American Team Wins the Third US-Ireland Alliance Golf Challenge

June 03, 2003

The third US-Ireland Alliance Golf Challenge was held at the K Club earlier this week, once again bringing to Ireland senior American corporate executives to play in a competition against their Irish peers. Trina Vargo, President of the US-Ireland Alliance, noted that the idea behind the tournament is to forge new business alliances: "We're delighted that past tournaments have created on-going business relationships and we hope that will continue to be the case."

Sponsors of the tournament included IONA Technologies, ESAT BT, Transaction Network Services, ESB, and Michael McNamara & Co/Corcoran Jennison.

Dick Cook, the Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, played for the American team and gave tournament participants a preview of the soon-to-be-released Disney film about Veronica Guerin, starring Cate Blanchett.

Tanaiste Mary Harney presented the trophies at the prizes dinner, which was held at Trinity College. Members of the winning American team included: Dick Cook, Phil Lengyel of Walt Disney Parks and Resort, Jack and John McDonnell of Transaction Network Services, Jim Bridges and Dave Keller of IONA, Lyle Smith of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, David Holden of Bank of Ireland (an honorary American for purposes of the tournament), and Chuck Pol and Tom Byrne of ESAT BT. Members of the Irish team included: Mike Soden, Bank of Ireland; Padraig McManus and John Shine, ESB; Mark Collins, Transaction Network Services Ireland, John Nagle, Alphyra, Eoin OâConnor of CR2; David Harrison of Intuition; Joe Browne of Xerox, and Michael Horgan of the Royal College of Surgeons.

The tournament benefits the US-Ireland Alliance. The Alliance is best known for establishing the George J. Mitchell Scholarships, which allow future American leaders to spend a year doing post-graduate work on the island. Earlier this year, the New York Times listed the Mitchell as one of the most prestigious scholarships for young Americans. Just last week, the Alliance teamed up with Microsoft to bring a delegation of US Congressmen to Ireland to learn about the Irish economy and US-Irish business ties. The Alliance also organized the Innisfree program trips to Ireland for the families of the firemen and police officers who lost their lives on September 11th. Most of the families will be visiting Ireland this summer. Also this summer, the Alliance is working with the University of Ulster, Trinity College, DCU, and the University of Limerick in educating Americans about the opportunities for them to spend their undergraduate years at Irish universities.