IF EVERYTHING goes according to plan in the AIB East of Ireland Championship this weekend, three-bails will fly around Baltray in well under four hours and only quality players will appear on the leaderboard. Indeed, it might even help if Noel Fox were to retain the title.

For this staging, the East is being viewed as a trial for the six-member Ireland line-up to compete in the Men's European Amateur Team Championship at Portmarnock on June 25th to 29th. That particular selection will be finalised after the Irish Amateur Open at Fota Island on June 12th and 13th, when the holder, Keith Nolan, will be in action.

"My immediate ambition is to make the six-man team, so I felt I had to play at Baltray," said Fox, by way of explaining his decision to withdraw from the British Amateur at Cinque Ports next week. "Sure, I'd love to make the Walker Cup team but any chance of that would disappear if I didn't play in the Europeans."

My reference to the vain hope of seeing competitors speeding around the splendid Co Louth links, is prompted by the determination of the championship committee to stamp out slow play. Mind you, these threats have been made before to no effect, so we can but hope for a better response this time around.

Though Peter Lawrie, Jody Fanagan and Bryan Omelia are heading for Cinque Ports, the Baltray line-up includes a strong contingent of past and present internationals. Among them is twice former West of Ireland winner Niall Goulding, making a come-back to championship golf as a reinstated amateur, having flirted with the professional game.

The selectors are right to treat the East seriously, given the quality of champion it has produced over the years. Indeed it is significant that recent winners, Darren Clarke (1989) and Raymond Burns (1992 and 1993), have gone on to successful professional careers.

For the first of those victories Burns shot a 13-under-par aggregate of 279 to beat the record of 281 established by the late Pat Mulcare in 1971. And when retaining the title, the Banbridge player went on break his own target with an aggregate of 278. Nobody has come within 11 strokes of that figure since then.

Meanwhile, among the former champions in action are Declan Branigan (1981 and 1995), Garth McGimpsey (1988 and 1994), Denis O'Sullivan (1990), Barry Reddan (1984) and Adrian Morrow (1975 and 1983).

The first three-ball goes into action at 8.0 this morning and at tlie end of 36 holes tomorrow evening, the leading 50 go through to the final 36 holes on Monday.