ILGU Receives ISC 2011 Funding

The ILGU has received €204,316 as part of the Irish Sports Council's (ISC) National Governing Body Grants, announced by Kieran Mulvey ISC Chairman, 17 February 2011.

The ISC High Performance Grant of €118,000, same as in 2010, will help top women golfers compete on a world stage while an Administration Grant of €46,316 will support the core activities of the Union. The Women in Sport Grant of €40,000, will continue to support the very successful ISC programme, which encourages women and girls of all ages to take up the game. 

While the grants will aid the ILGU High Performance Programme and the day-to-day workings of the Union, they will also support the game's development at grassroots level. The ILGU will continue to develop the country's underage players, a programme that sees 500 promising juniors receive regular coaching. The successful Women in Golf initiative, that has already enrolled over a thousand beginners, is also set to go from strength to strength as a result of the grant.

On hearing the announcement, ILGU Chief Executive Sinead Heraty said "We are delighted with this year's funding allocation, particularly in these uncertain economic times, which will help us mould the successful youth system we have in place. The ILGU is entering into a very bright and exciting period and this would not be possible without the funding we are receiving."

World Amateur Rankings

The official website of the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) was launched today. Administered jointly by The R&A and the USGA, and incorporating both the men’s and the new women’s ranking, the website ranks over 8000 players, awarding points based on more than 3000 worldwide Counting Events. The WAGR compares amateur performance in elite competition over a rolling, 52-week period.

The new website offers an enhanced search function, which allows the user to search for players and events by name, region and country. It features an expanded player biography section, showing the selected player’s full ranking history. And for the first time, detailed event information, including round-by-round scores and a breakdown of points awarded, will also be available.

The updated Ranking, accompanied by news stories reporting the previous week’s action, will appear on the website at 12pm (GMT), every Wednesday. Information about the WAGR system, as well as answers to the most frequently asked questions about the Ranking, is clearly displayed on the website.

The introduction of the Women's World Amateur Golf Ranking was announced earlier in the month. The launch follows an extensive period of testing by The R&A. The women’s ranking currently has a calendar of 1,350 Counting Events with more than 3,100 ranked players from 50 countries.

The men’s ranking was founded on 1 January 2007, and currently includes 1,800 Counting Events, with more than 5,000 players from 70 countries. Since then, it has been adopted to determine the fields at national amateur championships in Spain, Britain and the USA, as well as many other amateur events throughout the world. There have been 17 WAGR number ones, including the current world number seven Rory McIlroy and 2010 USA Ryder Cup team member Rickie Fowler.

The current men’s number one is reigning US Amateur Champion Peter Uihlein of the USA. The women’s number one is 2010 LPGA Xavier International Champion Mitsuki Katahira from Japan.

To view the website, visit RandA.org/WAGR. Links to WAGR are available from The R&A and USGA websites.