A round-up of today's other golf stories in brief...
Maguires dominate Clarke's Foundation event
WET and windy conditions for the Darren Clarke Foundation at Portmarnock GC last week didn't dim the enthusiasm of the Maguire twins in their predictable dominance of the girls' section.
Clarke himself was in attendance on both Saturday and Sunday, giving individual attention to the 13 participants.
On this occasion, Irish Girls' champion Lisa outscored the Irish Ladies Close champion Leona, largely due to a very impressive round of 72 on Sunday when the sun broke through but high winds persisted.
She carded 43 for nine holes on Saturday.
This was the seventh staging of the Foundation weekend and a new development was the involvement of eight competitors from Junior Golf Ireland who participated in a skills challenge under Clarkes tutelage.
The winners of the Junior Golf Ireland Putting Skills Challenge were 10-year-old Rory Dineen from Cork and 10-year-old Nicole Byrne from Clonmel.
Girls: 115 - Lisa Maguire (Slieve Russell) 43, 72; 121 - Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell) 40 81; 127 - Sarah Louise Winter (Carnalea) 47, 80; 128 - Patrice Delaney (Birr) 44, 84.
Boys: 114 - Paul Dunne (Greystones) 41 73; 118 - Michael Durcan (Co Sligo) 42,76; 119 - Enda Maguire (Seapoint) 43,76; 120 - Chris Keithley (East Clare) 43,77; 122 - Keith Egan (Curragh) 44,78; Ian O'Rourke (Cork) 41,85; 127 - Colm O'Sullivan (Fota Island) 41,86; Graham Donohue (Enniscorthy) 42,85. Under-15: O'Sullivan.
ILGU launch new 'Winterpros' initiative
THE Irish Ladies Golf Union will this weekend launch a new initiative to provide competitive golf for Ireland's elite female athletes over the winter months.
The "ILGU Winterpros" is a round-robin tournament played over three weekends at Moyvalley in Co Kildare. The five Districts nominate four players each while the students on Paddy Harrington Golf Scholarship at NUI Maynooth make up a sixth team. Each team plays each other during the first five sessions with the final session opponents determined by rankings in the six-team table.
The second and third series of matches will take place next January and February.
North: Louise Coffey, Leona Maguire, Lisa Maguire, Sarah Louise Winter. East: Ciara Butler, Sarah Murray, Carla Reynolds, Deirdre Smith. South: Laura McCarthy, Emma O'Driscoll, Karen O'Neill, Catherine Tucker. West: Kate Gallagher, Sarah Helly, Anne McCormack, Darragh McGowan. Midland: Karen Delaney, Tara Delaney, Patrice Delaney, Mary Dowling. NUI Maynooth: Sarah Cunningham, Danielle McVeigh, Louise Mernagh, Aideen Murphy.
Ireland prove too strong for Dutch at RGSC
IRELAND, led by World Cup winning trio of Ray Murphy, Paul O'Brien and Derek Courtney, proved far too strong for Holland in the bi-annual Willie Parker Pitch and Putt Challenge Cup at the RGSC over the weekend.
In a repeat of the World Cup final Ireland won by 30½-9½.
The match features 10 players a side in foursomes, fourballs and individual matchplay. The other members of the Irish squad were Seán Goggins ,Seán Downes, Frank Dineen, James Carroll, Ian Farrelly, Geraldine Ward and Tara Dillon.
The match honours the memory of the late pitch and putt pioneer from Cork Willie Parker, who was hugely influential in the development of the sport in Holland.
Turner moves on to stage two
NIALL TURNER has qualified for stage two of the USPGA Tour School. The former Muskerry player came through the first stage at San Juan Oaks GC in Hollister, California last week with an eight-under-par total of 280 after rounds of 69, 70, 70 and 71.
American Brady Stockton led the way at San Juan Oaks with rounds of 67, 66, 69 and 68 for an 18-under-par total of 270 with Troy Kelly, who opened with a 65, two shots back on 272 and James Hahn on 273. Turner now moves on to Stage Two in Southern Hills GC in Brookville, Florida next week.
THERE WAS success recently for the ILGU's Eastern Region when they won the Inter-Regional Special Olympics Golf Trophy at Massereene Golf Club. Seventy players from the five regions of Ireland took part in this on-course event with golfers playing singles and alternate shot events in their battle for glory and it was the Eastern Region who came out on top.
Garcia has luck of The Old Head
THE luck of the Irish may well have played a significant role in Sergio Garcia's recent win at the Castello Masters Costa Azahar at Club de Campo del Mediterraneo, on the outskirts of Madrid.
Not only were the locals delighted with the win, but also an Irish company, who helped the Spaniard a few weeks earlier, as the world number three engaged the services of Derek Murray and the team of Fore Golf at a visit to Ireland where he stayed and practised at The Old Head in Kinsale. The Fore Golf Tour truck was at The Old Head supporting a members' tournament.
After speaking with a couple of members of The Old Head, Garcia made a special request to have the truck opened up late one evening and spent a few hours discussing aspects of his clubs, shafts and especially his wedges and how to grind the soles to get the best play from them.
Speaking from Fore Golfs workshop in Kildare Murray said, "We were delighted to help out Sergio down at The Old Head. We are all delighted with his success in Spain and glad that we were able to be a part of his win." For swing details contact www.foregolf.ie
BRIAN McELHINNEY took the gross honours on the break of a tie after finishing on one-over-par 73 with Marty McDermott from Strabane and Derek McNeill from Rosapenna in the North West Alliance outing to Ballyliffin. Alan Doherty from Ballyliffin took fourth on 74 from clubmate Brendan Devlin with Garrett Mallon from the North West also on 75.
Namesake Davy McElhinney finished third in the nett after tieing on four-under-par 68 with the Letterkenny pair of Seán Gibson and Danny McLoughlin. Gibson taking the top prize on a countback. A shot back was Letterkenny's Mark Doherty with Justin MacLochlann edging out John Doran on the back nine after both finished on 70.
