Graeme McDowell has had to delay his return to these shores, but the Irish Close Champion isn't complaining. While most of his fellow Walker Cup aspirants make the trip to Scotland for this weekend's St Andrews Links Trophy, McDowell will be preparing to lead the University of Alabama's quest for collegiate glory after his college made the NCAA national finals for the first time in their history.

Those national collegiate finals take place at Duke University in North Carolina starting next Tuesday and an indication of the tough qualifying competition - which took place at regional courses around the US over the weekend - is that Luke Donald's North-West University team failed to make it to the finals. However, Donald, who has won four of his last five individual tournaments in the US, does make it to the collegiate finals on the basis of his personal ranking.

McDowell, who swept all before him when he returned to Ireland last summer when claiming the Irish Youths, Irish Close, World Universities title and the South of Ireland as well as a runner's-up finish in the European strokeplay, demonstrated his current wellbeing recently when winning the Alabama Invitational tournament. And, although he has been consistently Alabama's best player this season, his coach Alan Kaufman described the college's qualification at Williamsburg over the weekend as a "team effort".

This is the first time Alabama have qualified to compete in the NCAA championships and Kaufman remarked: "I'm happy for them because they've worked so hard to get to this level of competition and excel. To see them put it together when it mattered most was a great thrill."

Another Irish player, Connor Doran, is also on scholarship to Alabama and has played on the first team squad on a number of occasions this season. However, he wasn't part of the team that competed in the regional qualifying.

McDowell, meanwhile, is a strong candidate for the British and Irish Walker Cup team that defends the trophy against the US at Sea Island, Georgia, in August and his first competitive appearance on this side of the Atlantic this season could come in next month's British Amateur championship at Prestwick.

There is a one-day overlap between the British championship and the East of Ireland - and, unfortunately for the East, the result is that many of Ireland's top players, with one eye on possible Walker Cup selection, have opted to compete in the British championship, among them defending champion Noel Fox.

In fact, Fox's pursuit of a place on the Walker Cup team has led to a committed schedule in Britain which saw him compete in last week's Brabazon Trophy - without too much success - and, this week, sees him participate with six other Irish players at the St Andrews Links, a 72-holes tournament played over the Old and New courses.

Michael Hoey and Tim Rice are also in Walker Cup contention and, like Fox, will be seeking a big showing at St Andrews to assist their respective causes.

If recent form is any gauge, then Hoey, beaten in a play-off by England's Richard McEvoy in the Irish strokeplay at Royal Dublin two weeks ago, is the player who has done his prospects most good in recent weeks.

This weekend, Hoey can expect to follow behind a big crowd as he has been included in a group directly behind the high-profile three-ball that includes Nick Dougherty and US Amateur runner-up James Driscoll, who briefly sprung to prominence during the US Masters this season when he required only 23 putts in his first round.

Fox, Hoey, Rice, Colm Moriarty - who set a new course record over the weekend in winning the Athlone Scratch Cup over his home course - Stephen Browne, Gary Cullen and Andy McCormick are the seven Irish players in the elite field that has attracted 120 players with handicaps ranging from plus four to plus one.