot.
It was Maybin's eighth career individual victory on the US collegiate circuit, passing former Jag and PGA player Heath Slocum's all-time college mark of seven. He also earned all-conference honours for the third consecutive season and is only the fourth Jag in the college's history to capture the conference individual title (TJ Jackson 1987, Heath Slocum 1996, Freddie Cortina 1998 were the others). The Ballyclare Golf Club member won four tournaments this season with back-to-back victories at Carolina First Intercollegiate and Cardinal Intercollegiate to go with wins at the Rio Pinar and SBC tournament.
Maybin is also one of seven players nominated by the GUI to play in the British Amateur Championship over the Old and Jubilee Courses at St Andrews from May 31st to June 5th.
The other are: Mark Campbell (Stackstown), Darren Crowe (Dunmurry), Noel Fox (Portmarnock), Brian McElhinney (North West), Michael McGeady (North West) and Mark O'Sullivan (Galway)
The first stage of the championship involves 288 players each playing two rounds of strokeplay, one on each of the two courses. The players with the lowest scores over the 36 holes and ties for 64th place qualify for the matchplay stages which begin on June 2nd over the Old Course. Each match consists of 18 holes, except the final, which is played over 36 holes.
