West of Ireland runner-up Alex Gleeson selected for French Open
THE runner-up of this year’s West of Ireland Championship has been selected for the Irish team for the upcoming French International Amateur Open.
Alex Gleeson, who is a member of Castle and also Co Sligo has been picked for the competition which is starting at the end of May.
The Dubliner also won the Irish Close Championship last year.
Gleeson, 25, was defeated bv Robert Brazill from Naas who is this year’s West winner. The 21-year-old won the prestigious tournament in Rosses Point for the first time at Easter.
The Golfing Union of Ireland selected a six-man squad to compete at the French International Amateur Open (Murat Cup) in Chantilly from 25-27 May.
Castle’s Gleeson tied second at the European Nations Cup, is named in the squad alongside Robin Dawson (Tramore), Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk), Jonathan Yates (Naas), Rowan Lester (Hermitage) and Tiarnan McLarnon (Massereene).
Dawson is Ireland’s highest ranked player in the field.
Rowan Lester is a winner three times already this season with Texas Wesleyan on the American collegiate circuit.
Four more Irish players make the trip to France.
Warrenpoint’s Colm Campbell, Galway’s Ronan Mullarney, Jack Pierse from Portmarnock and Mallow’s James Sugrue are also competing in Chantilly.
The format for the French amateur is 72-hole stroke play with 36 holes played on the final day. The top 40 and ties progress after the second round.
Kevin Murray (Tramore) is Ireland’s team manager for the event.
The GUI’s High Performance programme is supported by Sport Ireland and Sport NI. The competition begins on May 25th.