SHORT GAME:Curtis Cup player Sally Watson and Stephanie Meadow, the 2006 Irish girls champion and the 2007 finalist, have both been invited to play in the Verizon Junior Heritage tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on February 7th and 8th.
For Meadow it's a "home posting" - she is a student at the International Junior Golf Academy at Hilton Head Island.
Meanwhile, Meadow continued her excellent recent form when finishing ninth in the Arizona Silver Belle girls' golf tournament over the Arizona State University's Karsten course at Tempe.
Meadow finished with a par 72 for 218 after rounds of 72 and 74. She had the steadiest of final rounds - a birdie at the first, a bogey four at the short 12th and the rest pars.
Kristen Park, from Buena Park, California - she had her 16th birthday on December 27th - was the overall winner with a 72 for 212, having scored 69 and 71 to lead into the final day.
Park won the 2007 United States girls' championship when she was only 14 and played in the Junior Solheim Cup match in Sweden that year.
Cheyenne Woods who tied for fifth place is a niece of Tiger Woods.
Schjoelberg edges out Hodgson
IN one of the most thrilling finishes in recent years, Norway's 16-year-old Mathias Schjoelberg became the 45th Junior Orange Bowl boys' champion, holing a 15-foot par-saving putt on the final green to edge out three-round leader, England's 18-year-old Stiggy Hodgson over the Biltmore course, Coral Gables in Florida.
Schjoelberg, who started three strokes behind Hodgson and carded a final round score of 64 (6-under par) for a 12-under-par final total of 268, took the lead at the 71st hole after a barrage of birdies, which to his credit Hodgson withstood to the very end.
Garth Magee from Malone GC finished 50th on 305 after rounds 77, 79, 72 and 77.
The girls' title went from nail-biting tension to marathon in which Argentina's Victoria Tanco outlasted US Junior Girls' Champion Alexis Thompson at the fifth sudden-death play-off hole after they had tied on four-under-par 276. The resilience that gained 14-year-old Tanco the American Junior Golf Association's top ranking this year was evident as she made five solid pars at the long, uphill par-4 18th.
Ashburnham back in the spotlight
ASHBURNHAM in Wales features prominently on the golf fixture list compiled for 2009 after two barren years. Some 18 months ago the Boys' Home Internationals were scheduled to be played over the Pembrey links but the game's ruling body, The Royal and Ancient, decided at the 11th hour that the course was in need of remedial work and so moved the tournament to nearby Machynys Peninsula.
But now it is, once again, looking in fine condition.
In May the Welsh Open Strokeplay Championship will be contested over the Ashburnham links and the Welsh Professionals' title will be decided there for the third time in September.
Chris Evans was triumphant in 1992 and nine years later Stephen Dodd became champion there. Furthermore, it has been confirmed that the Mens' Home Internationals will be contested at Ashburnham in 2010 when local man Chris Rees may be the Welsh captain.
Christopher ends year with ace
IS there a better way to finish the old year than securing an ace? Probably not, but that is exactly what Paul Christopher did in Kinsale Golf Club, as in the last competition of 2008 on New Year's Eve, he had a hole in one on the 11th hole of the Farrangalway course.
Sadly for him, though, he didn't win the three-club singles competition. That honour went to Mervyn Young, playing off nine, who shot 30 points, to edge out by a single point John McCarthy (7) and Donal G McCarthy (17).
McGee and Enoch join Buccaneers
EAST Tennessee State University have received national letters of intent (NLI) from Ireland's Garth McGee and England's Ben Enoch.
McGee, a member of the Irish Boys' Team that won the Home Internationals at Royal County Down after a thrilling finale against England, also made it to the fifth round of the British Boys' Amateur Championship.
Enoch, a native of Cornwall, England, and brother to current ETSU sophomore Rhys Enoch, joins McGee, a native of Northern Ireland, as the first two members of the team's 2009-2010 freshman class.
While the younger Enoch and McGee will join the Buccaneers in the fall of next season, the 2008-09 ETSU squad finished ranked 24th by Golfweek/Sagarin following the fall season, and will return to action for the spring season on February 2nd in the PING Arizona Intercollegiate in Tucson, Arizona.
Farrell named Lady Captain
GER Farrell is looking forward to the next 12 months, as she has the privilege of being Lady Captain of Charlesland Golf Club in Greystones, Co Wicklow for 2009.
She has just taken over the reigns from Eileen Woods.
Well, Farrell couldn't have asked for a better start to her term of office, as last Saturday in what was the opening event of the New Year, the 18 handicapper emerged victorious in the 13-hole singles event topping the field with a score of 26 points.
