Holywood's Rory McIlroy continued his impressive start to the season when he finished tied for eighth in the Brabazon Trophy at Ganton in Yorkshire on Sunday.

Sixteen-year-old Rory McIlroy (Holywood), who successfully defended the West of Ireland

Dunmurry's Darren Crowe is determined to break his title hoodoo in the Radisson SAS West of Ireland championship at Rosses Point.

GRANTS totalling €65,000 were awarded by the Irish Sports Council to leading Irish golfers.

IRELAND will have five players competing in this week’s European Tour School at San Roque in the south of Spain.

EAMONN BRADY, a former West of Ireland champion and a nephew of the celebrated Arsenal and Ireland footballer Liam Brady, represents Ireland’s best chance of reaching the European Tour School at San Roque next week as the field goes into the final round of the second pre-qualifier at Costa Ballena near Cadiz today.

FORMER Walker Cup player Noel Fox, fellow Dubliner Eamonn Brady and David Mortimer, the Galway-born Newlands club professional, battled back into contention for places in the European Tour School at San Roque next week with excellent rounds in yesterday’s second day of pre-qualifying at the Costa Ballena course near Cadiz in the south of Spain.

IRELAND will have a minimum of ten players on next season’s European Tour.

EIGHT Irish golfers came through the first qualifying stage of the European Tour Qualifying School over the St Annes Old Links in Lancashire yesterday.

IRISH golfers involved at St Anne’s Old Links, Lancashire, yesterday played themselves into excellent positions to progress to the second qualifier for the European Tour.

MICHAEL McGEADY'S tears told their own story minutes after North West had clinched the Bulmers Irish Senior Cup at Rosslare on Saturday.

A BITTERLY disappointing week for sport in the west worsened still further yesterday with Galway Golf Club’s defeat by North West in the semi-final of the Bulmers Irish Senior Cup.

AS Paul McGinley and co play for the £1 million first prize in the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, other matters are taxing the minds of hundreds of hopefuls all over Europe.

THE DONALD Steel-designed Lackabane course at Killarney hosts the first European Challenge Tour event in the Republic of Ireland over the next four days with the arrival of the Ireland Ryder Cup Challenge.

IRISH golf breaks new ground this week when the European Challenge Tour comes to our shores for the first time.

YOUTH invariably has its fling in the major championships these days but yesterday’s second round of the South of Ireland was an opportunity for those beyond their best playing days to show their worth.

LIMERICK teenager Cian McNamara faces strong opposition in his bid to retain his South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch over the next five days.

Six players have been selected by the Golfing Union of Ireland to compete in the European Individual Championship at Antwerp International Golf Club, Belgium, from August 17 to 20.

Teenage prodigy Rory McIlroy is through to the semi-finals of the Irish Amateur Close Championship.

Irish Amateur Close Championship at Westport Golf Club

PETER O’KEEFFE and Aaron O’Callaghan, two of the most promising young golfers in Ireland, have been awarded scholarships to the University of South Eastern Louisiana.

SOUTH of Ireland winner Cian McNamara (Limerick) and runner-up Greg Bowden (Hermitage) are the two new caps in the Irish team for the Home Internationals at Prestwick on September 8-10.

There are two new caps on the team selected to represent Ireland in the men’s Home Internationals from 8th-10th September at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland.

Reigning Irish Amateur Close champion, Brian McElhinney (North West) has won the Willie Gill Order of Merit Award for 2004.

THERE were several occasions at Lahinch yesterday when Cian McNamara believed he was about to miss out on his burning ambition to capture the Shell South of Ireland Championship.

Teen sensation Cian McNamara produced two stunning extra time comebacks to win the Shell Ireland sponsored South of Ireland title at Lahinch.

CIAN McNamara, an 18-year-old Limerick schoolboy, has played himself into position to become the youngest winner of the Shell South of Ireland since Fred Ballingall in 1897, by reaching the semi-finals in impressive fashion at Lahinch yesterday.

UCD and Woodbrook’s Paul McDonald held his nerve to beat Hermitage’s Greg Bowden at the 22nd in a scrappy West of Ireland final at Rosses Point.

Dubliner Paul McDonald cruised into the semi-finals of the West of Ireland Championship with a one hole win over international Johnny Foster at Rosses Point today.

STUNG into action after a poor showing on day one of the Golfsure sponsored Youth Interprovincial Championship at Lahinch, Munster’s young golfers well and truly delivered the goods when they overwhelmed champions Leinster 8-1 yesterday.

LEINSTER go into today’s Golfsure Youth Interprovincial Golf Tournament at Lahinch as defending champions but such is the galaxy of talent among the other provinces that a retention of the trophy is by no means certain.

WELSH visitor Cennydd Mills wiped out a seven-stroke deficit in the final round to pip the home challenge in the Irish Youths Championship at Cork Golf Club yesterday evening.

MICHAEL BRETT is the oldest of today's semi-finalists for the Golfsure Irish Amateur Close Championship.

COLM MORIARTY (Athlone) and Justin Kehoe (Birr) have been selected to compete in the Lake Macquarie Amateur Championship and the NSW Medal and Amateur Championship in Australia early in the New Year.