Claire Coughlan-Ryan to captain Junior Vagliano Trophy side
Cork's Claire Coughlan-Ryan has been named by the LGU as captain of the Great Britain and Ireland Junior Vagliano team to play a Continent of Europe side at Malone Golf Club in Belfast in June next year.
The match, which is contested between teams of six players aged 16 years and under, will be played concurrently with the biennial Vagliano Trophy match on 26 and 27 June.
A successful player in her own right, Claire was a member of the winning Vagliano Trophy team at Chantilly in 2005 and memorably, along with partner Anne Laing, defeated Michele Wie twice in the 2004 Curtis Cup match at Formby Golf Club.
Claire spent a few years in the professional ranks, securing her Ladies’ European Tour card as an amateur at her first attempt in 2007.
She was reinstated as an amateur a few years ago, since when she has continued to contribute to golf in her home country, particularly in captaining Ireland in both the 2012 Home Internationals at her home club, Cork, and the 2013 European Team Championships in York.
The wife of professional golfer David Ryan, and mother of three young sons, Claire has an active interest in encouraging young golfers to play to their best potential, and she relishes the challenge she and the senior Vagliano Trophy team captain, Scotland's Elaine Farquharson-Black, face in bringing both trophies to this side of the channel.
Claire said: "The Junior Vagliano Match is a great introduction to the golfing calendar – we didn’t have it in my playing days and I firmly believe that it allows our aspiring young golfers in GB&I to compare themselves with the cream of European girls’ golf.
"I am delighted and honoured to have been asked to captain the team and thank the LGU for this opportunity. Team match play is the best, and I’m looking forward to next June already.”
