Today's other golf stories
Tied at the Brabazon
England international Jamie Moul and Frenchman Romain Bechu finished joint winners of the Brabazon Trophy at Forest of Arden in England at the weekend, the first time since 1995 the title has been shared.
The pair finished on seven-under-par 281, with Moul closing with a 72 and Bechu with 67.
They finished just a shot ahead of another Frenchman, Kenny Le Sager, and four ahead of David Horsey and Sam Hutsby.
The win will boost Moul's place at the top of the R&As World Order of Merit and should cement his selection for the Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team.
Moul put himself in the driving seat with a third-round 67, one ahead of Le Sager. But he was unable to shake off the French connection as Bechu came surging through in the final round.
Horsey, who went into the final day at the top of the leader board, suffered with a third-round 75 that dropped him back to eighth place. But he bounced back with a closing 70 for 285 alongside teenager Hutsby, who won the George Henriques Salver for the leading British and Irish under-20 player.
Richard Kilpatrick was best of the Irish on 286 after rounds of 73, 68, 71 and 74. Jonathan Caulwell from Clandeboye finished on 291, Niall Kearney from Royal Dublin on 293 and Paul Cutler from Portstewart on 304.
Another to celebrate was Scotsman Jonathan King who holed his five-iron tee-shot at the last in the third round for his first hole-in-one.
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy has dropped to seventh place the R&A rankings after failing to qualify for the final two rounds at the Forest of Arden. Moul consolidated his position at the top with his Brabazon success with Rhys Davies from Wales moving up to second from Pablo Martin from Spain.
Baldwin to defend
Defending champion John Baldwin is one of 15 Americans who will compete in the Irish Seniors Amateur Open Championship, sponsored by the Portuguese Tourist Board, next week at Hermitage Golf Club.
Baldwin, who is bidding for a hat-trick, having won at Royal Co Down in 2005 and again at Limerick in 2006, is among a 66 overseas players from eight countries, also including Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, Sweden and Switzerland.
The field of 150 will play 18 holes on each of the first two days, with the top 51 players qualifying for the third and final round on day three.
The cut fell at 5.1 with seven players on 5.2, decided by ballot, included. There are also three players over 70 included who are outside the handicap cut-off, to ensure the involvement of a minimum eight players in that category.
Players from Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Sweden and Switzerland will obviously be hoping for a good performance to enhance their chances for a place on their respective, six-man national teams for the new European Seniors Team Championship which will be held in Slovenia in August, while the Seniors Home Internationals will be played at Caldy, Wirral, Merseyside, from October 2nd to 4th.
UCD for Milltown
This year's UCD Ladies Golf Society outing is due to be held on Monday, July 2nd, in Milltown Golf Club. The captain for 2007 is well-known Dublin solicitor Mary Gleeson. This outing is open to all UCD graduates and visitors and is priced very keenly at €€85 for golf and dinner and €€25 for dinner only.
An added incentive this year is a cut price of €40 for golf and dinner for graduates under 30 years of age. Tee-times are available both morning and afternoon. For entry forms email jacqueline.fitzgerald@ucd.ie
Mayo Seniors rolls on
The Mayo Seniors Tournament, now in its third year, is expected to attract over 100 entries. The event, which takes place on Wednesday, May 30th, at Westport Golf Club, is open to all with a GUI handicap, aged 55 years and over.
The competition is 18 hole singles Stableford. The entry fee is €15 and there is a timesheet. Contact Westport Golf Club on 098/28262.
Go, Gophers go
The University of Minnesota men's team, which included Muskerry's Niall Turner, won a play-off over Texas A&M to finish 10th at the NCAA Central Regional and advance to the NCAA Championships finals at the end of the month.
It was a struggle all day for the Gophers who carded a final round 314 to drop into a tie for 10th with the Aggies at 54-over 918. Tulsa won the Regional, 23 shots ahead of the Gophers.
Turner had rounds of 80, 75 and 79 for 234 total. Minnesota have reached the NCAA Finals in seven of the last nine years. The Gophers won the NCAA title in 2002 and finished in a tie for third last year.
Eat well, play well
Fancy mixing the pleasures of good food and golf? Well, if so the Le Gastronomique Golf Event could be just the thing. It takes place at Cice Blossac in Rennes in France from Saturday, June 9th, to Tuesday, June 12th, and is in aid of the Biobank Ireland Trust, which is driving an all-Ireland initiative designed to translate cancer research into better cancer care.
As part of the attraction of the event, on day three of the trip, the Le Gastronomique at the Cice Blossac GC, there will be a chef waiting at every second hole to tempt you and your team-mates with a delicious serving of cuisine and a glass of suitable French wine.
Anybody interested should contact Ciarán Flanagan, managing director of IDEA at info@idea.ie or phone (01) 2500054, or Prof Eoin Gaffney at egaffney@tcd.ie or call (01) 4162906. The cost is €900, while sponsorship opportunities are also available.
Knowing The Island
Local knowledge proved a key factor at last week's North Dublin Golf Club Captains' Association outing to the redesigned The Island Golf Club. Up for grabs was Jim McBride's Captain's Prize, and it proved to be a close run thing between two of the host club's members.
But at the end of a testing 18 holes of action, victory went to Des Parkinson (18) with 34 points, but only after a countback against clubmate Leo Hickey (12). Malahide's Liam Peat, playing off 19, was third a further point back.
In fact, members of the host club were certainly making full use of the extra knowledge they had over the rest of the field, as two more members featured in the prizes with Michael Venables and Humphrey Kelleher inside the top nine placings.
In the various categories, the Seniors prize went to Pat Dooley of The Island, while two members of Forrest Little, Harry Reilly and Brian Gleeson, collected the Veterans and Super Veterans Prizes, respectively. And it was also a memorable day for John Costigan of Corrstown, as he holed in one at the ninth.
Quaid cuts loose
Losing a shot made no difference to Ballybunion's Nora Quaid last week. On Tuesday she won the weekly competition with 41 points, off a handicap of 10. It gave her a comfortable three-point win over Del O'Sullivan and Catherine Quinlivan (32). The win put her into single figures, but in the very next event on Sunday on the Cashen Course she was once again in the winners' circle.
This time it was the gross prize she won, with a total of 25 points off her new handicap of nine. The event was won by Louise Griffin (18) with a fine score of 40 points, one better than Margaret Scanell (24), with Joan Marie Hennessy (28) a further point back on 38 points.
Novel win for Barron
Scores were in good supply last week at West Waterford Golf Club as the ladies proved their quality in the novel, three-club singles event. Yet it was Mary Barron, playing off a handicap of 25, who showed the best adaptability with the limited supply in her bag. With a four-iron, seven-iron and putter, she shot a commendable 36 points to win by a single point from Finola Butler (28), with June Whyte (18) back in third spot on 31 points. But it proved a novel day for the large field.
O'Donnell abú
Paula O'Donnell is playing off 36 at the moment but you can be certain it won't be for long if she continues to produces scores like she did last Tuesday at her home club of Djouce in Roundwood, Co Wicklow. Competing in the weekly singles event, she shot a superb 10 up to blitz the rest of the field and win by four from Ann Roden (31), who must have thought she had a chance of winning when she returned a score of 6up. Taking third was Georgina Darling (19) with a score of 3up, but all the talk was of O'Donnell's great round.
