Mount Juliet Golf Notes

With the continuing good weather favouring all golfing activities, last weekend saw a full programme enacted on Saturday and Sunday.  Norman Kilroy had his panel of charges for participation in the Duggan Cup out in preparation for the coming season.  There was a challenge match arranged between two teams of five pairs and this proved to be very informative with some pairings showing excellent early season form.  How very different the weather made, compared to 2011, when hardly any golf took place until late February.  Norman was pleased with his trials and has now laid a marker for other team managers to start work on their panels.

On the competition front, a Member/Guest Fourball Stableford took place on Sunday with a good entry including some new members featuring.  The scoring was excellent with all prize winning scores exceeding the 40 points target off 3/4 handicap allowance.  The winning pair of Denis Treacy and Dean Smithwick scored 45 points which included a bonus point on the 1st hole.  They had nines of 22 and 23 points and just edged out the Callan pairing of Sean Brett and John Dwyer.

Denis and Dean finished their last nine holes in style with Denis scoring four points for his birdie on the long 13th and Dean finishing with two fours on the 17th and 18th for a further six points.   The Callan pairing also came with a run on the last nine holes as well with a further 23 points which included four birdies, three from Sean Brett and one from John O’Dwyer.  They only just failed by a shot to overhaul the winners.  In third place came the father and son pairing of Tony and Michael Collins with a score of 42 points.

The popular Winter League for members resumes next Sunday with tee times from 10am onwards.

Results: Member/Guest Fourball Stableford Sunday 22nd January

Winners       Denis Treacy (10) & Dean Smithwick (12) Kilkenny             45 points

Second        Sean Brett (10) & John O’Dwyer (5) Callan                       44 points

Third            Michael Collins (11) &Tony Collins (14) Tramore                42 points

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.

Some very good scoring was recorded last Sunday in the Jack Nicklaus Trophy singles which also counted for Golfer of the Year points. With play off the white tees on a blustery day, conditions were far from ideal. The magic score was 41 points and this was recorded in both the ladies and men’s competitions. The best score of the day in either categories qualifies the competitor to have the honour of being the holder of the perpetual trophy for 2011.

This distinction fell to John Keane as he beat Sally Gleeson and Jeff Howes on a countback. All three players recorded 41 points each but John just got home by virtue of the fact that he scored 21 points on the last nine holes against Sally’s and Jeff’s 19 points. Three holes which probably defined the outcome of the result in deciding the winner were possibly the par three, 14th, where Sally failed to score and in Jeff’s case, the 17th and 18th which he proceeded to bogey in his round when victory seemed assured. The other unusual feature about the competition was that the first three prize winners in the men’s section were single figure golfers.

The winner, John, had a fine round of 14 pars, 3 bogies (5th, 8th and 13th) and one birdie at the 9th which when added up totals a round of 74 gross (two over par). Fine scoring indeed which was equalled by Jeff Howes in his round of 12 pars, 4 bogies (7th, 10th 17th and 18th) and two birdies on the 8th and 11th holes and outright victory only eluded him by virtue of his dropped shots on the last two holes played. The second and third places in the ladies section was won with 38 points and Amelia Drumm, who was third in the ladies section, registered 24 points for her first nine holes but faded on the back nine to only register a further 14 points. Third place in the men’s section was won by David Kelly with 38 points also. The C. S. S. for the day was 36 points for the men and 37 points for the ladies.

On the inter club scene, the Duggan Cup Team made their exit to neighbours Gowran Park Golf Club after a great battle in both the home and away matches. The only team standing in the men’s section is the Barton Shield team who have yet to do battle in the qualifying round in two weeks time. The ladies are faring slightly better with the Challenge Cup team yet to play Kilkenny at Callan Golf Club next week and the Ladies Fourball team set to play Carrick-on-Suir Golf Club in the first round shortly.

The Golfer of the Year tables now show Kevin McCartan in a clear lead from Alan Hearn and in the ladies section Sally Gleeson has a narrow lead over Amelia Drumm.

Jack Nicklaus Trophy