College golfers finish in top 10
Niall Turner led home Ireland's quartet of golfers and helped his team to a US collegiate national top10 finish at the season-ending NCAA Championships in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Turner, playing his final event as a student golfer, was in the University of Minnesota team that tied for ninth at last weekend's NCAAs, the second year in a row the Corkman and his team-mates have
finished in the top 10.
Fellow Irishmen Gareth Shaw, Seamus Power and Cian McNamara all experienced disappointment, however, as their East Tennessee State University team finished outside of the top 15 places after the third round and failed to progress to the final day at the Robert Trent Jones Snr.-
designed par-70, 6803-yard Golden Horseshoe Golf Club.
Turner, who last year finished tied for 10th individually as the Minnesota Gophers came third as a team in Oregon, carded a final round 74 on Saturday to tie for 42nd place at six-over-par 286.
Minnesota fired a tournament total 13-over 1133 to finish 24 shots behind championship winners Stanford University, the alma mater of both Tom Watson and Tiger Woods.
University of Southern California freshman Jamie Lovemark shot a six-under 64 on the final day to take the individual crown with a nine-under total of 271.
ETSU's Shaw, Power and McNamara had gone into the championship full of optimism having earned a national collegiate team ranking of 14th and they were set fair for a strong showing after the first two rounds had propelled them into contention at even par.
The third round was the Buccaneers undoing, however, as they fired the day's highest score with a 14-over 294 to drop from fourth place at the start of the round to 18th, three places and three strokes short of a play-off for the final two spots in the top 15.
The best ETSU score on an all-British and Irish team came from Scot Jordan Findlay, who shot 72, while Welsh senior Rhys Davies and Lisburn's Shaw both finished a shot back. West Waterford's Power Limerick's McNamara carded a 76 and 78 respectively.
Lisburn's Shaw led his team at the end of the three rounds, on even par 210, with fellow Walker Cup panellist Rhys Davies next at 211.
Findlay totalled 217, with Power finishing on 219 and McNamara 226.
Davies, a Welshman, was quickly back into action, and caused a major surprise when he qualified for next week's US Open Championship alongside PGA Tour pros Fred Funk and Joey Sindelar.
