KILPATRICK DOING HIS BEST TO FORCE HIS
NAME ON TO THE SELECTORS' LIST FOR
WALKER CUP AT ROYAL CO DOWN

His name does not figure on the R&A's short leet of possible selections but rising Ulster star Richard Kilpatrick has his eyes firmly on a place at September's Walker Cup at Royal County Down.
The Banbridge player outclassed the field with an eight-stroke win in the East of Ireland championship at Baltray this week.And the 25-year-old feels that there is much more to come as he closes out his days as an amateur before turning professional at the end of the summer.
"Hopefully another win would turn a few heads on the Walker Cup selection committee," he said.
"Obviously it would be great to be a part of things at Royal County Down before I go to the qualifying school. Another performance like the East of Ireland would I think put me in the reckoning."
A 23-man provisional squad has been named for the Walker Cup and that doesn't at the moment include Kilpatrick.But that's not to say he can't force his way in by sheer weight of results as the squad was formed to give potential team members every available chance to get familiar with Royal Co Down.
Kilpatrick is more than familiar with the set-up there. He heads to the Irish amateur championship in Cork this weekend as one of the favourites and still has the North of Ireland, the British and European amateur events to come.
Victory in either the British or European, currently held by Holywood's Rory McIlroy, could very well be enough to catapult him into the European team for September's date with the Americans.
Whatever happens he will is going to the European Tour qualifying school in the hope of gaining his full European Tour card for next season.
"That's the plan but if I don't earn my card I will probably head back to America and join one of the mini-tours there rather than the EuroPro tour here," he said.
"Playing in Florida over the winter made a huge difference to me, but the most important thing I learned was more attitude than anything else.
"I'm probably playing the same as I was two or three years ago but the results are so much better."
He spend his time at the Lake Nona resort, giving him the chance to play with fellow Ulsterman Graeme McDowell, Trevor Immelman and 2003 Open winner Ben Curtis.
"The difference with these guys is how good they are from 100 yards in. They don't panic when they are in trouble and they don't end up with double bogeys," he said.
"Playing with them really helped and it's changes my game around."