Shaw and Power bolster Tennessee on rankings table

Strong performances from Irish golfers Gareth Shaw and Seamus Power helped drive East Tennessee State University into America’s top 10 team rankings this week.

Led by Wales’s Rhys Davies, Shaw and Power combined to claim fourth place overall for ETSU at the Seminole Intercollegiate tournament in Tallahassee, Florida, on Tuesday.

The ETSU Buccaneers had struggled during the first round at the par-72, 7,041-yard Golden Eagle Country Club, finishing the opening day in a tie for 11th. They bounced back the next day, though, to post the lowest team score of the day with a 285 to finish 13 strokes back of team winners Auburn at one-over-par, boosting the team to 10th in the latest Golfweek rankings.

Davies captured the individual title at six-under with fellow 2007 Walker Cup panellist Shaw, from Lisburn, tied for 23rd at six-over (77, 75, 70) on 222 and Waterford’s Power, in his freshman year, tied for 29th a shot back at seven over (70, 80, 73) 223.

ETSU team-mate Cian McNamara, from Limerick, finished at 12-over on 228 in 58th place while Banbridge golfer Ciaran McAleavey fared slightly better, the University of Toledo junior tying for 46th on 226.

Cork duo Aaron O’Callaghan and Peter O’Keeffe helped Southeastern Louisiana take the team title at the Louisiana Classic in Lafayette. The Lions led by six strokes after the opening day and fired a 289 in the final round to hold onto the lead, six shots ahead of conference rivals Lamar with a three-round total of 851 (-13).

Sophomore O'Callaghan, an individual winner in Texas last month, finished in a tie for fourth with a six-under-par 210, while fellow Douglas club-mate O’Keeffe tied for 29th on three-over 219.

Carlow’s Ann Marie Dalton and Belfast’s Jenna Kinnear maintained their good record at the Diet Coke/Wofford Intercollegiate tournament in South Carolina as High Point University placed fourth.

They both recorded their best collegiate finishes at the same event last year, Kinnear tying for third and Dalton claiming fifth. This time round Dalton was HPU’s top finisher in fourth with a 36-hole score of 153 (75-78). Kinnear, playing the event unattached, tied for 13th with a 162 (79-83), alongside Old Dominion University freshman Laura Holmes, of Ballina (80, 82).