The Short Game: Eric Reucroft from the South Leeds club in Yorkshire was the winner of the international final of the Red Bull Final 5 competition held at the famed Pinehurst resort in North Carolina recently.
Five Irish players qualified (from 18,000 who entered last year) but, although Ian Blake (Island), Mark Clements (Dungannon), Laura O'Mara (Seafield), Pauline Smith (Glasson) and Derek Whelan (Killeen) acquitted themselves well, they were not in the shake-up for overall honours on the final day.
Played over three days on the challenging No 8, delightful No 4 and world famous No 2 courses, scoring was on a simple stableford aggregate basis with double points for each of the final five holes in each round. Sixty other golfers from Britain, Germany and Ireland played in the final.
Reucroft, 60, held on in a thrilling finish on the 18th green of Pinehurst No 2, venue of Michael Campbell's 2005 US Open success, when his South Leeds clubmate David Smith failed to get up and down from beyond the green.
RED BULL FINAL 5 INTERNATIONAL FINAL(at Pinehurst Golf resort, North Carolina)): 136 pts - E Reucroft (South Leeds); 135 - C Miller (Widnes). 132 - D Smith (South Leeds). Other scores: 115 - I Blake (The Island); 100 - D Whelan (Killeen); 92 - P Smith (Glasson); 90 - M Clements (Dungannon); 79 - L O'Mara (Seafield).
Meadow drops back
Irish girls champion Stephanie Meadow from Antrim, a student at the International Golf Academy on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, shot a final round of 83 for a share of 26th place on 311 after earlier scores of 78, 76 and 74 in the 43rd Junior Orange Bowl international championship over the Biltmore Hotel course on Anastasia Avenue in Coral Gables, Florida, last week.
That closing round, which included a triple-bogey six at the short 12th and a double-bogey six at the 11th, dropped the Nick Faldo Junior Series girls champion down the field from the joint 15th place she held at the start of the final round.
The event was won by the French Canadian Maude-Aimee LeBlanc from Ascot Corner, Quebec. Maude-Aimee had established a winning lead after 54 holes and despite shooting her worst round of the championship - a 76 - she was able to coast home by three shots with a total of 288. Vicky Hurst from the US was second on 291.
Sihwan Kim from Buena Park, California, calmly sank an eight-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to edge out the pre-tournament favourite, Peter Uihlein, a plus-three player from Bradenton, Florida, to claim the boys' title by a single stroke.
Kim finished with scores of 71, 64, 68 and 70 for an 11-under-par total of 273 over the par-71, 6,766-yard course. Uihlein finished runner-up for the second year in a row with 75, 71, 67 and 71 for 274.
Smyth at Laytown
Des Smyth was a popular visitor at Laytown and Bettystown GC last week. Juniors boys and girls at the club were thrilled when the vice-captain of the winning Ryder Cup team at The K Club in September brought the coveted Ryder Cup trophy to his alma mater. Greeted by captains Anne Cooney and Tom Reid, Smyth posed with each one of the large and enthusiastic audience for that historic and treasured photograph.
R&A grant initiative
Grants totalling in excess of €1.5 million, including €90,000 for Junior Golf Ireland, have been agreed by the R&A to encourage the development of golf around the world.
Also included for the first time are grants to support junior grassroots activities in Bulgaria and Poland in eastern Europe.
Further afield, international amateur team championships being played in Canada, Guatemala and South Africa will also receive R&A funding for the first time.
Duncan Weir, the R&A director of golf development, said: "We are fortunate that the annual surplus from the British Open Championship enables us to distribute funds widely and it is therefore appropriate that the junior programmes run by Nick Faldo and Paul Lawrie, both Open champions, are included in this latest list of awards."
Dates for the diary
A few important dates are coming up over the next few weeks.
The annual general meeting of the Irish Ladies Golfing Union will take place on Saturday week, January 13th, at the Dunboyne Castle Hotel and Spa. The union's 113th agm begins at 12.30pm and each club is entitled to send two delegates.
Meanwhile, a meeting for all club honorary secretaries, handicap secretaries and junior officers attached to the Southern District of the ILGU will take place in the Springfort Hall Hotel in Mallow on Saturday, January 27th, starting at noon.
O'Connor on song
Woodstock's Cathal O'Connor certainly brought the curtain down on 2006 in style by shining on the golf course. In the open singles event, played over St Stephen's Day and last Wednesday, it was actually a clean sweep for members of the Co Clare club.
O'Connor, a three-handicapper, fired 38 points to miss out on victory by just a single point to Cathal O'Loughlin (13), with Michael Nugent third with 37 points.
But in the weekend open scramble, victory was to be O'Connor's as he teamed up with his clubmate Brian Aherne (6) to win with a score of 52¾#189;.
Delgany duo shine
Enjoying a good spell just before the Christmas holiday period in Delgany GC, Co Wicklow, were Anna Rooney (20) and 30-handicapper Eleanor McMahon. In the last Sunday fourball of the year they teamed up to win with a score of 21 points. Then a couple of days later they featured in the nine-hole strokes event, Rooney finishing fourth in class one, and McMahon the winner in class three.
The winner on the day was Joan Aiken, playing off 18, with a score of 34.
Back in the swing
The East of Ireland Alliance season returns to action tomorrow, January 3rd, at The European Club after the Christmas break. The handicap limit is 12 and places on the timesheet can be booked by phoning 0404-47415.
The Links Golfing Society are at Portmarnock Hotel and Links on Thursday, while the North Western Golfing Alliance are also back in action this weekend. They return at Dunfanaghy Golf Club in Donegal on Saturday next, January 6th.
