Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The April Monthly Medal was decided last week and this was also the qualifier for the McCalmont Cup Matchplay as well.

As usual there were four categories and on a dry day but with a testing breeze blowing from the southeast scoring was difficult.  Best score of the day came from the ladies section with Liz Beatty scoring 38 points to easily win her section from Lynda Hickey who recorded 35 points.  Tom Duggan had the best score in the men’s section with 36 points just beating John Brennan on a countback.  The other categories were won by David Moore and Dermot Divilly.

The early leaders in the Golfer of the Year categories are Liz Beatty and Dorothy Doyle in the ladies section with 12 points each while the men’s section has another tie with Tom Duggan and Anthony Gore-Grimes locked together on 12 points as well.

The sixteen qualifiers who will contest the McCalmont matchplay are Tom Duggan, Alan Hoyne, Lynda Hickey, David Moore, Dermot Divilly, Gerry Conlon, Ruth Skehan, John O’ Malley, Sally Gleeson, Noel Murphy, Betty Hendrick, Liam Collins, Ruth Mulholland, Kevin McCartan, James J. Brett and Myra Phelan.  The McCalmont Cup matchplay is unique in so far as the ladies and men qualify to play each other in this competition unlike other clubs where the matchplay is confined to each gender.

On the inter club matchplay front the men played Waterford in the Leinster  Fourball and they recorded a fine victory by a margain of 3 matches to 2 and now progress to the third round where their opponents are not known as yet.

The other team, who were to be in action, was the Duggan Cup team whose match against Castlecomer last Saturday had to be postponed due to flooding at Castlecomer and this match will be arranged for later this week.

The ladies played Callan in the Intermediate Cup and duly won while the Minor Cup team went down to The Heritage.  In the Miele All Ireland fourball the home team just got the better of Kilkenny on the 19^th after both teams had drawn.  Ruth Mulholland and Margaret Clandillon getting the vital win.  This team will now play Cahir Park in the next round.  The Intermediate team will play Woodlands in the next round.

Results April Monthly Medal:

Category 1        Tom Duggan (8)          36 points

Category 2        David Moore (14)         34 points

Category 3        Dermot Divilly (21)       34 points

Ladies              Liz Beatty (15)            38 points

The grand final of the Marble City Travel sponsored Winter Series was played last week and it resulted in a win for John Mahon from Carrick on Suir who just pipped Kevin Fennelly on a countback.  John had won the series in 2006 with a score of 33 points but he improved that score by just one shot this year to capture the prize again.  Curiously enough, it was also on a countback that he won in 2006 and this year he had the better back nine against the Gowran Park man.  Kevin will rue the fact that he failed to score on  the long 17^th, when going well, which eventually decided the outcome of the final.

On a pleasant Spring day, 26 golfers had endured the long winter to qualify for the playoffs and Mount Juliet was playing every bit of it’s 7300 yards off the blue tees.  Quite a few players had a good first nine holes but faltered on the homeward nine.  All qualifiers received their prizes at a dinner that evening and the winning three players also received very attractive prizes from the sponsor of the event this year, Marble City Travel.  In third place in the final came Martin Devlin from Rathdowney Golf Club.

After the conclusion of a successful series the Summer Series will kick off in late May and this will run until September with a 4 person team event each month and like last year will have a shotgun start at 2.30 each day.

The ladies invitation days had it’s first start of 2009 last Wednesday and there was a full turnout for the 3 person scramble.  The winning trio consisted of Brona Reidy with her playing partners, Pauline McEnery and Maeve O’Reilly, who had over three shots to spare on the Kilkenny trio of Margaret McCreery, Phyl Doyle and Paula Bradbury.

Last Sunday the Member/Guest 4 person team competition was played and although there was a small entry on a cold, windy day it did not upset the winners from scampering home with first prize with a very good score of 96 points.  The winning team consisted of members Pat Doyle and Kevin McCartan who with their guests Emmett McGregor and Noel McCartan had nines of 46 and 50 points respectively to win very impressively by 9 clear points.

In the Inter Club competitions Mount Juliet had the Irish Mixed team in action against Wexford and the Barton Cup team pitted against near neighbours, Kilkenny.  Sad to relate both teams met with defeat to the opposition, but only after a protracted struggle, as both teams lost their vital matches on the last green.  The Ladies Minor Cup team was also in action this weekend against Athy, and sad to relate the Kildare club came out the winners by a margin of 3 matches to 2.  At Mount Juliet, both home players won and all three matches were lost at Athy, the vital match losing on the 18^th hole.

Results:  Marble City Travel Winter Series:

Winner       John Mahon (10) Carrick on Suir G.C.            34 points

Second      Kevin Fennelly (8) Gowran Park G.C. 34 points

Third          Martin Devlin (12) Rathdowney G.C. 32 points

Ladies Invitation Day  3 Person Scramble:

Winners Brona Reidy (14)

Maeve O’Reilly (14)

Pauline McEnery (36)                      64.2 shots

Second Margaret McCreery (15)

Phyl Doyle (10)

Paula Bradbury (16)                        67.9 shots

Mount Juliet Member & Guest Day, 4 Person Team Event,
Sunday, 5th April 2009

Winners

Pat Doyle (14)

Kevin McCartan (18)

Emmett McGregor (9)
(Slade Valley Golf Club)

Noel McCartan (12)
(Courtown Golf Club)

96 points