A round-up of today's other Golf stories in brief...
Finalists come from behind
MULLINGAR AND Enniscorthy are through to the final of the FBD sponsored Barton Cup final after semi-final victories over Malahide and Naas respectively.
Mullingar did it the hard way; after losing their two home matches they won all three at Malahide to advance.
Enniscorthy included four under-16s - Graham Donoghue, Conor Murphy, Jamie Drennan and Dermot Cullen - in a team that won on the 18th after being three down with just four holes to play.
Murphy fifth in German juniors
AEDIN MURPHY (Carlow) and Louise Mernagh (Woodenbridge) finished fifth and 25th at the 54-hole strokeplay 2008 Harder German Junior Masters (under-19) at Heddesheim GC last week.
Murphy fired a 72 to add to rounds of 73 and 75 and gain one place over the final round.
Mernagh closed with an 84 to finish mid-table, a disappointing result after she had opened with two rounds of 74.
The event was won by Germany's Charlotte Kierdoff on two-under-par 214.
She had three shots to spare over the runner-up, her compatriot Laura Alexandra Stempfle.
IRELAND'S SPECIAL Olympians compete in the Quadrangular Topaz Triple Crown tournament at the the Belfry, Birmingham, next Friday and Saturday.
This is the second year of this competition for Special Olympic golfers from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.
Play will be on both the Brabazon Course and the PGA Championship course.
The Irish team is Oliver Doherty (Ulster), Joe Fulton (Leinster), Rita Dunne (Eastern), Kevin O'Callaghan (Munster), Ruth O'Mahony (Munster), Sarah Hyland (Munster), Frank Hynes (Leinster) and Robert Slevin (Leinster).
Ladies' finals tee off in Mitchelstown
MITCHELSTOWN GOLF Club is the venue this week for the southern finals of the AA Insurance Ladies Golf Championships. Twelve teams vie for silverware and a place in the national final of the third annual AA Insurance Ladies Championships.
Next week Athenry will host the western version.
The southern action begins on Friday with the final of the senior and junior foursomes. The senior final will be contested by Douglas and Lahinch. The junior final has Douglas taking on Rathbane.
The action continues on Saturday with the Junior, Intermediate, Minor and Challenge Cup finals.
Killarney and Ballybunion square off in the junior final.
East Cork will be hoping to defend their intermediate title against Douglas. In the minor final Lee Valley meet East Clare. And the Challenge Cup final sees East Cork and Monkstown do battle.
In the western finals the action begins next Monday (August 18th) with the finals of the senior and junior foursomes.
Galway will be aiming to retain their 2007 Western District senior title when they tee off against Athlone. Mountbellew will play Boyle in the junior foursomes final.
Then on Tuesday it's the finals of the Junior, Intermediate, Minor and Challenge Cups.
Co Longford and Mountbellew meet in the junior final, while Curra West and Enniscrone clash in the intermediate decider.
In the minor final Galway meet Donegal.
And in the final match on Tuesday, the Challenge Cup final, Co Longford play Athenry.
Greystones ladies busy on all fronts
AUGUST IS proving to be a busy month for Betty Murray, Lady Captain of Greystones Golf Club.
This Thursday Greystones hosts the Lancome Scotch Foursomes, and then on August 18th the same club is the venue for Sam McCauley Classic.
The year so far has been a highly successful one for the ladies of Greystones. They have qaulified for the Leinster final of the Miele All-Ireland Fourball Matchplay; they meet Donabate in Dundalk this Thursday.
Betty will be cheering her girls on again in the final of the Finn Trophy on August 28th, when they play Enniscorthy in Courtown.
The Greystones annual Pro-Am takes place on Monday, August 25th.
Last year's winner, Brendan McGovern, will be joined by a top-class number of Irish professionals. Over 40 teams will take part at € 650 per team.
There are still a few morning slots available. Phone the Greystones professional Karl Holmes at 01-2874136.
McGibney qualifies for Pinehurst
ELM PARK'S Peter McGibney has qualified for next week's US Amateur Championship at Pinehurst, North Carolina.
McGibney, a student at Francis Marion University, shot 70 and 72 to qualify from the Black Hall Club in Old Lyme, Connecticut.
With just three spots available McGibney finised one behind Peter Uihlein from Bradenton, Florida, with Masayuki Kobayashi two shots back on 144. Ronan O'Connor from The Island, and a team-mate of McGibney at Francis Marion, just missed out on a place after shooting 74 and 75.
Pinehurst is, incidentally, the course where where (the late) Payne Stewart of the US won the 1999 US Open and New Zealand's Michael Campbell won the 2005 version. The championship starts next Monday with two qualifying rounds, the top 64 going through to the matchplay.
Seniors on home soil for defence
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS Ireland will have home advantage when the third annual European Seniors Team Championships tee off at Shannon GC tomorrow morning with 20 countries competing for the title won by Ireland last year at Bled Golf Club in Slovenia.
Ireland are captained by Tommie Basquille and boast a strong team as they go in search of back-to-back victories.
Leading the Irish team will be the Irish Seniors and European Seniors champion Adrian Morrow from Portmarnock GC.
A former senior international, Morrow is joined on the team by John Carroll (Bandon), Maurice Kelly (Killeen), Liam McNamara (Woodbrook), Hugh Smyth (Mourne) and the former Walker Cup star and British Seniors champion for 2007, Arthur Pierse from Tipperary.
Support will be much appreciated and entry is free.
IRELAND'S boys' team became the first winners of individual gold medals when, under the captaincy of Dick Cusack, they won the Home Internationals Championships with an exciting 8-7 win over England at Royal Co Down last week.
This was the the first year each player received a medal; formerly the winning team received just a pennant.
