Nurturing Ireland’s next star crop

The Leaving Certificate exams seem a long way off right now but the business of choosing which colleges and universities to apply for is a necessarily important process and not least for golfers with ambitions of becoming a touring professional.

As usual, there will be offers for many from schools in the United States but there is an increasingly viable alternative to going west in the form of the Paddy Harrington Scholarships being offered at NUI Maynooth.

And if you ask Barry Fennelly, the scheme’s manager, he will tell you that applying to the NUIM golf programme could be the best thing you ever did.