Golf East of Ireland Championship Although the one-day overlap with the British Amateur Championship - which starts on Monday - has robbed the East of Ireland Championship of a quartet of Ireland's top players, each of whom is chasing a Walker Cup place, there is still much incentive for those teeing-up in the Irish Independent-sponsored event at Baltray, starting today.

Noel Fox, recent winner of the Irish Open strokeplay and winner of the East last year, is one of those absent. The others are Colm Moriarty, a two-time winner in Australia this season; Justin Kehoe, the world universities champion; and US-based student Gareth Maybin.

But with places on the six-man Irish team for the European Championships in Holland in July still up for decision, a good performance at Co Louth could swing matters for others in contention for a place on the team.

Among those seeking to impress will be Mark Ryan, the winner of the West of Ireland, and full internationals Andrew McCormick, Seán McTernan, Johnny Foster, Michael McDermott, Stuart Paul, Mark Campbell and last year's Irish champion, John McGinn.

Of the younger brigade, Robert McCarthy, Cian McNamara and Conor Doran will be the focus of much interest in a championship being played on a links which has undergone some recent tweaking to its design, including a reduction in the par from 73 to 72.