OPTIMISM is high a successful season for professional golf in this country will be maintained, in the €150,000 Challenge of Ireland tournament, starting over the picturesque Christy O’Connor Junior-designed Glasson course near Athlone this morning.

WHAT a difference a week makes. Seven days ago, 28-year-old Colm Moriarty from Athlone was relying on invitations to Challenge Tour events as he attempted to get his career back on track after a dismal 2006 season.

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.

IRISH teenage superstar Rory McIlroy stayed in contention for the European Amateur individual title with a second successive sub-par round over the Rinkven course at Antwerp in Belgium yesterday.

Pre-Championship favourites Ulster captured the Golfsure sponsored Interprovincial

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.

Rory McIlroy took the Irish Amateur Close Championship yesterday evening in Westport when he defeated Eddie McCormack three-and-two in the final.

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

Irish Amateur Close Championship at Westport Golf Club

WITH the Swedish Federation sending 10 of their leading players ranging in handicap from plus 3.3 to 0.5, there is every chance that the Standard Life West of Ireland Championship starting at Rosses Point, Sligo, this morning could well be for export for the second time in six years.

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.

IT isn't easy for players or spectators when the weather is as unwelcoming as it has been at Lahinch over the past few days.

HOLDER Mervyn Owens (Mallow) was first off the tee at Lahinch yesterday morning when he successfully began the defence of his title against Eddie Power (Kilkenny) in a 7am start to the South of Ireland Irish Shell-sponsored championship.

Charlie Mulqueen

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.

FAILURE to complete the Grand Slam and win the Triple Crown for only the third time was something of a disappointment for the players and the galleries but Ireland still captured the Home International Championship and the Raymond Trophy at Ballybunion yesterday.

Charlie Mulqueen, Ballybunion

A PORTMARNOCK team of vast experience clashes with a bunch of youngsters from Malone in this morning’s final of the Bulmers Irish Senior Cup at Lisburn.

ALL four semi-finalists in today’s Bulmers Irish Senior Cup semi-finals at Lisburn will be without key players.

MALLOW Golf Club go in search of their second Bulmers Irish Senior Cup title in three years when they travel to Lisburn for this week’s annual festival of club golf.

BOTH the Irish mens and ladies senior golf teams show changes from the original selections for the Home International series at Ballybunion and Cruden Bay respectively.

Gareth Maybin (Ballyclare) and Colm Moriarty (Athlone) have withdrawn from the Irish team for the Home Internationals at Ballybunion Golf Club on September 17 to 19. They are replaced by Richard Kilpatrick (Banbridge) and Michael Sinclair (Knock).

IT has been common knowledge for several weeks that Colm Moriarty and Noel Fox were virtual certainties for inclusion on the British & Irish Walker Cup side to face the Americans at Ganton on September 6-7.

MALLOW’S Mervyn Owens lived up to his intention to “keep everything simple” as he captured the Shell South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch yesterday.

FOUR of Ireland’s finest have qualified for this morning’s semi-finals of the Shell South of Ireland at Lahinch.

NOEL PYNE first played in the Shell South of Ireland Championship when still a leaving certificate student at St Flannan’s College, Ennis.

THE Mens Irish Senior Cup was reduced to the last four in Munster with Castletroy, Douglas, Tramore and Mallow advancing to the provincial semi-finals.

IN an all-Kerry semi-final to the West Munster Barton Shield, Tralee ended Killarney’s hopes in a marathon at the Ring of Kerry.

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.