Golf: Four Irish players have been included in the squad of 22 from which the team to represent Britain and Ireland in the St Andrews Trophy match against the Continent of Europe later this year will be selected. Naturally enough, Graeme McDowell - one of five survivors of last year's Walker Cup winning team - is one of them, and he has been joined by Irish champion Gavin McNeill, Noel Fox and Colm Moriarty, who are all currently in South Africa as part of a GUI elite training squad.
McDowell, a scholarship student at the University of Alabama who has recently broken into the top-10 ranked amateur players in the United States, is one of five members of the Britain and Ireland team that triumphed in the Walker Cup at Sea Island, Georgia, last August to be included. The others are Nigel Edwards, Jamie Elson, Marc Warren and Gary Wolstenholme. Other members of that winning team have either moved to the professional ranks, or are in the process of doing so.
Michael Hoey, the British amateur champion, who has signalled his intent to turn professional after the US Masters, was not considered. But perhaps the biggest surprise from an Irish point of view is the failure of reigning South of Ireland champion Justin Kehoe to make the squad. Kehoe has completed his studies at UCD and has committed himself to playing golf this year.
The squad will assemble for their first meeting with newly-appointed captain Garth McGimpsey at The Belfry on April 23rd-24th as preparation for the match against Continental Europe in Lausanne in late August. McGimpsey said: "I am impressed with the quality of the players and I am certain that we now have the basis of a strong team."
Peter Benka, chairman of the R&A selection committee, said: "Our recent successes in the Walker Cup and St Andrews Trophy underline the importance of maintaining that momentum by keeping a strong squad system. Although I expect the bulk of the team to come from these players, I must emphasise that there are still opportunities open to those not listed in the squad."
Indeed, the selectors, of whom Frankie McCarroll is the Irish representative, have named 16 championships and tournaments that will be attended by them. Only two, however, are home events: the Irish Open strokeplay at Royal Dublin and the Close at Carlow. This highlights the necessity for Ireland's top players to compete in the major events in Britain.
Squad: S Carmichael (Cardross), G McDowell (Rathmore), G Clark (Doncaster), G McNeill (Waterford), N Edwards (Whitchurch), C Moriarty (Athlone), J Elson (Kenilworth), Z Scotland (Walton Heath), N Fox (Portmarnock), D Skinns (Lincoln), S Godfrey (St Enodoc), R Walker (Walton Hall), L Harpin (North Wales), D Wardrop (Didsbury), C Heap (East Kilbride), M Warren (East Kilbride), B Hume (Haggs Castle), C Watson (East Renfrewshire), J Lupton (Middlesborough), S Wilson (Forfar), S Mackenzie (West Linton), G Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs).
