Mount Juliet Golf Notes

Is it ever going to stop freezing or will golf courses recover from the prolonged months of continuous sub zero temperatures. Like every other course Mount Juliet has had to endure its fair share of Artic weather and it now has the not so envious reputation of holding the record for this Winter of having the coldest recorded temperature in Ireland when on 7th January the gauge dipped to – 16.3 degrees.

The Winter Series got off the ground last Thursday after a three hour frost delay when the competition reverted to a shotgun start at 1pm. A Tipperary team comprising of four Clonmel members, ably led by Trevor Gough from Coolmore Stud, led the qualifiers with a good score of 90 points. The winners had nines of 47 and 43 points respectively and just held on by a point from another Munster dominated team who finished on 89 points.

Things looked rosy for the Clonmel contingent until they reached the 16th hole and here they could only muster 2 points between all four players. Again they had a rather shaky finish as they could only muster 4 points on the 18th where three scores could count. The runners-up also had cause to rue their finish as they could only scramble 2 points on the 15th and they scored 47 and 42 points respectively for both nines. But at the end of the day it was the Clonmel who qualified for the final in three weeks time.

The May Monthly Medal was decided last Sunday and after some early fog, the day turned out to be a pleasant and sunny one. The best score of the day was returned by Michael Brennan with 38 points and he duly won category 2 for his troubles. Michael had nines of 18 and 20 points, having failed to score on the second but he more than made up for it on the last sixteen holes by adding 36 points to the two points he scored on the first hole.

In category 1, Stephen Price was the narrow winner with 36 points from John Keane and again, like Michael, Stephen had a slow start by dropping seven shots on the first nine holes and only scoring 16 points. But again, like Michael Brennan, made up for his early lapses by scoring 20 points on the back nine. Category 3 was won by Tony Hoyne, on a countback, with 31 points whilst Rebecca Nixon won the Ladies section with a fine score of 37 points. Rebecca showed a fine return to form by scorching home on the last nine holes with 22 points and just finished a point clear of Mary Quigley. The C.S.S. for both the men and the ladies was 35 points.

In the Golfer of the Year competitions, Stephen Price is the clear leader in the men’s section whilst Mary Quigley leads the ladies section convincingly.

Last Wednesday saw a large turnout for the May Ladies Invitation Day which was an 18 holes singles stableford. Helen Comerford spreadeagled the field with a winning score of 39 points and she was four points clear of her nearest pursuers, Mary Power, Powerscourt and Jeannie Ronan, Clonmel. Deirdre Farrell, Castleknock, was in fourth place and the “nines” were won by Ann Marie Wilsden, Gowran Park, and Winifred O’ Connor, Glencullen.

On the Inter Club scene the Duggan Cup team will play neighbours Callan in the next round with the Pierce Purcell team playing at Wexford next weekend in the regional qualifying round. The Ladies Junior Foursomes team have reached the quarter final and will play Moate next weekend in the first leg. Finally, the Ladies All Ireland Miele Fourball team played Borris in the first round of that competition and having lost both matches at Borris they won the first match at Mount Juliet and the second pairing were called in “all square” after the 15^th hole. At that stage, it was not possible for Mount Juliet to win as overall they were down a total of four holes in the previous three matches and as a consequence with only three holes to play in the last match the result was already decided.

Back row: Brona Reidy, Mary Quigley, Myra Phelan – Team Manager.
Front row: Helen Hedigan and Sally Gleeson

Results May Monthly Medal:

Category 1. Stephen Price(10)……………36 points.

Category 2. Michael Brennan(13)………..38 points.

Category 3. Tony Hoyne(20)………………31 points.

Ladies: Rebecca Nixon(19)…………..37 points.