Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The final lap of the “Lexus Race to Mount Juliet” was decided last Sunday when Barrie Trainor clinched the title over 36 holes in Mount Juliet. Barrie, who was a former Senior Cup player with his home club, Warrenpoint, had rounds of 68 and 70 for a total of 6 under par to win by four strokes from his playing partner on Sunday, Brendan McGovern and by winning the final he just pipped last year’s winner, David Higgins, for the Order of Merit title as well. Barrie collected €4,000 for winning in Mount Juliet and he collected a further €10,000 for the Order of Merit title.

He beat a select field of his professional compatriots to end his year on top of the pile. This is his sixth year as a professional, having won the Irish Amateur Championship and the PGA Ulster Championship, on the way to the biggest win of his career so far. Both Trainor and McGovern led the field on Saturday after they both had recorded rounds of four under par, 68’s, over the blue championship course. Trainor started his round with eight straight pars on Sunday before he birdied the par four 9th. He dropped two shots on the 11th and 12th before he finished his round with three further birdies on the 13th, 14th and 17th holes for a two under round of 70 shots. In the meantime, McGovern, who lost a ball on the 4th and try as he might could not catch Trainor to finish his round with a 74 which was two over par and this was enough to earn him second place on Sunday. Jimmy Bolger, Kilkenny, finished joint third with David Higgins on Sunday for a good week-end.

The Pro-Am on Friday was contested by 33 teams of four comprising of a professional and three amateur golfers. This event was won by a team led by Old Conna professional, Donal Gleeson, who beat the Jimmy Bolger led team on a countback. Both teams having scored 95 points and were 3 shots clear of the team led by Greenore professional, Robert Giles. The evening concluded with a dinner and presentation of prizes in Kendals Restaurant with some lively and funny entertainment from Barry Murphy of Apres Match fame.

On the amateur scene last week there were two competitions played and the first one was the opening round of the popular Winter Series. This proved to be benefit for some members of Thurles Golf Club as they won the first two prizes. The winners had a great score of 99 points and they had 5 shots to spare from their fellow club members.

The last of the Ladies Invitation Days was held on Wednesday and the format was a Three Person Rumble. This proved to be a successful outing for the team led by Brona Reidy who had a convincing win with 71 points. Brona’s partners were Edel Banim (11) from Woodbrook G.C. and Maeve O’Reilly (12) from Powerscourt G.C.

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Results Winter Series 4 Person Team Event

Winners

Pat Stakelum (18) Thurles G.C.

Pat McEvoy (13)

John Nevin (15)

John McGrath (15) 99points

Second

Jack O’Keeffe (15) Thurles G.C.

V. O’Keeffe (17)

Eamon O’Kennedy (12)

David O’Kennedy (13) 94 points

Results Pro-Am Friday 14th October

Winners

Donal Gleeson, Old Conna

Hugh O’Connor (6)

Helen Hedigan (20)

Geraldine Forde (32) 95 points

Second

Jimmy Bolger, Kilkenny

Bill Connolly (16)

P.J. Butler (15)

Billy Fanning (14) 95 points

Third

Robert Giles, Greenore

Alan Hoyne (7)

Mark Adamson (10)

Gary Stewart (6) 92 points

Last Sunday the “Vice Versa” competition was played for, which to the members of Mount Juliet means the Lady Captain’s Prize to the Men and the Captain’s Prize to the Ladies. Some fine scoring was recorded in each section with the best score on the day in the adult competitions recorded in the men’s section. This score was recorded by John Keane who returned a great 40 points, off his handicap of 6, he just edged out four other players who returned 39 points each. John had scores of 22 and 18 points respectively for each nine holes and his one real mistake came at the long par four 13th where he visited the water with his approach shot and he slumped to a six. John was closely followed by David Kelly, another 6 handicapper, who had a relatively quiet first nine holes for which he only scored 16 points but came to life on the back nine to record a two under par gross of 34 shots for a closing 23 points. David in turn was closely followed by Tom Duggan and Alan Hearne with similar scores only to be beaten on countbacks. All of the first three prizewinners were single handicap golfers and it was obvious that they coped better with the long course on offer to players on the day. Alan Hearne still leads the Golfer of the Year but John Keane has closed the gap considerably.

