Good week for Irish pair

GOLF: It proved an excellent weekend for two of Ireland's young professional golfers, Stephen Browne and Peter Lawrie, who finished in a tie for second place in the EuroPro Tour event, the Peugeot International, at the Player's Club, Bristol.

They finished on seven under for the tournament, one shot behind the winner, David Orr. Lawrie, who boasts a top 15 place on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit, shot a final round of 67 while Browne managed a 71 to earn a cheque for £2,179.

The leading Irishman on the EuroPro Tour is still Eamon Brady, despite the fact that the former West of Ireland Open champion missed the cut after shooting a first round 80.

Meanwhile, Colm Moriarty was taking things easy recently, but even that is relative for a top amateur preparing to fly out to Kuala Lumpur next Sunday on a historic mission.

For the first time since the inception of the competition in 1958, Ireland will go it alone in the Eisenhower Trophy. Previously the only option was to try to get an Irish player on a composite Britain and Ireland team. Moriarty is joined by Noel Fox, Justin Kehoe and Andrew McCormick in a four-man squad, three of whom will be selected to compete.

"By taking it easy I suppose that means I wasn't playing any competitive golf, but I was still going to the golf course every day to practice," he said.

Moriarty has been dividing his time between Athlone and Glasson Golf Clubs since coming back from a successful visit to pre-qualifying to earn a card on the European Tour.

Fortunately for Moriarty and McCormick, who also made it through pre-qualifying, there is no clash between the Eisenhower and the next qualifying stage, which takes place at three courses, Peralada and Golf de Catalunya in Spain and St Cyprien, in France, next month.

In all Ireland will have seven representatives at that stage, Moriarty, McCormick and fellow amateur Danny Sugrue along with Stephen Browne, Michael Hoey, Gary Cullen and Paddy Gribben; all will be hoping to clinch a place at the Qualifying School, the final arena where those precious European cards will be doled out.

For Moriarty, though, his focus remains on the Eisenhower and the Ireland team certainly won't lack the requisite preparation as they head for Malaysia this Sunday to practice with the tournament proper not starting until October the 24th.

"We have certainly been given every chance to acclimatise and I suppose in a way it is a mini-trial that first week with all four of us going for the three places. We had a very productive session with (national coach) Howard Bennett at Druid's Glen.

"As far as the Eisenhower is concerned, we would love to be making a piece of history that we can be proud of rather than just being the first Ireland team to take part.

"We certainly have the quality of player and hopefully everyone will be playing well."

The format for the competition is 72-hole strokeplay with two of the three scores to count. On his return, Moriarty will have about a week to recover before heading for pre-qualifying stage two.

"Having that extra bit of time at home is a big bonus as it will allow me to get over any jet lag and, if required, fine tune any problems with the swing. These are an important few weeks for me."