Mount Juliet Golf Notes

A very busy weekend at Mount Juliet saw the Pro-Am take place on Friday last with the top 30 Irish professionals teaming up with 30 teams of three amateurs to play over 18 holes for valuable prizes. This was followed by the Lexus Race to Mount Juliet on Saturday and this was the last round of the order of merit for the members of the Irish P.G.A. with an impressive €50,000 up for grabs.

On Sunday the Member/Guest competition took place and like the professional tournament of Saturday both sections of this competition was won with an impressive score as well. The final round of Ladies Invitation days took place on Wednesday last also. Plenty of golf with the condition of the course coming in for loud praise from the professionals and amateurs alike.

A great week of golf was enjoyed by the Lady Captain, Sally Gleeson, who featured in the three competitions on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Sally led her team to victory on Wednesday in the 3 person rumble on Lady Invitation day. She then proceeded to be third in the pro-am on Friday and was second in the 18 holes singles on Sunday.

On Friday last the Pro-Am was won by a team from Lexus with 93 points led by professional, John Dignam. In second place with 90 points came the team led by Robert Giles who just beat the Mount Juliet team on a countback. The format of the team event was two scores to count on each hole and a very enjoyable day was had by all with the day finishing with a dinner in Kendals Restaurant with after dinner entertainment by Barry Murphy of Aprés Match fame.

On Sunday the member/guest 18 holes singles was played for and after an initial delay of nearly 2 hours, due to frost, all players got finished with some hot scoring deciding the outcome of the prizes. Best score of the day was returned by Brendan Meehan from Galway who had a remarkable 43 points. This score was made up of nines of 21 and 22 points respectively. Brendan was level par for seventeen holes and the only slip-up he made was at the 15th where he failed to score. He just edged out Liam Brett from Callan by a point and this result could have been reversed if Liam had scored on the 15th or the 18th where he drew blanks on both holes.

The ladies section was won by young Darcey Carr who returned an impressive score of 40 points off her handicap of 9. The good weather meant a great turnout of competitors for all competitions last week.

Results Ladies Invitation Day 3 Person Rumble
Wednesday 13th October

Winners

Sally Gleeson (14)

Judy Daly (14) Little Island G.C.

Anna Maloney (9) Clonmel G.C. 79 points

Second

Brona Reidy (13)

Maeve O’Reilly (14) Powerscourt G.C.

Edel Barron (12) Powerscourt G.C. 78 points

Third

Helen Scully (19)

Ann O’Shea (12) Powerscourt G.C.

Siobhan Fahey (14) Powerscourt G.C. 72 points

Results Member/Guest 18 holes Singles
Sunday 17th October

Men

Winner Brendan Meehan (9) Galway G.C. 43 points
Second Liam Brett (18) Callan G.C. 42 points
Third Bryan Phelan (15) 39 points

Ladies

Winner Darcey Carr (9) Milltown G.C. 40 points
Second Sally Gleeson (14) 37 points

The Captain’s Prize to Ladies and Lady Captain’s Prize to Men competitions were held last Sunday. These are two of the “majors” played in the club and carry points in the Golfer of the Year competitions as well. Pride of place went to Pat Doyle and Helen Shields in their respective competitions as they proved to be the best in their class. Some fine scoring was recorded on a beautiful, sunny day and with a “shotgun” start conditions were the same for everybody who participated. A full turnout of players meant that prizes were keenly fought for in both sections.

The men’s prize went to Pat Doyle who kept his nearest rivals at bay by shooting 39 points which was a very commendable score with play off the white tees and the course playing every bit of its 7000 yards. Pat just held on by a shot from Tony Frew and Paul Barrett. Paul must have rued his 7 on the long 13th as a six would have given him the prize on a countback. He also had the misfortune of playing a wrong ball on the 8th which cost him a further two shots. Tony’s biggest blunder came at the 7th where he failed to register a point and has obviously retained his recent run of good form by “chipping in” on the last for a birdie three. The C.S.S. for the day remained unchanged at 35 points. The President, Des Fitzgerald, had the honour of achieving a hole in one at the 14th hole where he holed out his 3 wood.

The ladies prize was claimed by Helen Shields with 41 points but only by a whisker as Kathryn O’Connor also recorded the same score only to be beaten on a countback. Hot on both players heels came Brona Reidy with 40 points and she will surely rue dropping four shots on the 6th, 7th and 8th holes. Kathryn also had her bad luck by failing to score on the long 18th. Helen scored nines of 21 and 20 points respectively as against Kathryn’s score of 23 and 18 points.

The outcome of both competitions had no distinct bearing on the Golfer of the Year competitions as the chief contenders in both sections i.e., Stephen Price, Ruth Skehan and Amelia Drumm lost no ground to their nearest challengers.

The final of the McCalmont Cup between Michael Brennan and John O’Connor will be played this coming Friday. Next Sunday sees the continuation of the member/guest series with a 3 person rumble competition over 18 holes. The course closes next week for 3 days for the annual maintenance programme of the greens.

Results Lady Captain’s Prize to the Men

Winner – Pat Doyle (15) 39 points
Second - Tony Frew (7) 38 points
Third - Paul Barrett (10) 38 points
Fourth - John Thornton (11) 37 points
Past Captain - Tom Duggan (8) 36 points
1st Nine - David Kelly (5) 20 points
2nd Nine - Sean O’Neill (14) 21 points
Hole in One - Des Fitzgerald at the par three 14th
Long Drive - John Brennan

Results Men’s Captain’s Prize to the Ladies

Winner – Helen Shields (17) 41 points
Second - Kathryn O’Connor (34) 41 points
Third - Brona Reidy (14) 40 points
Past Captain - Brenda Fitzgerald (21) 32 points
1st Nine - Amelia Drumm (22) 18 points
2nd Nine - Anne Murphy (33) 19 points
Long Drive - Ruth Mulholland
Nearest Pin - Mary Quigley

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