The junior prize was won by Flora Stevenson with a great 42 points and she follows in the footsteps of her sister, Iona, who featured in the Residential Trophy the previous week. Flora registered nines of 18 and 24 points respectively and had a comfortable winning margin.

In the ladies section the winner was Amelia Drumm, who is having a fantastic golf year, and as a result of her latest win has almost assured herself of the Golfer of the Year title for 2011 as well. She holds a very solid lead on her nearest rivals with only two more competitions left to decide the title. On Saturday last, she returned a score of 38 points to beat her nearest rivals by two shots. She had nineteen points for each nine holes and had only one real mistake on the 13th at which she failed to register a point otherwise she was utmost consistent throughout her round. The runner-up was Lynda Hickey with 36 points and she just pipped Sarah Jane Costelloe on a countback. As the start last Saturday was a “shotgun” one, all competitors finished within 20 minutes of each other which added to a very sociable evening among the players and friends before the presentation of prizes which took place at 6pm in the Hunters Yard.

Results – Men

Results – Ladies

The Captains’ Prizes, James J. Brett and Margaret Twomey, were decided last weekend. Play on Friday afternoon was abandoned due to the incessant rain and with conditions worsening as the evening progressed, there was little option but call a halt to proceedings and accommodate the players on Saturday. Weather-wise Saturday proved to be much improved with the temperature in the high ‘teens. The day proved to be a triumph for both Michael Collins and Kathyrn O’ Connor as they topped their respective sections to claim the major prizes.

In the men’s section, Michael Collins just beat off the opposition with 38 points and won from a former winner, John Thompson, by a shot. Although the winner failed to register a point on the par three, 3rd, the runner-up had two blanks on the back nine holes when he failed to score on both the 11th and 13th. But these were but a few of many hard luck stories during the day and Michael proved to be a deserving winner at the finish. Michael had nines of 18 and 20 points respectively as against John’s 21 and 16 points.

The ladies section proved to be a one person show with Kathyrn O’Connor returning a massive 44 points to spreadeagle the remainder of the field of competitors. She had nines of 23 and 21 points respectively and was 3 shots clear of her nearest opponent, Wendy Beirne, who in turn was a further five shots clear of Amelia Drumm in third place. In fairness to Wendy, she may have won with her score on any other day but Kathyrn hit the high spots on the day that mattered and ran out a deserving winner as well.

A great evening of entertainment followed a superb dinner in Kendals Restaurant where the presentation of prizes took place also.

As a result of the Captain’s Prizes, the competition for both Golfer of the Year Trophies is beginning to take shape with Alan Hearne now taking a decisive lead by ten points over Kevin McCartan in the men’s section. In joint third place some three points adrift of Kevin is John Barrett.

The ladies division is led by Amelia Drumm with 46 points who has overtaken leader, Sally Gleeson, and she is now five points clear of Sally with Liz Beatty some points adrift in third place.

Results Captain’s (James J. Brett) Prize

Winner Michael Collins (13) 38 points

Second John Thompson (12) 37 points

Category I Alan Hearne (11) 35 points

Category II Pat Doyle (14) 35 points

Category III Bryan Higgins (24) 36 points

Past Captain Padraic O’Connor (20) 31 points

Front Nine Terry O’Reilly (15) 19 points

Back Nine Jim Cusack (14) 19 points

Par 3’s John Mulholland (19) 12 points

Par 5’s John Conroy (18) 12 points

Results Lady Captain (Margaret Twomey) Prize

Winner Kathyrn O’Connor (30) 44 points

Second Wendy Beirne (33) 41 points

Third Amelia Drumm (20) 36 points

Past Captain Brona Reidy (13) 34 points

Front Nine Jo Duggan (20) 20 points

Back Nine Ursula Mason (29) 21 points

Par 3’s Helen Hedigan (21) 10 points

Par 5’s Anne Daly (33) 12 points

Visitor Talma O’Sullivan (30) 33 points