Interprovincials:Connacht scored an 8-5 victory over defending champions Ulster on the opening day of the Interprovincial Championship, sponsored by Golfsure, at Co Louth Golf Club.
The Connacht team got off to a sparkling start in the morning foursomes by winning three matches to one, and in the afternoon won four and halved two of the nine singles.
In the second match, Munster came through 7½-5½ over Leinster.
In the foursomes, Munster won all four matches, and three-and-a-half singles.
WALKER CUP:Little over a week since naming his Walker Cup team, Britain and Ireland captain Colin Dalgleish gathered his troops for another reconnaissance mission at Royal County Down Golf Club, where local favourite Rory McIlroy was only able to play a limited part in practice, reports Paul Gallagher.
As Dalgleish's team arrived in Newcastle throughout Tuesday afternoon, the real practice only began in earnest yesterday with two rounds, plus another to be played this morning.
McIlroy explained that he hurt his back playing in the Scratch Cup at Rosapenna in Donegal last weekend. "It's not serious, but I went for some physio straight away and was told to rest it for a few days," he said.
As a result, he simply tagged onto the final morning group, which included Scotland's Lloyd Saltman, Llewellyn Matthews from Wales and England's John Parry, and played a number of pitch shots and putts.
McIlroy's fellow Ulsterman Johnny Caldwell played in the first group of the morning alongside Nigel Edwards of Wales and the current form horse in the team, Danny Willet from Rotherham. The 19-year-old recently won the English Amateur and the South of England Championship by an impressive 10 shots.
BOYS AND GIRLS:Lisa Maguire (12) kept Irish hopes alive in the Girls' British Open Amateur Championship at Southerndown in South Wales yesterday.
The Slieve Russell youngster recorded two fine victories to move smoothly into the last 16. In the morning, Lisa overcame Scottish junior international Pamela Pretswell 3 and 2. Lisa took charge early on and was always in the driving seat.
She will now face Royal Birkdale's English international Florentyna Parker.
Meanwhile, Irish hopes were extinguished in the Boys Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl. Dublin's Ronan Burke fought tooth and nail against Nicolai Aagoard, a member of the winning Danish side in the European Boys Team Championship last month.
Burke was one up with two holes to play but failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker at the 17th to lose the hole and missed the green at the last, losing it to par and with it the match.
Mallow's Ciarán McKenna was ousted in the second round, beaten 6 and 5 by Finland's Henri Pykola.
US TOUR:Defending champion Davis Love has withdrawn from this week's Wyndham Championship at Forest Oaks Country Club in North Carolina after doctors recommended removing kidney stones that had been bothering the 19-time PGA Tour champion for several weeks.
Love, who helped redesign the Forest Oaks course in 2003, fired a 16-under-par total last year to win by two strokes.
There are no Irish golfers in the field.
