Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The Duggan Cup team had a great win against Castlecomer last Friday when they just prevailed by the odd match of five.  Mount Juliet had the advantage of three matches at home with two matches away.  Unfortunately the away pairings of Alan Hoyne/Pat Garvey and John O’Connor/Michael Brennan came up against formidable opposition in Castlecomer and were duly put to the sword.

At Mount Juliet the team pairings comprised of John O’Dwyer/Frank Smyth, Ted Hoyne /Jon O’Sullivan and Jeff Howes/Sean O’Neill.  All three matches were in control after nine holes and the first and latter pairings went on to have comprehensive victories on the 13^th and 12^th holes respectively.  The pairing of Ted Hoyne and Jon O’Sullivan were 3 up after the 14^th hole and seemed to have victory within their grasp only for the Castlecomer pairing to stage a determined comeback over the closing holes.  However, Ted and Jon held on to finish in style on the 18^th and so the team progresses to the next round against neighbours, Callan, who won at a similar stage last year.

Last Sunday, in difficult weather conditions, the “Rumble for Crumlin” charity event was held.  The rules of the competition are the best individual score is recorded for the first six holes, then two scores are recorded on the next six holes with all three scores recorded for the last six.  The competition was won in a very convincing fashion by a team led by this year’s captain, Dermot Divilly, who returned 83 points to win by a big margin.  The winners had 17 points on the first six holes and added 31 points on holes 7 to 12 and finished the last six with a further 35 points.  The two other members of the team were Michael Brennan (12) and Dermot Fennelly (11).  This team will now go forward and represent the club at the final later in the year.

Next Sunday sees the start of the Summer League and a timesheet is in operation with entries at the golf shop.  Twenty four ladies from the club had a very enjoyable overnight golf trip led by the Lady Captain, Dorothy Kilroy, to Carton House recently.  But as usual what happens in Carton House stays in Carton House.  Dorothy reports that the “Ladies Monday Morning” competition is becoming very popular and entries are picking up each week.

With the continuing good weather favouring all golfing activities, last weekend saw a full programme enacted on Saturday and Sunday.  Norman Kilroy had his panel of charges for participation in the Duggan Cup out in preparation for the coming season.  There was a challenge match arranged between two teams of five pairs and this proved to be very informative with some pairings showing excellent early season form.  How very different the weather made, compared to 2011, when hardly any golf took place until late February.  Norman was pleased with his trials and has now laid a marker for other team managers to start work on their panels.

On the competition front, a Member/Guest Fourball Stableford took place on Sunday with a good entry including some new members featuring.  The scoring was excellent with all prize winning scores exceeding the 40 points target off 3/4 handicap allowance.  The winning pair of Denis Treacy and Dean Smithwick scored 45 points which included a bonus point on the 1st hole.  They had nines of 22 and 23 points and just edged out the Callan pairing of Sean Brett and John Dwyer.

Denis and Dean finished their last nine holes in style with Denis scoring four points for his birdie on the long 13th and Dean finishing with two fours on the 17th and 18th for a further six points.   The Callan pairing also came with a run on the last nine holes as well with a further 23 points which included four birdies, three from Sean Brett and one from John O’Dwyer.  They only just failed by a shot to overhaul the winners.  In third place came the father and son pairing of Tony and Michael Collins with a score of 42 points.

The popular Winter League for members resumes next Sunday with tee times from 10am onwards.

Results: Member/Guest Fourball Stableford Sunday 22nd January

Winners       Denis Treacy (10) & Dean Smithwick (12) Kilkenny             45 points

Second        Sean Brett (10) & John O’Dwyer (5) Callan                       44 points

Third            Michael Collins (11) &Tony Collins (14) Tramore                42 points

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