IRISH WOMEN'S AMATEUR CLOSE CHAMPIONSHIP: At one stage over the winter, Sue Phillips got a nice letter from the ILGU wondering if she'd be interested in joining the national training panel; but the golfer declined. Yesterday, the Woodbrook player, a Leinster interprovincial for the past two years, took the Leitrim Cup as leading strokeplay qualifier in the Lancome Irish Women's Close Championship at The Island and had hardly got her head around that feat when she was being fitted out for a green jacket.
The precautionary fit-out was just in case an international call-up should be pending, but Phillips, a graduate of Mississippi State who these days earns a living working in the golf shop at Kilternan Golf Club, is not the type to let grandiose dreams run wild in her head.
In fact, she's got her feet firmly on the ground and, even after emerging as leading qualifier, she insisted: "This doesn't change anything, matchplay is a whole different ball game and it doesn't matter if you qualify first or last."
On a difficult day for scoring, with anyone failing to find the fairway generally paying a high price, Phillips added a second round 75 to her opening 73 for a two-under-par total of 148. When all the cards were signed and handed in, hers was the only score sub-par. Irish international Maura Morrin, of the Curragh, was her closest rival for medal honours two strokes further back.
Tara Delaney, the first round leader, slipped back yesterday with an 81, and, although it deprived the 18-year-old of the chance to lead the qualifying, it didn't do her progress into the matchplay phase any harm.
In fact, there were no major casualties, with all the members of last year's Home International-winning team safely making it into the top 32 who contest the matchplay phase of the championship. And defending champion Martina Gillen showed no ill effects from jet lag in also qualifying.
"I've done what I had to do, and that was ensure I made it into the matchplay," said Gillen, who only completed the transatlantic leg of her journey home from college in Ohio on Tuesday morning, hours before she teed off in the first round.
As Claire Coughlan, who makes her Curtis Cup debut for Britain and Ireland against the US at Formby next month, remarked after shooting 80 on what she termed an "off day", the real contest gets going once matchplay commences.
"I'd much rather play poorly in qualifying, and survive, than to play like that in matchplay. I just had no feeling, but I do hate putting those high figures on my card."
Morrin, who works in administration at Swordlestown Stud near Punchestown, improved on her first round by six shots and her 72 yesterday was the only sub-par round.
Yet, the course here is such that any errant driving can cause a heavy price to be paid, as Royal Portrush's Maura Diamond found out on the 10th, where she hit three balls out-of-bounds in running up an 11 on the par five. So, it was some credit to the golfer then that she should recover from such a disaster to finish the remaining eight holes in one-under on the way to an 82 that left her on 162 and a shot inside the qualifying cut.
For Phillips, the leading qualifier, taking the Leitrim Cup was the source of some satisfaction, particularly as she professed that, "I don't particularly like links golf."
Nevertheless she did reach the quarter-finals at The European Club three years ago, and yesterday overcame a difficult phase - she bogeyed the seventh, eighth, 11th and 12th holes - to finish strongly, birdieing the last two holes for a level par 75.
On the 17th she hit an eight-iron approach to eight feet and holed the putt, then unleashed a drive of over 310 yards on the par five 18th before hitting a six-iron approach to the green and two-putting for birdie.
Which is exactly the sort of golf the international selectors knew she was capable of producing when they invited her onto the Irish training panel.
