Sixteen Irish golfers will receive a total of €272,700 in funding through the Team Ireland Golf Scheme in 2021.

The financial support will be backed up by the provision of 30 starts on the European Challenge Tour which have been secured for Irish golfers.

The funding has increased from €221,000 in 2020 to €272,700 in 2021, allowing additional golfers to benefit from the scheme.

Last year’s funding was provided to thirteen players in the early stages of their professional career.

Among the players joining the scheme for the first time this year are James Sugrue, Jonathan Yates and Olivia Mehaffey.

Sugrue won the Amateur Championship in 2019 and competed in US Masters and US Open in 2020 while Yates finished 8th on the Alps Tour Order of Merit in 2020.

Mehaffey is turning professional in the coming weeks, having been the leading Irish female amateur golfer for a number of years and was part of the Irish team that won a bronze medal in the World Team Amateur Championships in Mexico in 2016.

Conor Purcell and Ronan Mullarney who were funded for the first time in 2020 are both on the list again, as are Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow.

Each of the players will receive funding of €17,500 part from Olivia Mehaffey whose will be pro-rata with the seven months of the period that she will be a professional for.

San Francisco

Stephanie Meadow will tee up in next week’s US Women’s Open in San Francisco.

“I am delighted to be representing Team Ireland again this year,” she said.

“Their continued support of myself and my peers is invaluable. Many players from other countries do not have the backing from organisations like Team Ireland and every year I am reminded of how lucky I am and the other players are to have it.”

“I am really pleased that Sport Ireland can provide increased funding for the Team Ireland Golf scheme this year,” said Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers.

“Ireland has a proud golfing tradition, which has been further enhanced with multiple major wins in recent years. I hope that this funding will assist our young up and coming players to advance their careers, and hopefully lead to further Irish golfing success in the future.”

“The scheme supports emerging professional golfers in their efforts to establish themselves as regular players on the main international tours and has seen great success in previous years,” added Sport Ireland CEO, John Treacy.

“Included in the scheme is access to Golf Ireland’s National Academy and Quinta do Lago training base as well as access to the Sport Ireland Institute. This support will directly aid the players and I look forward to seeing them in action throughout the year.”

“Golf Ireland are extremely grateful to Sport Ireland for the 25 per cent increase in funding for 2021,” said CEO Mark Kennelly.

“This funding has enabled Team Ireland Golf to continue to financially support our emerging professional players to enable them to get out and compete on tour after a challenging 2020 for many of them.”

The players wear Team Ireland branding on their clothing as part of the funding.

 

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