Compiled by SHAY KEENAN
Cunnigar B commanding winners
IT WAS always going to be hard to dispossess leaders Cunnigar B who carried a 2 1/3 shot lead into the final 18 hole stage of the 2010 National Scramble which was held at Douglas over the weekend. In the event with a final 18 hole round of 33 1/3 they were commanding winners on 161 by a margin of four shots from Deerpark D who returned 165. in third place were B.E.D.A. on 166 while Douglas J got the Final 18 prize with 31 2/3.
ENTRIES FOR the Ladies Connacht Championships which this year will be held at the Darren Clarke-designed Castle Dargan Golf Club, Co Sligo from June 16th to 18th will close on Monday next, May 17th.
Entries and application form details are available on the ILGU website in the West section. Senior championship handicap is for 12 and under, with the junior 13-26 handicap.
St Michael's retain Leinster league
ST MICHAEL’S COLLEGE, Dublin retained the Leinster Schools League title when they beat Franciscan College, Gormanston in the final at Dunmurry Springs last week.
In a closely-fought final they eased past Gormanston by three holes. Shaun Carter and Cian Poland halved with Sam Devey and Phil Gray while Keegan Cummins and Robbie Pierce made sure that the Leinster trophy remained in Ailesbury Road with a three holes win over Niall Yelverton and Conor Nolan.
In the semi-finals, St Michael’s College beat Castleknock College by four holes while just one hole separated Franciscan College, Gormanstown and Heywood Community School, in Portlaoise.
Hayes helps Lahinch to Munster Senior crown
LAHINCH claimed victory at the Munster Senior Championships at Tralee on Sunday with a surprise win over top seeds Douglas in the final.
In a nail-biting decider the County Clare club defeated Douglas 3.5 to 1.5 to land the title. There was an opening win for Linda Toomey who beat Karen O’Neill 21, before Eavan Higgins took first blood for Douglas by beating 17-year-old Sinead Sexton.
Then the experienced Valerie Hassett defeated Douglas Lady Captain Aoife Lane 76, before Olivia Hayes edged Ailish Thompson on the first extra hole to claim the Munster Senior Cup for Lahinch, while the Val Shannon v Mark Mackey game was halved having been called in.
Winners Lahinch – who beat Tralee, Limerick and then Ennis in the semi-finals – will now represent the Munster District at the All-Ireland Finals in Cork Golf Club on August 13 and 14.
The Northern District qualifiers conclude today at at Masserene, while The Mid Leinster District Qualifiers take place at Mullingar on Friday and Saturday next, May 14th and 15th.
Elm Park GC hosts the Eastern District Qualifiers on Saturday and Sunday, where the top four seeds are County Louth, The Island, Woodbrook and Laytown Bettystown. Saturday and Sunday will also see Roscommon looking for a third successive Connacht title, qualifying taking place at Castlebar.
Kearney to tee it up in Texas Open
BALLYLIFFIN’S THOMAS Kearney has been handed a dream invitation to tee it up in this week’s Valero Texas Open on the PGA Tour.
The 26-year old graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio will join a stellar field that includes Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Zach Johnson, Vijay Singh and John Daly.
“I’ve been playing Monday qualifiers for Nationwide Tour and PGA Tour this year and trying to get started that way,” said Kearney, who did not have the $5,000 (€3,900) fee to enter last season’s PGA Tour Qualifying School. “My agent and I wrote away for an exemption about a month ago and the tournament director got back to me last week. He liked what he heard and said he had a spot for me.
“This the break I had been looking for and hopefully I can push on from here, finish in the top ten and get into the Byron Nelson Championship here in Texas next week.”
The son of English parents, Kearney moved to Ballyliffin when he was six years old, winning the Ulsters Boys under-15 title in 1998 and the Irish Boys Under 17 crown in 2001. A former Boys international, he was awarded a golf scholarship by University of Texas in 2005, graduating with a degree in Business Administration. He turned professional at the end of 2008 and this will be his first start to the 2010 season following injury and illness.
Darcy to lead Delgany clinic
MONDAY NEXT (May 17th) will see the completion of the 2010 Primary Schools Golf Programme with Delgany Golf Club hosting the second Schools Cup for boys and girls in the Wicklow region.
Some 500 schoolchildren from the ages of 8 to 12 years of age have availed of coaching while the finals will involve over 100 schoolchildren.
Former Ryder Cup player Eamonn Darcy and Delgany professional Gavin Kavanagh, will provide a golf exhibition and clinic at this year’s event
Contact Delgany Golf Club 01-2874536 or email: delganygolf@eircom.net for more details.
Novel opportunity for club golfers
THE chance to represent Ireland in Europe’s latest golf competition has just been launched. Golfhub Ireland, part of the global GolfSwitch Organisation, have just launched two new competitions for golfers of all standards in Europe and the US.
The main competition is the Golfhub International Series. Entrants register online and then nominate up to five singles club competitions in their own club between now and the end of the year. After the round, they enter their scores from these chosen competitions and of these five rounds; the three best scores are put into an Order of Merit with qualifiers heading to Portugal to represent Ireland in a match against other European countries.
There will also be a match against the US representative team at The Heritage for other qualifiers who don’t make it to Portugal. Entry fee is €25.00 (£25.00 in Northern Ireland) and is open to all official GUI club golfers.
The second competition, the Golfhub Open Series, gives golfers the chance to play some of Ireland’s best golf courses at an attractive rate. Six outings will take place starting with Bunclody on May 31st; Dundrum Co Tipperary on June 9th then Lough Erne, the K Club, the Heritage and Lough Erne again. Entry details from www.golfhub.ie or by contacting Gerry O’Hara at 057 8730643 or 086 1743967 or at gerry@golfhub.ie
