Since its inception just two years ago, the Musgrave Crumlin Children's Hospital Club Challenge, which is editorially supported by The Irish Times, has raised over £100,000 for its designated charity - and the expectation is that this year's event, with the national finals scheduled to take place in the Algarve region of Portugal in October, will be the biggest yet.
More than 7,000 players participated in the club qualifying stages last year, when Limerick County - represented by Walter Shanahan, John Deegan and Mike Garry - followed up Galway Golf Club's inaugural success by fending off fellow provincial winners Gracehill (Ulster), Dublin Mountain (Leinster) and Roscommon (Connacht) in the national final.
Each club affiliated to the Golfing Union of Ireland and/or the Irish Ladies Golf Union is requested to hold a qualifying competition on a designated day during the summer. Once again, the format for the three-person team event is a rumble, with the winning team from each club progressing to the provincial finals. The recommended entry fee is £30 per team.
This year's provincial finals will be staged at: Munster - Limerick County (September 4th); Leinster - Mullingar (September 7th); Connacht - Roscommon (September 11th); Ulster - Nuremore (September 14th). The national finals will take place in Portugal on October 7th-14th, with payment of expenses approved by the R & A.
With title sponsors Musgrave underwriting all expenses incurred in the competition, it means that all fees raised by clubs throughout the country go directly to Crumlin Children's Hospital Medical and Research Foundation, which has established a reputation as one of the world's leading research facilities.
David Doran, the chief executive, gives an example from the American Paediatric Surgical Association conference in California last year where, of 70 papers discussed, only seven came from outside North America. Of the seven, five were submitted by Crumlin.
Entries for this year's competition are being accepted by the administrator, Pat Cashman, who can be contacted at 01-409300.
