Strong week for Irish collegiate golfers in US

Irish golfers will go into next week's collegiate conference championships with confidence on a high following a series of strong showings across the United States.

Freshmen Seamus Power and Gareth Shaw provided strong support for Welshman Rhys Davies as No 13-ranked East Tennessee State University scored a seventh-place finish in an extremely competitive 15-team field at the US Collegiate Championship in Alpharetta, Georgia, on Wednesday.

Davies, from Bridgend, the third-ranked student golfer in America, finished eighth individually, with Waterford's Power and Lisburn's Shaw both in a tie for 16th.

Battling difficult course conditions at the Golf Club of Georgia's Lakeside Course, the Buccaneers posted a final round score of 294 to finish 15 strokes back of tournament champion and No. 2-eanked Georgia.

Limerick's Cian McNamara finished tied for 68th as ETSU now turns its attentions to Monday's Atlantic Sun Conference Championships. The women's version was played out this week in South Carolina, with Galway's Sinead O'Sullivan, another ETSU freshman, tying for 23rd as the Lady Bucs came second behind host and defending champion Campbell. In the same state, Carlow's AnnMarie Dalton led High Point University to fifth place at the Big South Conference Championship tournament hosted by Charleston Southern at the par 71, 5,858-yard Coosaw Creek Country Club.

Dalton went into the event as the current Big South Golfer of the Week and emerged with All-Big South honours after posting a score of 231 (81-73-77) to finish tied for sixth in the individual rankings, her second consecutive Top 10 finish. High Point senior Jenna Kinnear, from Belfast, bowed out of collegiate golf in 29th place.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, Cork's Aaron O'Callaghan warmed up for this Monday's Southland Championships with a fifth-place tie at the 54-hole Palisades Collegiate Classic. The Lions finished fourth overall over the par 72, 6,797-yard Palisades Country Club layout, totalling a four-under-par 860.

O'Callaghan posted rounds of 73, 70 and 68 for a five-under 211, four shots back from winner Brad Benjamin of Memphis.

Southeastern team-mate and fellow Douglas Golf Club member Peter O'Keeffe played his part with a six-over 222 total to finish tied 45th, a stroke behind Sam Houston State's Fergal Rafferty, of Omagh, who finished in 39th. Rafferty's team finished 12th of 18, while Belfast's Johnny Caldwell, a Walker Cup panellist alongside ETSU's Davies and Shaw, endured a horrible tournament with South Alabama. Caldwell carded rounds of 73, 85 and 74 for 232 and a tie for 78th as South Alabama finished last on 73 over-par.