Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The President’s (Des Fitzgerald) Prize for ladies and men was played last week and the format, as usual, was 18 holes singles stableford. On a very testing day weather wise, the scoring was reflected in the conditions that players had to endure to complete their rounds with a strong blustery wind accompanied by occasional showers. The standard scratch scores of the day tumbled to their lowest with 32 points for the men’s competition and 33 points for the ladies. However both Ray Moore and Mary Fulton beat the conditions to win their respective sections of the competition. With a “shotgun” start all players had to endure similar conditions for their round.
Ray recorded a winning score of 35 points to win the men’s section and Mary returned 34 points to beat off her rival competitors in the ladies section.

Ray started his round with a double bogey six and only had 15 points after nine holes. He started his back nine with a double bogey seven for a further point but then turned on the style to record a further 19 points for his last eight holes giving him a total of 35 points. He just got home by a shot from Norman Kilroy who played very consistently to record scores of 17 points for each nine holes. Norman had the misfortune to blank the third hole and double-bogied the long 17th in an otherwise faultless round.

Mary also started her round in a slow manner and after five holes had only recorded 6 points but for the remaining 13 holes she was the model of consistency with a further 28 points. She finished with two very solid pars on the 17th and 18th, both par 5′s, for a closing six points which clinched the title for her. In second place came Amelia Drumm who after scoring three points on her opening hole proceeded to blank the 2nd, 3rd and 4th holes and finished her first nine holes with a total of 11 points. She then proceeded to register a great 22 points for her last nine holes only to come up short by a shot from catching Mary for the winner’s prize.

Last Sunday the September Monthly Medal was played for and with a blustery wind blowing, scoring again was difficult. The best score of the day was by Alan Hearne, who spreadeagled his field of fellow competitors by shooting 38 points which was five shots better than his nearest rival. The foundation of Alan’s round was his first nine holes which he covered in 38 shots, just two over par, to record 21 points. He added a further 17 points on his back nine to end up a comfortable winner of his category. James E. Brett won category 2 with 31 points and Ken MacDonald had a fine 33 points to win category 3.

The ladies section was won by Sandra Carr with 33 points who started her round with two sixes and also failed to score on the long 5th hole but she steadied the ship on the last nine holes by adding a further 18 points to her first nine holes of 15 points to emerge a worthy winner. The conditions reflected in the C.S.S. for the day with the men’s standard scratch reaching its lowest figure of 32 points and the standard scratch for the ladies becoming non-counting at 33 points.

As this was the last counting competition for the Golfer of the Year, the clear winners in each section were Alan Hearne and Amelia Drumm. Both golfers had a very successful year and their respective handicaps came tumbling down during the last few months. There will be more details of their achievements next week as Amelia plays Jeff Howes in the McCalmont Cup final this week.

Next Sunday sees the Captain’s Team play the Lady Captain’s Team in the annual challenge with a “shotgun” start at 11 o’clock and there are still vacancies on both teams for members to put their names in the hat for this fun event which will be a fourball stableford.

The popular Winter Series Team Event commences on Thursday 13th October and tee times can be booked in the usual manner by contacting reservations or the golf shop at Mount Juliet.

Results September Monthly Medal

Results President’s Prize

Ladies Section

Last Sunday the “Vice Versa” competition was played for, which to the members of Mount Juliet means the Lady Captain’s Prize to the Men and the Captain’s Prize to the Ladies. Some fine scoring was recorded in each section with the best score on the day in the adult competitions recorded in the men’s section. This score was recorded by John Keane who returned a great 40 points, off his handicap of 6, he just edged out four other players who returned 39 points each. John had scores of 22 and 18 points respectively for each nine holes and his one real mistake came at the long par four 13th where he visited the water with his approach shot and he slumped to a six. John was closely followed by David Kelly, another 6 handicapper, who had a relatively quiet first nine holes for which he only scored 16 points but came to life on the back nine to record a two under par gross of 34 shots for a closing 23 points. David in turn was closely followed by Tom Duggan and Alan Hearne with similar scores only to be beaten on countbacks. All of the first three prizewinners were single handicap golfers and it was obvious that they coped better with the long course on offer to players on the day. Alan Hearne still leads the Golfer of the Year but John Keane has closed the gap considerably.

The junior prize was won by Flora Stevenson with a great 42 points and she follows in the footsteps of her sister, Iona, who featured in the Residential Trophy the previous week. Flora registered nines of 18 and 24 points respectively and had a comfortable winning margin.

In the ladies section the winner was Amelia Drumm, who is having a fantastic golf year, and as a result of her latest win has almost assured herself of the Golfer of the Year title for 2011 as well. She holds a very solid lead on her nearest rivals with only two more competitions left to decide the title. On Saturday last, she returned a score of 38 points to beat her nearest rivals by two shots. She had nineteen points for each nine holes and had only one real mistake on the 13th at which she failed to register a point otherwise she was utmost consistent throughout her round. The runner-up was Lynda Hickey with 36 points and she just pipped Sarah Jane Costelloe on a countback. As the start last Saturday was a “shotgun” one, all competitors finished within 20 minutes of each other which added to a very sociable evening among the players and friends before the presentation of prizes which took place at 6pm in the Hunters Yard.

Results – Men

Results – Ladies

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