Charlie Mulqueen Tickets to the Masters tournament at Augusta are as precious as gold dust and usually available only to long-standing patrons and the very privileged.

James Sugrue’s magnificent achievement in winning the 124th British Amateur Championship at Portmarnock has not gone unnoticed by a quartet of famous Irish professionals.

Wondrous dreams aren’t always realised and Mallow’s James Sugrue and Ronan Mullarney from Galway scarcely harboured thoughts of playing in the British and US Opens and the US Masters when they entered this week’s British Amateur Championship at Portmarnock.

Many great golfers have won the South of Ireland Championship over the past 55 years but none has managed to retain the title in that time.

Some friendly advice from Paul McGinley has set up South of Ireland champion James Sugrue for an all-out assault on Irish domination in 2018.