PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: Niall Kearney has slipped snugly into the favourites’ seat for the Cassidy Golf PGA Irish Region Championship title this week, at Roganstown.

Tricia Mangan (Ennis), fresh from her seventh-place finish at the Welsh Open Strokeplay, defends her Lancome Irish Ladies’ Close Championship at The European Club, Co Wicklow, May 13 to 17.