Bord Failte are likely to maintain their support of the Donegal Irish Women's Open next year. But it can be assumed they will tread very warily in the light of events in Letterkenny GC last weekend, prior to the splendid triumph by Sandrine Mendiburu.

The host club have decided to close the door, however, on the hurtful comment made by Laura Davies. "It's now a matter between herself and her tour," said Letterkenny captain John Hession yesterday. "As far as we're concerned, it was great to see her giving it a real go and contributing to a wonderful finish.

"We consider the staging of the tournament to have been a tremendous success for our club," he said. "In fact, we view it as the highlight of our golfing history. The challenge was thrown down to us and we delivered. That's something to be proud of."

Indeed it was a formidable challenge for a modest club. Apart from a major upgrading of their course, they had to find £75,000 as their contribution to the tournament fund.

"We got the majority of that money back from local and national sponsors, so we should be able to balance the books," added Hession.

In the meantime, they have set themselves a five-year plan of course development under the guidance of agronomist Eddie Connaughton. It is envisaged that drainage problems on the lower 11 holes will be solved by a lake between the fourth and sixth holes.

When this work has been completed, they can begin constructing bunkers, the absence of which became a major issue for Davies. Which, incidentally, makes one wonder how she would fare at the Aroeira course near Lisbon. It has no fairway bunkers, yet was considered suitable by the PGA European Tour for recent stagings of the Portuguese Open.

Murvagh turned down the opportunity of staging this year's Donegal Irish Women's Open because of what they considered to be insufficient notice. And it seems Ballyliffin, where Sofie Gustafson won last year, is considered too remote for the average golf fan. Indications are Rosapenna will be high in the pecking order for next year.

Meanwhile Davies, who is back in the US for this week's Samsung World tournament, has moved further away from Sweden's Catrin Nilsmark in the LET Order of Merit. The Stg£7,516 she collected for a share of second place at Letterkenny has brought her European haul to £204,521 from eight tournaments this season.

Footnote: If sports followers considered the reaction to Davies's criticism of the course to have been somewhat excessive, it should be noted that as many as 45 of the women competitors last weekend were given free accommodation by members of the host club.