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

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

The April Monthly Medal was decided last week and this was also the qualifier for the McCalmont Cup Matchplay as well.

As usual there were four categories and on a dry day but with a testing breeze blowing from the southeast scoring was difficult.  Best score of the day came from the ladies section with Liz Beatty scoring 38 points to easily win her section from Lynda Hickey who recorded 35 points.  Tom Duggan had the best score in the men’s section with 36 points just beating John Brennan on a countback.  The other categories were won by David Moore and Dermot Divilly.

The early leaders in the Golfer of the Year categories are Liz Beatty and Dorothy Doyle in the ladies section with 12 points each while the men’s section has another tie with Tom Duggan and Anthony Gore-Grimes locked together on 12 points as well.

The sixteen qualifiers who will contest the McCalmont matchplay are Tom Duggan, Alan Hoyne, Lynda Hickey, David Moore, Dermot Divilly, Gerry Conlon, Ruth Skehan, John O’ Malley, Sally Gleeson, Noel Murphy, Betty Hendrick, Liam Collins, Ruth Mulholland, Kevin McCartan, James J. Brett and Myra Phelan.  The McCalmont Cup matchplay is unique in so far as the ladies and men qualify to play each other in this competition unlike other clubs where the matchplay is confined to each gender.

On the inter club matchplay front the men played Waterford in the Leinster  Fourball and they recorded a fine victory by a margain of 3 matches to 2 and now progress to the third round where their opponents are not known as yet.

The other team, who were to be in action, was the Duggan Cup team whose match against Castlecomer last Saturday had to be postponed due to flooding at Castlecomer and this match will be arranged for later this week.

The ladies played Callan in the Intermediate Cup and duly won while the Minor Cup team went down to The Heritage.  In the Miele All Ireland fourball the home team just got the better of Kilkenny on the 19^th after both teams had drawn.  Ruth Mulholland and Margaret Clandillon getting the vital win.  This team will now play Cahir Park in the next round.  The Intermediate team will play Woodlands in the next round.

Results April Monthly Medal:

Category 1        Tom Duggan (8)          36 points

Category 2        David Moore (14)         34 points

Category 3        Dermot Divilly (21)       34 points

Ladies              Liz Beatty (15)            38 points