GOLF Irish University Golfers prepare to take on the World

01 Sep 2008


Ireland's elite colleges and universities golfers hit the fairways of Sun City, South Africa for the 12th World University Golf Championships in order to emulate the success enjoyed in recent years at this event.

The first round of the 72 hole championship takes place on Tuesday, 2nd September with the Men's competition taking place on the Gary Player Country Club, one of the longest courses in the world at 7,000 metres. The venue for the ladies event will be nearby Lost City Golf Course.

Last year, during the World University Games held in Bangkok, Thailand, Royal County Down's Danielle McVeigh's individual gold medal winning performance led the ladies team to a silver medal, her team mates on that occasion Gillian O'Leary (Dublin City University) and Niamh Kitching (University of Limerick) return to join the reigning World University Champion at this event.

In the men's event all four provinces have been represented in the team with NUI Maynooth students Brendan Walton and Kelan McDonagh joined by Kevin Stack (University College Cork) and James Patterson (Queen's University, Belfast).

Ireland have enjoyed a large amount of success in University golf in recent times with Graeme McDowell (2000), Justin Kehoe (2002), Darren Crowe (2004) & Danielle McVeigh (2007) have all won recent individual gold medals at this level.


Irish Delegation for World University Golf Championships 2008

Women's Team:

  • Niamh Kitching (University of Limerick)
  • Danielle McVeigh (NUI Maynooth)
  • Gillian O'Leary (Dublin City University)


Men's Team:

  • Kelan McDonagh (NUI Maynooth)
  • Kevin Stack (University College Cork)
  • James Patterson (Queen's University Belfast)
  • Brendan Walton (NUI Maynooth)


Management:

  • Team Manager: Ray Robinson
  • Assistant Manager: John Carey


Previous Irish World University Golf Medals

Bangkok, Thailand 2007

  • Gold - Individual: Danielle McVeigh (Texas A&M, USA)
  • Silver - Team: Danielle McVeigh (Texas A&M, USA), Niamh Kitching (University of Limerick) & Gillian O'Leary (University College Cork)


Nakhon, Thailand 2004

  • Gold - Individual: Darren Crowe (Queen's University Belfast)


Taipei, Taiwan 2002

  • Gold - Individual: Justin Kehoe (University College Dublin)
  • Silver - Team: Justin Kehoe (University College Dublin), Mark Campbell (University College Dublin), Mark O'Sullivan (Southeastern Louisianna, USA) & Alistair McKinley (Queen's University Belfast)


Coleraine, Ireland 2000

  • Gold - Individual: Graham McDowell (University of Birmingham, USA)
  • Gold - Team: Graham McDowell (University of Birmingham, USA), Johnny Foster (University of Ulster), Tim Rice (University of Toledo, USA) & Richard Elliot (University of Toledo, USA)


Further Information available from www.cusai.ie or from:

Breifne Earley
Administrator
CUSAI