When the Curtis Cup was staged at Royal Lytham in 1976, Mary McKenna was accorded the honour of being the first player to raise the Irish flag at the opening ceremony of the biennial matches. Some months later, the Irish golf writers, in their wisdom, gave her their inaugural award as their woman golfer of the year.

Twenty-four years on, McKenna is again being honoured by the IGWA, this time for "Distinguished Services to Golf", and she will receive the award at the association's annual dinner, sponsored by Murphy's Brewery, at the Portmarnock Hotel and Links next Friday, when three other recipients will also be honoured.

The four award winners are: Professional - Darren Clarke; Leading woman amateur - Alison Coffey; Leading male amateur - Graeme McDowell; Distinguished Services - Mary McKenna.

Given her immense contribution to the game at home and a broad, it was always going to be only a question of time as to when McKenna gained this award. Her nine Curtis Cup appearances and eight Irish Close titles are well documented, and she was the non-playing captain of this year's Espirito Santo Trophy team. But there have been other, treasured elements to her life in golf.

"I experienced the altitude of Denver, thunder and lightning storms in Apawamis, New York, and the morning fog in San Francisco," she recalled. "But the realisation of one of my greatest ambitions was to see the Republic of Ireland's first staging of the Curtis Cup at Killarney in 1996." Darren Clarke, shortly after beating Tiger Woods to capture the Andersen World Consulting Matchplay title and a prize of $1 million at La Costa last February, also recalled his amateur days. "I grew up with this format, and now I think I've got back to the level of comfort I had with matchplay as an amateur," he said.

Further success came his way with the retention of the English Open at the Forest of Arden in June. And despite the admirable achievements of Padraig Harrington, especially in capturing two tournaments, there was never a serious challenger to Clarke, who finished the season as runner-up in the Order of Merit last Sunday.

Only a week after McDowell captured the South of Ireland title at Lahinch, he was equalling the course record at Murhof, Austria, in the European Individual Strokeplay Championship. It maintained a run of remarkable achievements since his return on holiday from Alabama University two months earlier.

Before making his mark in Europe, there were victories in the Leinster Youths, Irish Youths, Irish Close and the South titles. Indeed, McDowell celebrated his 21st birthday while at Lahinch, where he went on to earn the bonus of a place in next season's Houston Open on the US Tour, courtesy of the sponsors, Shell.

He attributed this success to US influences and the powerful example of Garth McGimpsey. "Americans are so confident, it just seems to rub off on you," said McDowell, who went on to take five-and-a-half points out of six in the Home Internationals at Carnoustie. "And as a kid growing up beside the links at Royal Portrush, Garth was always the player I wanted to imitate." Coffey completes an awards treble this year for the North. And she earned it largely through capturing the Irish Close title at Baltray. But the dual member of Warrenpoint and Royal Co Down won the Ulster Championship and was unbeaten in the Interpros. She also won the Royal Co Down Scratch Cup, was third in the British Women's Strokeplay there and was a key member of their victorious team in the Irish Senior Cup.