29th July 2000

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Irish eyes were smiling yesterday at the World University Golf Championships as Graeme McDowell and the Ireland team cruised to victory today at the World University Golf Championships at Castlerock.

Graeme took the gold medal for best individual score, and the Ireland team claimed gold as best male team of the tournament.

McDowell completed his four tournament rounds in a stunning 277 - 15 under par, finishing 10 shots ahead of his nearest rival, Nik Rousey of the USA. It is the widest winning margin in the history of the competition.

In the ladies competition, the Great Britain team pulled off the same double, with Laura Moffat taking the individual gold, and her team winning the championship prize.

Organiser Eric Wallace said: "The Ireland team did the business in style. It was a very tense day of golf. Ireland went into the final day of the competition one stroke behind Great Britain and just one stroke ahead of Spain, so it was a very close run thing."

And the Castlerock course saw its ladies' course record broken for the third time this week, when USA competitor Sarah Sasse shot a superlative 69, only a day after compatriot Angie Yoon broke the course record with a 70. Yoon herself had just taken the record away from British girl Laura Moffat, who had turned in a 71 on Tuesday.

"The competition has been a wonderful success, not only for the players, but for the University of Ulster, our sponsors, and for Northern Ireland as a whole. Over 100 competitors, and 40 officials from all over the world have come to Northern Ireland and have all thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It's been a great advertisement for the Province, its sporting life and its people."

The atmosphere has been great, the spirit of everyone here has been high: it's been a tremendous success."

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk