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Cormac Sharvin will go into this week’s Irish Amateur Open Championship full of confidence after claiming a top-five finish at the prestigious Lytham Trophy over the weekend.

Hoylake is a course with a fond record for Irish golf but only those who stay out of the deep rough at a lush, green Royal Liverpool will have any chance of winning The Open next week.

Ireland made golfing history at the weekend by becoming the first country to win both the senior men’s and women’s Team Championships in the same year.

Pádraig Harrington sent his penultimate shot a dozen rows deep into a final hole grandstand but then chipped-in for birdie to be just three strokes from the lead after two rounds of the Omega European Masters.

Ireland were celebrating last night after clinching the Boys’ Home Internationals title &for the first time since 2010 after a gripping final day at Forest Pines in North Lincolnshire.

Cork’s Michael Quirke maintained his strong bid, at sunny Malone yesterday, to land his first All-Ireland Seniors’ Amateur Open Championship title and goes into today’s final action with a three shots cushion.

Ireland were denied a fifth consecutive senior men’s Home International title at Southerndown on the south Wales coast yesterday by a much-improved England outfit.

Arthur Pierse faltered in the final round of the British Seniors Open Amateur Championship at Machynys Peninsula in West Wales but still finished as the top Irishman.

Noel Pyne reaches a remarkable milestone when he makes his 50th successive appearance in the South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch next Saturday.

Major champions Darren Clarke, Pádraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy were fine-tuning their British Open preparations yesterday and so missed out on a special day at Mullingar Golf Club.

Garth McGimpsey retained his Tourism Malaysia-sponsored Irish senior men’s amateur golf title after a tense final day at Clandeboye.

Alan Dunbar heads into the Irish Open at Royal Portrush this week with confidence sky high after becoming only the third Northern Irishman in history to land the coveted British Amateur title.

Recently crowned Irish Close champion Chris Selfridge hit a wonder shot on the final hole of a three-hole aggregate play-off to match the 1988 feat of Ulster great Garth McGimpsey and complete a famous double by lifting the East of Ireland title at a sun-kissed Co Louth.

The presence of Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke provides Ireland with its strongest hand at the Masters at Augusta National.

IRELAND won the Men’s Senior Home International Championship for an unprecedented fourth successive year at Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire yesterday and completed the Triple Crown with a 7-2 trouncing of England.

TIPPERARY’S Arthur Pierse came agonisingly close yesterday to claiming his second British Seniors Open title. The former Walker Cup player was pipped by a stroke at Royal Portrush as he attempted to add to his triumph of 2007.

IRELAND made a winning start to the defence of their R&A Trophy in the Boys Home Internationals over the Royal and St David’s links at Harlech yesterday — but they were made to fight hard for victory over hosts Wales.

PAUL REED of the Bristol and Clifton Golf Club was celebrating yesterday after winning the PGA EuroPro Tour Audi Cork Irish Masters at Fota Island Resort.

THE failure of any Irish player to win a card at the European Tour School suggests that the well that has provided this country with a steady stream of outstanding players for many years is finally running dry.

OF the 12 Irishmen who have competed in the Masters, the best finishes were achieved by Pádraig Harrington, tied fifth in 2002, and Darren Clarke, who shared eighth place in 1998.

AT a time when so much focus in the world of golf is on the professional game, it is good to see that the amateurs are not being forgotten.

WHILE they celebrated at Clandeboye Golf Club last night after the inclusion of Jonathan Caldwell in the British & Irish team to play the US in the Walker Cup at Royal Co Down on September 9 and 10, there was disappointment at Banbridge when Richard Kilpatrick was omitted.

A FEW readers didn’t like my description of Phil Mickelson as “syrupy” after his recent victory in the Masters at Augusta.

THE GOOD people of Burnfoot, Co Donegal, are rarely in the limelight, going about their business quietly with no expectation of being in the news.

Former Scottish champion Colin Dalgleish will captain Britain and Ireland when they try to win back the Walker Cup from the US at Royal County Down in September 2007.

Gary Wolstenholme has tipped Walker Cup team-mates Oliver Fisher and Lloyd Saltman for bright futures in the professional game – and he believes they might leave the amateur ranks before long.

Great Britain & Ireland found themselves just behind their American counterparts after the opening foursomes session of the 40th Walker Cup at the Chicago Golf Club.

Peter McEvoy, the former Great Britain and Ireland captain, believes this year’s Walker Cup side is one of the strongest ever assembled.

BRIAN McELHINNEY is the only Irish player on the Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team to defend the trophy in Chicago.

Brian McElhinney is the sole Irish representative in the Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team to defend the trophy in Chicago on August 13 and 14.

BRIAN MCELHINNEY became the first Republic of Ireland golfer to win the British Amateur championship since the late and great Joe Carr captured the trophy for a third time in 1960.

Brian McElhinney today became the first Republic of Ireland golfer to win the Amateur championship since the late and great Joe Carr captured the trophy for a third time in 1960.

Sometimes it is better to travel in hope than to arrive, the saying goes.

R&A selection chairman Peter McEvoy has named an initial squad of 29 players for next August's 40th Walker Cup, to be held at the Chicago Golf Club, Illinois.

TOP golfer Garth McGimpsey, who has been cleared of any link to a drugs seizure, claimed yesterday he may have been the victim of a set-up.

Top Irish golfer Garth McGimpsey, who has been cleared of any link to a drugs seizure, claimed today he may have been the victim of a set-up.

AARON O’CALLAGHAN, winner of this year’s Irish Examiner Junior Sports Star award for golf, is one of a number of entries for the British Amateur Championship beginning at St Andrews on Monday.

CLAIRE COUGHLAN (ladies), Darren Clarke (professional), Noel Fox (amateur) and Garth McGimpsey (distinguished services) were voted the 2003 award winners by the Irish Golf Writers Association.

Britain and Ireland's amateurs snatched an historic third successive Walker Cup victory over the United States at Ganton.

BRITAIN and Ireland’s amateurs snatched a brilliant third successive Walker Cup victory over the United States at Ganton yesterday.

Britain and Ireland’s amateurs snatched a brilliant – and historic – third successive Walker Cup victory over the United States at Ganton today.

GARY WOLSTENHOLME and Michael Skelton, the oldest and youngest members of the Britain and Ireland team, have been paired together for the opening game of the Walker Cup against America at Ganton in Yorkshire today.