THE Golfing Union of Ireland has named its three-man team for the World Amateur Team Championship, which will take place at Carton House, Maynooth, from September 5-8.
Conor Purcell (Portmarnock), along with Robin Dawson (Tramore) and John Murphy (Kinsale) will hope to build on the success of Ireland’s third place finish in Mexico 2016 as they go in search of the Eisenhower Trophy on home soil.
Purcell (21), the son of a professional golfer, followed in his father’s footsteps when winning his first Ireland senior cap at the Home Internationals in 2016.
Purcell has now played on two winning teams at the Homes and following his run to the semi-finals of the Amateur Championship in 2018, where he was beaten by Ireland teammate Dawson, he was named in the Great Britain and Ireland team for the St Andrew’s Trophy.
As a boy, his first sporting love was tennis. He was Irish Under-12 champion and could have followed the path of his two older brothers, who are both professional tennis coaches, but for the lure of golf.
He honed his game playing on the fabled links at Portmarnock, where his father was club professional.
Conor has been a student at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte for the past two years. He moved to the United States in 2016 on the back of his breakthrough victory at the South of Ireland – the oldest provincial championship in Irish golf.
This season, Conor Purcell has recorded five top 10 finishes including a semi final appearance at the AIG Irish Close in the European Club.
The first round of the Eisenhower Trophy begins on Wednesday, September 5.
Notable past players include Jack Nicklaus (1960), Phil Mickelson (1990), Tiger Woods (1994), Sergio Garcia (1996 & 1998), Rory McIlroy (2006), Rickie Fowler (2008), Justin Thomas (2012), Jon Rahm (2014) and Paul Dunne (2014).
Teams from 72 countries will stay in Maynooth during the championship, the majority residing at a special ‘Athlete Village’ style campus in Maynooth University.