Shaw shines in US
Irish Walker Cup player Gareth Shaw helped his East Tennessee State University men’s golf team to a tie for 10th place in a stacked field at the Isleworth-UCF Collegiate Invitational in Windermere, Florida.
Many of America’s top collegiate golfers descended on Tiger Woods’ home course at the Isleworth Golf and Country Club this week with ETSU’s all-British and Irish team holding its own against players including the reigning national champion Jamie Lovemark of the University of Southern California.
ETSU were led by freshman Rhys Enoch, from Cornwall, who fired a four under-par 212 for his second top-five finish in a row.
Shaw, from Lisburn, fired ETSU’s lowest final round, a two-under 70, on his way to a tied 48th finish alongside West Waterford’s Seamus Power as the Buccaneers fired a collective four-over 292 to reach their tie for 10th.
Limerick’s Cian McNamara finished tied for 73rd on 13-over and Simon Doherty of Belfast rounded out the ETSU scoring a shot further back in a tie for 79th.
Ballynahinch’s Gavin Reid got a rare start for Lovemark’s number-six-ranked USC and the freshman scored a 21-over 237 to finish tied for 83rd.
Sophomore Lovemark and junior Tom Glissmeyer were each two-under and finished among the top 10 individually to finish third overall, just one stroke behind second-placed Clemson but 22 shots adrift of runaway winners Georgia.
Further north in Nashville, Tennessee, Johnny Caldwell tied for ninth place at the rain-shortened Macon Rudolph Intercollegiate.
In stormy conditions at the par-71 Vanderbilt Legends Course, Caldwell showed the importance of a strong opening 18 holes with a first-round 70 as the University of South Alabama scored a two over-par 286.
The Jaguars were led by Essex freshman Jack Hiluta, who finished in second place with a three under-par 68 as USA took third place before the tournament, scheduled for 54 holes was abandoned after just 18.
Ole Miss was the overall team winner, one stroke ahead of Mississippi State and two strokes ahead of South Alabama. Hiluta was just a stroke behind individual medalist Jack Amos of Augusta State, with six players tied for third on 69 and Belfast’s Caldwell just a further stroke back.
Cork native Aaron O'Callaghan shot a 76 to tie for 62nd as his team Southeastern Louisiana tied for 17th place.
O'Callaghan had opened with a 36 on the front nine before slipping to 40 on the back as he finished at five-over on the day.
There was further success for an Irish golfer at USA when Shirley Harvey, from Ballyclare, Co. Antrim, earned a tie for 11th place at another rain-shortened event, the Lady Colonial Collegiate in Houma, Louisiana.
South Alabama’s women’s golf team fired a team score of 305 to finish fourth.
Laura Holmes of Ballina finished 12th for Old Dominion University as her team tied for sixth place at the Lady Monarch Invitational in Suffolk, Virginia, while team-mate Emma Gilmore, a freshman from Moylough, Co Galway, tied for 25th.
And at the Mizuno Southbridge Intercollegiate at the Southbridge Golf Club in Savannah, Georgia, Dubliner Niall O’Briain tied for eighth at two under 214 but saw his Wofford team finish eighth of 15 college teams.
