IRELAND READY TO LAUNCH IN ADELAIDE

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY IRISH LADIES GOLF UNION
Tara Delaney (Carlow), Niamh Kitching (Claremorris) and Danielle McVeigh (RCDL) commence Ireland’s challenge on the Espirito Santo Trophy at the World Amateur Team Championships at Grange Golf Club over the East & West courses, 8-11 October 2008.
The Irish team, captained by Phil O’Gorman (Laytown/Bettystown), left Ireland on the 28th of last month and have acclimatised well to the Australian humidity over the past ten days. The players have played four practice rounds since arriving, two on the East course and two on the West course, and will tee it up around 1.30 am on Wednesday morning with hopes of improving on the 23rd place secured at Stellenbosch in South Africa, two years ago
“We’re pleased with our practice to date and the girls aren’t experiencing any difficulties with the daily temperatures and humidity” said an upbeat O’Gorman as the first competitive day approached.
“We are well prepared, will take one shot at a time and at this point we just want to get going” she added.With temperatures a cool 14 centigrade looking to rise to 25 by the weekend, the humidity in excess of 80% is of more concern to the players. Each will play four rounds, two over each course, with the two best scores from three to count each day.
In South Africa in 2006, Ireland’s Claire Coughlan (Cork), Martina Gillen (Mountbellew) and Tricia Mangan (Ennis) finished 23rd, behind England in twelfth, Scotland 19th and Wales in 20th positions.
Defending champions South Africa hope to capture back-to-back titles in this biennial event run by the International Golf Federation in conjunction with the host nation's governing body of golf. Over 100 men's and women's teams come from all over the world to compete for the Eisenhower Trophy (men) and the Espirito Santo Trophy (women) in one of three different zones: Asia/Pacific, European/African and American.