Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The Winter Series was played last week and this resulted in a win for three friends from Laois and Kilkenny who returned a winning score of 78 points. The format was a three person rumble over 18 holes and the winners had a comfortable victory over the opposition. The next round of the series takes place on Wednesday 7th December and tee reservations for this competition can be made by telephoning 056 7773071.

Last Sunday saw the Member/Guest competition over 16 holes for hampers. The format was a fourball stableford and the winners scored an impressive 40 points. They were two shots clear of their nearest rivals who scored 38 points each. Conditions were good for scoring with no rain but the course played long after the heavy rainfall on Friday. The winners, Gerard Magee and his guest, Paul Lawlor, scored 23 points for the first nine holes and added a further 17 points on the last seven holes. The runners-up also scored 23 points on their first nine holes but could only manage a further 15 points on their homeward journey. This was sufficient to beat the third pairing on a countback.

Results Winter Series

Winners

Shay Quinn (14) (The Heritage)

James Farrell (7) (Kilkenny)

Lar Ryan (8) (Rathdowney) 78 points

Member/Guest Fourball Stableford

Winners
Gerard Magee (18)
Paul Lawlor (8) 40 points

Second
Sean O’Neill (14)
Liam Duggan (12) 38 points

Third
Alan Hearn (9)
Maurice Neligan (11) 38 points

The last of the Golfer of the Year competitions was played last Saturday and this was the final of the McCalmont Cup match play between Amelia Drumm and Jeff Howes. Amelia was in receipt of 13 strokes based on handicaps and this proved to be too much of a burden for Jeff who had to succumb on the 17th hole, but not after a match of some drama and fluctuating scores. Amelia was 3 down after three holes and the signs were ominous but to her credit she fought back in determined fashion to turn her deficit into a winning lead of two holes after the completion of nine holes. She then continued her winning ways by standing on the 13th tee four up only to lose the long par four but hit back straight away by winning the par three 14th to be dormie in the match. But Jeff was not to capitulate so easily and he proceeded to win the 15th and 16th to reduce the deficit but to be fair to Amelia she closed out the match on the long 17th with a half to end what was a fantastic year for her and she also clinched the Golfer of the Year.

Amelia scored a total of 87 points in the G.O.Y. competition and her best six cards came to 64 and was a massive 19 points clear of her nearest challenger for the title Sandra Carr.

In the men’s section of the competition Alan Hearne was the runaway winner at the finish. He accumulated a total of 63 points and his best six cards totalled 55 points and he was 18 points clear of John Keane in second place. Congratulations to both winners on their outstanding success.

The Lady Captain’s(Margaret Twomey) Team took on the Captain’s(James J. Brett) Team in the annual challenge last Sunday with the format being over 18 holes singles stableford. The best eight cards of each team counted and the Lady Captain’s Team prevailed on the day by a score of 266 points to 260 points. Best score of the day was returned by John Browne with 39 points with Lynda Hickey returning the best score of 32 points for the ladies and Frank Kelly scoring 37 points for the men.

The last round of the Summer Series was played last week and this resulted in an emphatic win for a team of Cork based golfers from Kanturk Golf Club who returned a great score of 99 points to win by a margin of 5 shots from their nearest rivals. The winning team had scores of 50 points and 49 points respectively for each nine holes as against the runners-up score of 46 points and 48 points for their nines. The runners-up team, again almost all Cork based, got through by virtue of a better back nine holes score. The first round of the Winter series commences in October with the same format as heretofore i.e., four person team event, any combination, with two scores to count on all holes.

Results Summer Series Wednesday 21st September

Winners          M. Hickey (17) (Kanturk)

                          D. Kiely (17) (Kanturk)

                          J. Tobin (22) (Kanturk)

                          T. Walsh (16) (Kanturk)                     99 points

Runners Up   K. Anderson (17) (Fermoy)

                          J. Baker (15) (Fermoy)

                          G. Dolan (16) (Ring of Kerry)

                          K. Gould (19) (Mitchelstown)             94 points

Kanturk

The Summer Series played last week proved to be a triumph for four golfers from Newbridge Golf Club as they swept to victory in a very decisive manner returning a fine score of 97 points.  They had seven points to spare from their nearest rival competitors who all hailed from Tipperary.  The Newbridge team were consistent throughout their round with nines of 48 and 49 points respectively.  The next and final round in the series will take place on Wednesday 21st September and already the timesheet for this is filling up at this point, almost four weeks out.

Last Sunday, a Member/Guest competition took place and this was won in emphatic style by Pat Doyle and his guests from the Ring of Kerry Golf Club who obviously thought it unnecessary to cheer on their football team in Croke Park.  This competition proved to be a landmark for Pat as well as he scored three birdies on three of the four par 3’s.  Pat registered birdies on the 3rd, 6th and 11th holes as part of his team’s winning score of 86 points.  The format of the competition was a three person rumble and Pat’s team scored 20 points, 32 points and 34 points for each six holes. With a fine entry of 30 teams in the competition Pat’s team had 3 points to spare from his nearest rival teams led by Sean O‘Neill and Jim Cusack.

The final stages of the McCalmont Cup are drawing to a conclusion with Amelia Drumm waiting to play the winners of the match between Ruth Mulholland and Jeff Howes.  This competition could yet end up as an all ladies affair for the first time in its history.  Amelia is having such a good year as she is almost assured of the Golfer of the Year title as well as possible victory in the cup.  The men’s competition in the Golfer of the Year is still up for grabs but it looks now like a straight fight between Alan Hearne and John Keane with Alan holding the upper hand with only two ranking competitions to go.

The President’s (Des Fitzgerald) Prize takes place on Saturday 10th September with a shot-gun start at 12 noon and the timesheet for this “major” opens on Monday 29th August.  Presentation of prizes will take place after play and this will be followed by dinner in Kendals Restaurant.