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.

There was a great turnout for the “Vice-Versa” competition which is the Captain’s Prize to the Ladies and the Lady Captain’s Prize to the Men.  This year they were won in spectacular style by Sandra Carr and Liam Reidy who returned good scores of 38 and 40 points in their respective competitions.

Liam was consistency right through his game returning 19 and 21 points for his nines and won by 2 shots from John Keane.  John had a very poor start only scoring 2 points in the first three holes but turned up the heat on the last 15 holes by scoring a further 36 points.  But for failing to score on the 7th hole he may have made it to the winner’s rostrum as he scored an impressive back nine holes of 23 points which was one under par gross.  In fairness to Liam it was his day and was duly rewarded for his consistency.

The Ladies competition was a much tighter affair with Sandra coming out on top by just a shot from Margaret Clandillon.  Again, Margaret must rue her chances especially for failing to score on the 14th and 16th holes.  Sandra also had a blank on the long 13th but apart from that she had nines of 17 and 21 points to emerge the victor.

Results Lady Captain’s Prize to the Men

Winner              Liam Reidy (14)                   40 points

Second             John Keane (8)                    38 points

Third                Peter Quigley (7)                  37 points

Fourth             Wilf Stevenson (19)              36 points

Past Captain      Tom Duggan (7)                   33 points

1st Nine            James J. Brett (16)               20 points

2nd Nine           John Leahy (18)                   20 points

Par 3’s              Stephen O’Connor Jr

Par 5’s              Michael Whelan

Junior              Luke Mulcahy (16)               38 points

Captain’s Prize to the Ladies

Winner              Sandra Carr (19)                  38 points

Second             Margaret Clandillon (26)        37 points

Third                Lynda Hickey (26)                36 points

1st Nine           Kathryn O’Connor (36)          21 points

2nd Nine           Wendy Beirne (36)               20 points

Par 3’s              Helen Comerford

Par 5’s              Mary Quigley

Summer Series

The Summer Series was played on Wednesday 12th August and this as usual is a four person team event with a fine entry of players.  The winners were friends from four different clubs but they combined well together to score 97 points and won by 3 clear shots from their nearest rivals.  The winners had nines of 47 and 50 points and all team members were single figure golfers.  The runners up were again from a variety of clubs and they had nines of 46 and 48 points respectively and just held on by a shot from the third placed team.

The last round of the Summer Series will take place on Thursday 17th September and the format is again a 4 person team event.  Tee reservations can be made for this day by phoning 056/777301 or 7773064.

Results Summer Series 4 Person Team Event

Winners

John O’ Mahony (5) (Lismore)                 97 points

Mark White (9) (Thurles)

Paddy White (9) (Cahir Park)

Michael O’Leary (7) (Ring of Kerry)

Second

David Daly (13) (Gort)                             94 points

John Daly (18) (Gort)

Pat Curtis (12) (Kilrush)

Peter O’Brien (9) (Carton House)

Third

Ronan Freyne (14) (Co. Meath)               93 points

Michael Gaynor (9) (Co. Meath)

Ger Griffin (15) (Tara Glen)

Gerry Lloyd (12) (Skerries)

Last week saw three competitions decided with the Member/Guest 18 Holes Singles, The Residential Trophy and the Ladies Invitation Day for the month of August. There was a very big turnout for the member/guest day and the overall winner, both ladies and men, was David Gleeson, son of Tadhg and Sally, who returned a very impressive 40 points. After a rather slow start to his round where he scored a par on the 1st hole and then proceeded to draw a blank on the 2nd, he then turned on the style for the remaining 16 holes with a further 38 points. At the turn he had recovered sufficiently to record 19 points and then made no mistake on the last nine holes with a further 21 points. He beat his nearest rival, Morgan Doyle from Kilkenny by 3 shots and all four places were filled by visitors.

The ladies section was won by Sandra Carr with 38 points and she just pipped Loretta Donnelly on a countback. Both players had nines of 21 and 17 points respectively but Loretta failed to score on the long 17th and this decided the contest.

The Annual Residential Trophy was also decided on the Saturday and last year’s winner, Ray O’ Malley, repeated his feat by scoring back to back wins. Ray had 39 points and won by two shots from Ruth Mulholland with Lynda Hickey a shot further back in third place. Darcey Carr had a wonderful score of 37 points to win the Junior Prize. Darcey is fast approaching single figures and will soon be rewarded with interprovincial honours if she keeps improving at her incredible rate of progress.

Ray had a modest start scoring 17 points on the first nine holes but really burned it up on the second nine holes with a further 22 points. There was a great number of competitors for this annual competition and it always is a good social occasion with everybody intermingling on this particular weekend.

The last competition was the Ladies Invitation Day and this was a Fourball Betterball Stableford. This was won in emphatic style by Lynda Hickey and her guest Ann Banville from Enniscorthy with a score of 38 points. They had four points to spare over Myra Phelan and her guest Liz Hurley from Charlesland. There was a separate competition for each nine holes and these were won by Kathyrn O’Connor and her guest Mary Flahavan from Dungarvan. The back nine holes was won by the Lady Captain, Sheila MacDonald and her guest Caroline Hellewell from Gowran Park.

Next weekend sees the Captain’s Prize to the Ladies and the Lady Captain’s Prize to the Men and for the first time this will be a shotgun start at 11am and there will be valuable points in the Golfer of the Year competitions for both the Ladies and Men.

Results

Member/Guest 18 Holes Singles Stableford:

Winner David Gleeson (15) Dooks G.C. 40 points

Second Morgan Doyle (12) Kilkenny G.C. 38 points (last nine)

Third Stephen Morgan (18) Killiney G.C. 38 points

Fourth Patrick O’Flynn (13) Cahir Park G.C. 36 points

Ladies:

Winner Sandra Carr (20) 38 points

Second Loretta Donnelly (21) Killeen Castle G.C. 38 points

Residential Trophy 18 Holes Singles Stableford

Overall Winner Ray O’Malley (14) 39 points

Second John Keane (8) 35 points

Third Stephen Skehan (16) 34 points (last 6)

Ladies Winner Ruth Mulholland (12) 37 poin

Second Lynda Hickey (26) 36 points

Junior Prize Darcey Carr (12) 37 points