Compiled by SHAY KEENAN
Holders Douglas bid for 14th national title
ALL-IRELAND champions Douglas will have their eyes on a 14th national title when the Irish Ladies Senior Cup tees off at five venues next weekend.
Douglas, who beat Claremorris in last year’s decider, will open their title defence against Ballybunion at Kinsale.
Headfort is the venue for the East Leinster section where champions Co Louth are first away against Dún Laoghaire, while number two seeds The Island take on Ardee. Laytown/Bettystown are seeded three with Woodbrook at four.
The Mid-Leinster division is scheduled for Tullamore where champions Kilkenny play Blainroe while Enniscorthy take on Tramore.
Royal Portrush will be seeking a 25th title as they await the winners of the Royal Co Down Ladies v Larne match. In Connacht Claremorris await the winners of Roscommon and Ballinasloe while Portumna will play the winners of the Galway and Athenry match.
The All-Ireland finals will be held at the Grange GC in Dublin on August 17th and 18th.
THE Limerick Supporters Club (Dublin) will hold their annual classic at Beech Park GC on May 18th. This is a team-of-three event with two scores to count at each hole and all scores at the 18th. The cost to include a meal is €350, with hole sponsorship available at €100. Places on the time sheet may be booked with Tom Cotter at 086-8380893.
Meadow makes prestigious team
IRELAND’S Stephanie Meadow, a student at Alabama University, was last week named in the 2012 Southeastern Conference Womens Golf Team.
It is a team that never actually plays a match, but selection is an indication of the players most highly rated within the conference and is selected by the various conference coaches.
Meadow’s Alabama team-mate Brooke Pancake – who will be playing for the United States in the June 8th-10th Curtis Cup match earned the accoldae of SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the third straight season.
Spain’s Camilla Hedberg (Florida University) was named SEC Freshman of the Year. Hedberg recorded her fourth top-10 finish of the season at SEC Championship.
THE annual Friends of Dublin Hurling Golf Classic will take place at Castlewarden GC on Thursday, May 24th.
A team-of-four event with an enery fee of €400. Tee sponsorship id available at €200. E-mail entry to: fodh@eircom.net or contact 087-2331983 or 087-9783735.
THE European Club in Brittas Bay in Co Wicklow are hosting their East of Ireland summer Alliance outing this year on Sunday June 10th.
The timesheet is open from 10am to 2pm and places are currently available by phoning on 0404-47415.
Grant joins legendary list at Hermitage
LISBURN’S Paula Grant joined a long list of legendary former winners when she won the 41st Hermitage Ladies Scratch Cup, sponsored by Dermot Kelly Ltd, at a chilly but dry Hermitage Golf Club on Sunday.
Trailing Mary Dowling’s excellent 69 at lunchtime by two strokes, Grant mastered the undulating greens in the afternoon to sign for a two-under-par 71 and a 36-hole total of 144, while New Ross’s Dowling dropped three strokes for a 76.
Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell) leap-frogged through the field with a best-of-the-afternoon three-under-par-70 to join Dowling in joint-second on 145 just a shot behind Grant.
Co Louth’s Deirdre Smith holed her five-wood approach shot at the long 16th for an eagle to share fourth on 150 alongside the ever improving Maria Dunne from Skerries, who is enjoying a resurgence of form at the top level. Emma O’Driscoll from Ballybunion finished on 151.
Huizing lands Lytham Trophy
DAN HUIZING, ranked seven among the world’s amateurs, won the Lytham Trophy by a margin of 11 shots with a seven-under-par total of 273 over the Royal Lytham Golf Club venue for this year’s British Open championship.
He led from start to finish with scores of 67, 67, 71 and 68 over the par-70 layout. It was a Continental one-two, with Germany’s Moritz Lampert the distant runner-up on 284 (69, 72, 71, 72).
He might be the first Dutch player to win the Lytham Trophy, but the win comes as no surprise – Huizing won six times last year. He had victories in the Dutch Strokeplay Championship, the German Amateur, Brabants Open Amateur in his homeland, the Turkish Amateur, the Tailhade Cup in Argentina and the Argentine Amateur Championship.
Best of the Irish was Dermot McElroy from Ballymena on 291 after rounds of 72, 73, 73 and 73. Alan Dunbar, the only member of last year’s victorious Walker Cup team to play in the championship, tied for 22nd place after carding rounds of 71, 72, 74 and 76 for 293, Richard O’Donovan from Lucan shot 294, Reeve Whiston from Mourne finished on 295, with Andrew Hogan from Newlands on 296. Nicky Grant and Harry Diamond missed the cut.
New partnership announced
KELLOGG’S and the GUI National Golf Academy have announced a new partnership and a new competition for Irish golfers.
The Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Golf Skills Challenge is a new competition which aims to find Ireland’s most skilled golfers and reward excellence.
There are seven skills involved in the new challenge – driving, 135-metre shot, pitching, up and down, bunker play, difficult lies and putting. The competition is open to all golfers over the age of 18 who have an official GUI or ILGU handicap. Online entry is available at www.learntogolf.ie.
Regional qualifying events will be held on June 8th at Co Sligo GC, June 15th at Charleville GC, Cork, June 22nd at Donabate GC, Co Dublin, July 27th at Malone GC, Belfast, August 10th at Holystown GC, Co Dublin. The final is scheduled for the Golfing Union of Ireland National Academy at Carton House in September.
Special week for Temple
IT was a special week for Graham Temple, who plays his golf in Elmgreen GC in Castleknock, Dublin.
On Wednesday in the open singles competition – an event which was won by Joseph Turner with 42 points – Temple was also celebrating as he began his round with a hole in one, something all the more remarkable given that the opening hole is a par four measuring 269 yards.
Then on Sunday in the singles competition, there was more cheer for Temple as the six handicapper was victorious in the weekly event beating the field with a tremendous score of 40 points.
