Mount Juliet Golf Notes

Last week there was a bag of mixed luck on the Inter Club front with two ladies teams in action. The Challenge Cup team were pitted against Kilkenny Golf Club at the neutral venue of Callan and they came out on top by a margin of 3½ matches to 1½ matches. The format of the competition was 5 singles and Mary Cotter, Ann Murphy and Wendy Beirne all won their respective matches with Dorothy Kilroy securing a half in her match. While on the course. Brenda O’Sullivan lost narrowly to her opponent.

The All Ireland Fourball team lost narrowly to the ladies of Carrick-on-Suir Golf Club but only on a countback. In this competition two pairs play at home and two pairs play away. While our two home pairs achieved victory, the away players lost and on a countback of holes won and lost, Mount Juliet came out on the wrong end. The pairings were Helen Scully/Ruth Skehan and Helen Hedigan/Mary Fulton, both of these pairings played at Mount Juliet. At Carrick-on-Suir, the pairings were Sally Gleeson/Jon Hegarty and Myra Phelan/Rita Garvey. It is interesting to note that Helen and Ruth were 5 down after nine holes but recovered for a great victory on the 18th.

Next Sunday sees the running of the J.B. Carr Trophy in memory of our former illustrious President Joe, and this is a Golfer of the Year competition with extra points available.

On Tuesday next the open Summer Series for teams of four players continues and reservations for tee times can be made by phoning 056 7773071.

With only one more round of the Waterford Crystal sponsored Winter Series to go, four more players joined the list of qualifiers last week by virtue of winning the 4 Person Team Event.

On a real testing day for returning good scores, with very strong gusts of wind the order of the day, the competitors had a real test of endurance and stamina. The best of the conditions prevailed in the early morning but as the day progressed so did the wind which made scoring very difficult. However, the four members of Carrick-on-Suir Golf Club had no difficulty in registering a winning score of 82 points and so qualify for the Grand Final on April 14th.

The format of the event was for two scores to count on all holes except the 18th where three scores counted. The Carrick men turned with a fine score of 43 points but had to hang on for dear life over the back nine and only one of the team registered a bogie for 2 points on the 18th which was playing particularly long and difficult. However this was enough to beat the Waterford/Wexford combination of Charlie Aherne, Ger Whittle, Brian Cooke and Terry O’Connor by one shot and the Robert Dormer led team from Clare who finished third a further shot behind.

The last round of the Winter Series takes place on Tuesday 1st April and the format will be a 3 Person Rumble and tee times for this event can be reserved by phoning 056/7773071 or 7773064. After this competition 31 qualifiers will partake in the Grand Final to decide the overall winner. All qualifiers will receive a piece of inscribed Waterford Crystal and the overall winner on the day will receive a special prize of Crystal as well as the runner-up and third.

Results Winter Series

Winners
Tom Murphy (9)
Toby Vereker (16)
Kevin Keane (18)
Joe Vereker (12) 82 points

Second
Charlie Aherne (6)
Ger Whittle (13)
Brian Cooke (9)
Terry O’Connor (17) 81 points

Third
Luke Coote (11)
Anthony Coote (15)
Paul Higgins (11)
Robert Dormer (9) 80 points

On the Interclub scene, the Mount Juliet Ladies Junior Foursomes team built a comprehensive lead going into the second leg of the second round against Woodlands in two week’s time.

The first two matches consisted of Myra Phelan with Maire Shee and Mary Fulton with Rita Garvey and these two pairings won by 7 and 6 and Pearl Brennan and Susan Mahony won by 3 and 2.