Irish trio seek Greek encore
Delgany's Mark Staunton during the 2017 Titleist & Footjoy PGA Professional Championship - Irish Qualifier at Luttrellstown Castle on May 22. Photo by Patrick Bolger/Getty Images
Delgany's Mark Staunton will make his debut for Ireland when he joins Waterville's David Higgins and new Tulfarris touring professional Simon Thornton in the International Team Championship at Costa Navarino Resort in Greece this week.
The trio flew out on Monday for the four-day event, which will be played on the Bernhard Langer designed Dunes Course from Wednesday to Saturday.
“I'm looking forward to it," said Galway native Staunton, who won the Irish Order of Merit in 2007. "The last time I played team golf was, I suppose, when I was 21 and I got one of my final international caps for Ireland playing on a two-man team in Belgium.
“I have played in a few Alliance outings around Dublin recently and have been playing quite nicely.
“I went for a lesson a while ago and my scoring has picked up a bit over the last few rounds so hopefully I can take some of that form with me to Greece.
“I've no expectations but I do know I will be playing alongside a couple of very good players in David and Simon.”
Ireland has contended regularly at the International Team Championship in recent years but no team has managed to match the exploits of John Kelly, Robert Giles and Eamonn Brady who collected the title in 2008 in Spain.
Last year, the team of Damian Mooney, Eamonn Brady and Michael McDermott led the way after round one but eventually finished the tournament in fourth, behind winners the PGA of Germany.
Twenty-one teams will compete for the title with the best two individual scores each day from the team of three will count towards the overall team score.
A secondary event sees small and emerging Member PGAs compete for the ITC Shield.
