Ireland got off to a disappointing start on the opening day of the World Amateur Team Championship (Eisenhower Trophy) at the Royal Adelaide and Grange Golf Clubs in Australia.

West Waterford’s Seamus Power maintained his successful run at the PING-Arizona Intercollegiate tournament in Arizona last week as he completed his second straight top-five finish in the event.

Reigning Irish champion, Shane Lowry scored a sparkling five under par 68 in the final round, to finish on 14-under-par and leading individual player in the Portugal Nations Cup at Vale de Lobo's Ocean Course in the Algarve, while Ireland narrowly lost out to England for the Nations Cup.

Reigning Irish champion, Shane Lowry scored a sparkling six under par 67 in the second round of the Portugal Nations Cup at Vale de Lobo in the Algarve, and supported by team mates Niall Kearney and Simon Ward, Ireland holds a four shot lead over Sweden going into the final round on Monday.

Rory McIlroy (Holywood), Gareth Shaw (Lurgan) and Simon Ward (Co Louth) will represent Ireland in the World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy which will be played at the De Zalze Golf Club and Stellenbosch Golf Club, near Cape Town, South Africa on October 26 to 29.

Mary McKenna, Ireland’s most successful female amateur golfer, has been appointed captain of the teams that will represent Great Britain and Ireland in the 2007 Vagliano Trophy and the 2008 Curtis Cup.

JAMES HEATH fired a four-under-par 68 to put England in a strong position after the first round of the World Amateur Team Championship in Puerto Rico.

Reigning Irish champion Brian McElhinney (North West) will lead the three-man team to