Teams book places in Irish Open Skills Challenge final

Ballybunion GC team with Bank of Ireland's Morgan Whelan and CGI's Jennifer Hickey with Munster Junior golfers at the regional finals of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Skills Challenge at the Ballykisteen. Picture: Golffile | Thos Caffrey

Seven clubs from four different provinces will be represented at the National Final of this year's Irish Open Skills Challenge supported by Bank of Ireland.

Naas and Newlands were triumphant at the Leinster regional qualifier on Sunday to complete the line-up for the National Final, which takes place at the GUI National Golf Academy in Maynooth on Sunday, 24 April.

On Saturday, the girls team from host club Ballykisteen and the boys from Ballybunion, came through the Munster regional final while it was a double success for Enniscrone as they won both sections in Connacht.

The most dramatic action of the weekend took place at The Heritage, where Naas survived a play-off against Tullamore to book their place in the National Final. 

They will now compete alongside Ulster champions Holywood, Enniscrone and Ballykisteen for the chance to win a unique 'meet and greet' opportunity with a top player at this year's Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Pro-Am.

In the boys' section, Bangor (Ulster), Enniscrone (Connacht), Ballybunion (Munster) and Newlands (Leinster) will by vying for a trip to The K Club, where the winning teams will have the chance to see the world's best golfers.

The European Tour have again teamed up with the Confederation of Golf in Ireland (CGI) to roll out the Irish Open Skills Challenge which is designed for young golfers, under the age of 15, focus on the key skills of the game and to encourage them to be the best that they can be.

The competition helps children develop their Putting, Chipping, Iron Play and Driving in a team environment and is open to golf clubs throughout Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

There are four players on each team, each team specialising in one of the four particular skills. 

For example, Player 1 completes the Putting Challenge, Player 2 completes the Chipping Challenge, Player 3 completes the Iron Challenge and Player 4 completes the Driving Challenge. 

The four individual skill scores are combined to make up a final team score.