Mount Juliet Golf Notes

Two competitions were completed in the past week, the penultimate round of the Winter Series for 2010/2011 and the popular Member/Guest competition. The Winter Series proved to be a triumph for Co. Galway, who seem to have a hoodoo on Kilkenny on the playing fields at the moment, as a team from Ballinasloe Golf Club literally ran away with this event. They scored an impressive 99 points with scores of 53 and 46 points respectively for each nine holes. The aggregate score for the first nine holes was almost 6 points per hole which was indeed an impressive tally.

In the Member/Guest competition, the format of which was a fourball betterball stableford, the father/son combination of James E. and Niall Brett ran out deserving winners with a score of 43 points. They had a shot to spare over Frank Kelly and his Kerry based partner Joe Healy. The winners had nines of 20 and 23 points respectively and a par on the 18th by James proved to be the clinching score.

The final round of the Winter Series takes place next Wednesday 30th March and as usual it is for teams of four golfers, any combination, with two scores to count. Next Sunday sees the commencement of the Golfer of the Year competition with the running of the March Medal over 18 holes and play will be off the white tees. Last year’s winner, Stephen Price, will be out to retain his crown. On the inter club scene the first team in action will be the Fourball Trophy team and they are pitted against Athy Golf Club who are expected to be formidable opposition. The month of April will see the majority of teams in action, both ladies and gents, hopefully with success.

Results Winter Series

Winners

R. Fitzgerald (11) (Ballinasloe)

T. Kelly (14) (Ballinasloe)

N. Egan (20) (Ballinasloe)

E. Moloney (18) (Ballinasloe) 99 points

Member / Guest Fourball Stableford

Winners

James E. Brett (14)

Niall Brett (10) (Callan) 43 points

Second

Frank Kelly (23)

Joe Healy (10) (Dooks) 42 points

The course closes this week for annual maintenance up to and including this Wednesday and as the Summer comes to a close, there was some interesting golf played last week. The final of the McCalmont Cup matchplay between Michael Brennan and John O’Connor was played last Friday. After a very close match in which fortunes for both players ebbed and flowed, Michael came out victorious on the 18th by a one hole victory. Michael was giving John six shots in the match over the eighteen holes and the result looked ominous for him after 16 holes as they were all square with John to receive a further two shots on the 16th and 18th holes. However, Michael managed to half the 16th and win the 17th and held on for a half and the match on the 18th.

This is Michael’s second time to win the trophy since its inception and congratulations go to him on the achievement. As this was a Golfer of the Year competition, the result had no significant bearing on the leaderboard.

Stephen Price still maintains his lead, but only just, from Alan Hearn by one point. The advantage still rests with Stephen as he has fewer competitions played but it still looks as this will go to the wire before a result is known.

In the ladies section the competition is hotting up with Ruth Skehan holding a narrow advantage over Amelia Drumm with Kathryn O’Connor reducing the gap on the leaders in third place.

The President’s (Des Fitzgerald) Prize will be played on Saturday 4th September with a shotgun start at 11am. The timesheet for this competition is now open and bookings can be made by phoning tee reservations at 056 7773071or 7773064.

Last Sunday there was an 18 holes 3 person rumble competition and there was a very good turnout of members and their guests for this popular competition. With one score to count on the first six holes, two scores on the next six holes and all three players scores to count on the last six holes, competitors had to be at their sharpest. The winners had 18 points for the first six holes, followed by 29 points for their middle six holes and they finished off with a further 45 points to register a total of 91 points. They had eight shots to spare from their nearest rivals. The key to their success was that they all scored on each hole for the last six holes and this is where the competition is usually decided.

Results

Member/Guest 18 holes Rumble Sunday 22nd August

Last week saw three competitions decided with the Member/Guest 18 Holes Singles, The Residential Trophy and the Ladies Invitation Day for the month of August. There was a very big turnout for the member/guest day and the overall winner, both ladies and men, was David Gleeson, son of Tadhg and Sally, who returned a very impressive 40 points. After a rather slow start to his round where he scored a par on the 1st hole and then proceeded to draw a blank on the 2nd, he then turned on the style for the remaining 16 holes with a further 38 points. At the turn he had recovered sufficiently to record 19 points and then made no mistake on the last nine holes with a further 21 points. He beat his nearest rival, Morgan Doyle from Kilkenny by 3 shots and all four places were filled by visitors.

The ladies section was won by Sandra Carr with 38 points and she just pipped Loretta Donnelly on a countback. Both players had nines of 21 and 17 points respectively but Loretta failed to score on the long 17th and this decided the contest.

The Annual Residential Trophy was also decided on the Saturday and last year’s winner, Ray O’ Malley, repeated his feat by scoring back to back wins. Ray had 39 points and won by two shots from Ruth Mulholland with Lynda Hickey a shot further back in third place. Darcey Carr had a wonderful score of 37 points to win the Junior Prize. Darcey is fast approaching single figures and will soon be rewarded with interprovincial honours if she keeps improving at her incredible rate of progress.

Ray had a modest start scoring 17 points on the first nine holes but really burned it up on the second nine holes with a further 22 points. There was a great number of competitors for this annual competition and it always is a good social occasion with everybody intermingling on this particular weekend.

The last competition was the Ladies Invitation Day and this was a Fourball Betterball Stableford. This was won in emphatic style by Lynda Hickey and her guest Ann Banville from Enniscorthy with a score of 38 points. They had four points to spare over Myra Phelan and her guest Liz Hurley from Charlesland. There was a separate competition for each nine holes and these were won by Kathyrn O’Connor and her guest Mary Flahavan from Dungarvan. The back nine holes was won by the Lady Captain, Sheila MacDonald and her guest Caroline Hellewell from Gowran Park.

Next weekend sees the Captain’s Prize to the Ladies and the Lady Captain’s Prize to the Men and for the first time this will be a shotgun start at 11am and there will be valuable points in the Golfer of the Year competitions for both the Ladies and Men.

Results

Member/Guest 18 Holes Singles Stableford:

Winner David Gleeson (15) Dooks G.C. 40 points

Second Morgan Doyle (12) Kilkenny G.C. 38 points (last nine)

Third Stephen Morgan (18) Killiney G.C. 38 points

Fourth Patrick O’Flynn (13) Cahir Park G.C. 36 points

Ladies:

Winner Sandra Carr (20) 38 points

Second Loretta Donnelly (21) Killeen Castle G.C. 38 points

Residential Trophy 18 Holes Singles Stableford

Overall Winner Ray O’Malley (14) 39 points

Second John Keane (8) 35 points

Third Stephen Skehan (16) 34 points (last 6)

Ladies Winner Ruth Mulholland (12) 37 poin

Second Lynda Hickey (26) 36 points

Junior Prize Darcey Carr (12) 37 points