Other golf stories in brief
Delaney takes Midland title
TARA DELANEY of Carlow defeated defending champion Dawn Marie Conaty of Ashbourne in an exciting final at the Midland Senior Championships at Portarlington last Thursday.
In a close contest, Delaney beat Conaty 3 and 1 in a round where she fired birdies at the first, 12th and 16th holes.
Delaney's next outing sees her tee up in the Leinster Championships at Castleknock next weekend, June 6th-8th.
Meanwhile, in the Junior Championship, Eileen O'Brien of Clontarf defeated Maeve McEvoy from East Clare to lift this year's title. O'Brien had qualified second on Tuesday and maintained her excellent form, winning the title on the 14th green.
Entries for the Irish Women's Open Strokeplay, which tees off at Elm Park on Saturday, June 28th, will close this Friday, June 6th.
The 54-hole tournament has already attracted an international field, with competitors from England, Scotland Wales, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and South Africa already confirmed.
Two rounds of 18 holes will start at 7.30am on Saturday, with the top-40 plus ties making the final 18 holes on the Sunday morning.
Royal Portrush win Senior Cup
ROYAL PORTRUSH had a 3-2 win over Slieve Russell in the final of the ILGU Northern District qualifiers of the Suzuki Senior Cup at Bangor Golf Club last Monday and Tuesday.
Royal Portrush now join The Island and Ennis and the winners from the Western and Midland Districts at the All-Ireland finals on August 29th-30th at Galway Golf Club.
Runners-up Slieve Russell hope to win one of the three wild card places to make up the eight teams to contend the National quarter-finals.
Malone, meanwhile, beat Clandeboye in the final of the Senior Plate.
St Anne's progress in Fred Daly
ST ANNE'S underage team made their piece of history recently when the qualified for their first Fred Daly Trophy, Leinster Section, play-offs.
Under the guidance of team manager Greg Cooke, St Anne's booked a place in the semi-finals by beating Malahide 5-2 in the quarter-final at Howth GC. They will meet Tullamore in the semi-final on Monday, July 28th, in Killiney GC, while the other semi-final is between South County and Rosslare.
The St Anne's team are: Glen Behan, Mantan Walshe, Andy Hedderman, David Sharkey, Shane O'Rourke, Chris Loh and Paul Behan.
The friends of Leopardstown Park Hospital annual Classic will take place on Friday, June 13th, at the new Dun Laoghaire GC.
It is a four-person team Stableford competition, with tee-times from 8.30am to 3.30pm, followed by dinner at 8pm.
The first prize is an outing to Largs GC in Ayrshire, Scotland.
Teams of four cost € 1,000 and sponsorship of a tee-box is € 300. Contact Jacinta Uí Riain at 2160577 or email friends@lph.ie.
Whitson stars in Faldo
REEVE WHITSON landed the top prize at the second annual Faldo Junior Series Ireland Championship, held on the Old Links at Ballyliffin Golf Club in Donegal.
The 16-year-old scratch handicapper from Mourne Golf Club was competing from the under-17 category, but his four-over-par 217 aggregate (74, 72, 71) was good enough to win the overall event.
Whitson carded a final round 71 to win by one shot from Ballybunion's Emma O'Driscoll.
The six winners will go on to compete in the Faldo Series Grand Final later this year.
FALDO JUNIOR SERIES IRELAND CHAMPIONSHIP (at Ballyliffin Golf Club) - Overall winner: Reeve Whitson. Mixed Under-21: Aaron Taylor. Boys Under-18: Barry Anderson. Boys Under-17: Whitson. Boys Under-16: Steven Barry. Boys Under-15: Dermot McElroy. Girls Under-18: Emma O'Driscoll
RICKIE FOWLER of the US has regained the number one spot in the RA world amateur ranking as England's Daniel Willett moved into the professional game after leading the world's amateurs for the past 12 weeks.
Fowler, a key member of the US Walker Cup team at Royal Co Down last year, now becomes the longest reigning incumbent of the number one spot at 25 weeks.
Three more key movers this week in the top 10 are Jorge Campillo of Spain, up one place to five; Chris Wood of England, up 15 to nine after victory in the Welsh Strokeplay at Conwy; and Zack Sucher of the US, up two to 10 a week after winning the NCAA East Regional.
Ireland's Shane Lowry from Esker Hills also moved up two places to 12th, while Gareth Shaw (Lurgan) is at 22nd.
Shaw ends college career
WHILE HE didn't get to play with his team-mates in the final round of the NCAA Championships, East Tennessee State senior Gareth Shaw from Lisburn Golf Club ended his college career by making the cut as one of six individual qualifiers whose teams did not make the top-15 cut.
Shaw, who finished the third round at eight-over-par 224 (74-73-77), tied for 20th and got the fifth of six spots in the final round. While he went on to fire a disappointing 12-over 83 in the final round and ultimately finished tied for 43rd in the championships, he was quick to put his college career in perspective.
"It just didn't happen for me in the final round. It was a tough round on a tough course. I've still had a great career at ETSU and I wouldn't change a thing," said Shaw.
He is likely to earn All-American honours in the coming weeks.
UCLA made it a clean-sweep as the Bruins captured the team championship by a stroke over Stanford, and Kevin Chappell took the individual title by three strokes.
ETSU also say farewell to Cian McNamara from Limerick. "We will miss both Cian and Gareth," head coach Fred Warren said. "They've both meant a great deal to our programme."
Four venues for Southern quarters
THE ILGU AA Championships, Southern District, quarter-finals take place at four venues next Sunday. The Junior Cup will be played in Lahinch Castle, with Nenagh taking on Templemore followed by Killarney against Cork, Ballybunion v Mallow and Clonmel v East Cork.
Meanwhile, the Intermediate Cup (16 to 22 handicap) will be played in Fermoy, with Limerick against Muskerry followed by East Cork v Clonmel (a repeat of the Junior Cup clash), Thurles v Ennis and Douglas v Kanturk.
In Macroom, the Minor Cup (23 to 29 Handicap) sees Dunmore take on Ballykisteen, Fermoy v East Clare, Tralee v Youghal and Lee Valley v Adare Manor.
Further west at Kenmare, the Challenge Cup (30 to 36 handicap) is the prize, with East Cork up against Thurles, Tralee v Youghal, Limerick County v Killarney and Monkstown v Castletroy.
The winners of the the quarter-finals will qualify for the play-offs at Clonmel and Nenagh Golf Clubs on the weekend of July 5th and 6th.
