Today's other stories in brief
Emerald Cup dates set
THE seventh annual Tipperary Crystal Emerald Challenge Cup will take place at the Gateway GC in Florida, from April 24th-May 2nd.
The format is a 54-hole handicapped two-man team event with one score to count on full handicaps.
The tournament entry of €899/€1,099 includes five rounds of golf over championship courses with the main event taking place at Pelican Marsh GC, Renaissance GC with the final round at Gateway GC. Other courses include Plantation GC and the Old Corkscrew.
Details from Kevin McGrath at 086-2423009.
O'Sullivan in top 20 finish
IRELAND’S Sinéad O’Sullivan, a student at East Tennessee State University, finished joint 17th on 227 with scores of 75, 77 and 75 in the Hurricane Invitational womens college tournament at Don Shula’s Golf Course, Miami Lakes in Florida.
Over a par-72 course of 6,199 yards, O’Sullivan was 10 shots behind the three-shots winner, Christine Wong from San Diego State, who shot 69, 74, 74 for one-over-par 217.
England’s Laura Jones, a student at Oklahoma City University, tied for 10th place on 224 with scores of 75, 72 and 77.
Fergal Rafferty from Omagh in Northern Ireland, a senior student at Sam Houston State University, finished 37th in a field of 81 players for the Oak Hills Invitational at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas, last week.
Over a par-71 course of 6,765 yards Rafferty had rounds of 78, 72 and 74 for a total of 224.
The winner was Philipp Westerman from Southeastern Louisiana with rounds of 71, 71 and 69 for 211. He finished a shot ahead of Dustin Garza from Wichita State, who shot 72, 70 and 70.
Texas Tech, on a total of 875, won the team title ahead of Southeastern Louisiana on 877, with Tulsa and Baylor tied for third place on 878.
Sam Houston State (891) finished ninth of 15 teams.
Cups and Shields finals set for Carton House
CARTON House will become the permanent home for the Cup and Shield finals from 2014 to 2017. The Bulmers finals have traditionally been rotated through the provinces, with this year’s event taking place at Castlebar GC from September 15th-18th followed by Castlrock (Ulster) in 2011, Kinsale (Munster) in 2012 and Royal Tara (Leinster) in 2013.
At last week’s agm, which reported a decrease of 9,260 in memberships last year, seven new clubs were affiliated to the union – Ballymoney in Wexford; The Links, Portmarnock; Townley Hall in Meath; Killeen Castle in Meath; Scarke in Wexford; Macreddin in Wicklow; and Silogue Park in Dublin.
Meanwhile, due to the increase in the numbers requesting leave of absence from their clubs, the GUI have issued a new clarification.
In recent years some golfers on “leave of absence” have been using their GUI card and handicap to play in open events. Now clubs have been told by the GUI that for the period of the leave of absence, a golfer’s handicap is suspended, meaning he can’t represent his club in competition, he can’t play in open competitions, and he will not pay a GUI affiliation fee.
Munster’s Seán MacMahon from Adare Manor took over as GUI president, with Connacht’s Eugene Freyne as president-elect.
The union showed a surplus of €200,00 last year, compared with a deficit of €100,000 in 2008.
Dublin Scratch Foursomes revived
AS part of their large programme of centenary celebrations at The Grange GC, the Dublin Scratch Foursomes, over 36 holes, is being revived.
The event will be held on Sunday, April 18th, with entries limited to the 50 pairs with the lowest combined handicaps, with a shot-gun start for both 18 holes.
The competition will be played over the par-72 championship course at the Grange, which is a combination of the old and the new layouts and used very successfully for the past few years for the Leinster 54-holes Mid-Amateur Championship.
AIB will sponsor the event and a high quality field is expected to provide excellent golf over a very challenging course.
Details of the event and entry forms are available from the Grange Golf Club at 01-4932889 or fax 01-4939490.
email:administration@grangegolfclub.ie
Turner has hole in one in Arizona
THERE was another good finish for Niall Turner in America when he finished in fifth place in Arizona over the weekend.
The Team Ireland Golf player from Muskerry in Cork was playing in the Gateway Tour event at the wonderfully named Wigwam Golf Resort in Arizona and finished on eight under par.
Having opened the competition with two impressive rounds of 68 and 67 he then finished with his worst round of the competition on the final round, closing with a 73 to eventually finish only five shots adrift of the eventual winner.
However, there was the highlight of a hole in one at the 16th hole during that second round of 67 which helped his score.
The event in the desert was eventually won by Fredrik Svenberg, but only after a play-off. The Swiss golfer defeated Matt Marshall on the first extra hole of that play-off after both players had finished the 54 hole event on 13 under par.
Westport shake up GOY event
THE Fed-Ex Cup is coming to Westport Golf Club. Well not exactly, but sort of! In recent years Westport have found they have had too many runaway winners of their golfer of the year competition, so this year they have looked to the USPGA for an example on how to make the event more attractive.
Under the stewardship of Club Captain John Collins they have introduced a play-off system similar to that used on the US Tour.
“For the new season, we will award the regular points to the top 30 finishers in 11 standard GOY competitions, double points in the Captain’s and President’s Prizes and quintuple points in two final play-off competitions, which are scheduled to take place on September 12th and 19th,” Collins said.
Following the final play-off competition, the overall top 30 qualifiers, who have played a minimum of five GOY events, will have their points reset and compete in a grand final for the title. All competitors in the Grand Final will be in with a chance of securing the title. However, if you are in the top five going into the final competition and win you are guaranteed to take the Golfer of the Year Title.The opening event in the race for the title will be on Sunday, April 11th with the Donie O’Connor Memorial.
