Irish golfers target Ryder Cup points in Paris

WHILE Pádraig Harrington and Paul McGinley begin their quest for Ryder Cup points in the Lancome Trophy in Paris, Darren Clarke will be making a very rare appearance in a Challenge Tour event in the north of Ireland.

He has agreed to take part in the inaugural €211,000 Benmore Developments Northern Ireland Masters at Clandeboye near Bangor, Co Down. Clarke has agreed to donate any prize money he may earn to the golf foundation he himself has set up to assist the country’s most promising young golfers.

Harrington and McGinley missed out on the first Ryder Cup points event, the Swiss Masters, at the weekend after which Scotland’s Andrew Coltart, the Italian Emanuel Cononica and Robert Karlsson of Sweden lead the table with €67,946. However, that is a mere pittance in comparison with what will be required to make the team at Oakland Hills, Michigan, next September.