Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The final qualifying round of the Winter Series took place last week and the winning team’s score was well clear of the runners-up. The winning team was led by well known racing commentator, Des Scahill, and his team consisted of a combination of Laois, Kilkenny and Kildare personnel. The winners had an impressive round of 97 points with nines of 47 and 50 points respectively. They had three shots to spare over a team comprised of four members from Galway Golf Club. The winners qualified for the final day which will be decided over 18 holes this Wednesday and the format of the final, as always, will be stableford singles.

The first of the inter club teams in action for 2011 was the Fourball Trophy Team and their opponents were Athy Golf Club. The draw advantage was with Athy, with three matches at Athy and two matches at Mount Juliet. The overall match was won in thrilling style by Mount Juliet by a three matches to two aggregate. Heroes of the tie were Ken MacDonald and Ronan Murphy who won at Athy by a margin of 5 and 4. Both matches at Mount Juliet were won narrowly, but decisively, with John O’Connor and Bryan Higgins winning by 2 and 1. The final pairing of Dermot Divilly and Pat Hegarty won 2 up with Pat closing the door on the 18th by sinking a 25ft., putt to seal the victory.

The other pairings of John Mulholland / Frank Kelly and Billy Murphy / Padraic O’Connor lost narrowly at Athy. Hopefully this early vein of form will act as a catalyst for some of the remaining teams in competitions.

Results Winter Series

Winners

Des Scahill (9) (The Heritage)

James Farrell (8) (Kilkenny)

Lar Ryan (9) (Rathdowney)

Shay Quinn (17) (The Heritage) 97 points

Runners-Up

B. McGraughan (8) (Galway)

D. O’Kelly (6)

P. Shallow (6)

R. Ramberg (12)

(Galway) 94 points

The first round of the new Summer Series was played last week. This series will be played once a month for the next six months and each competition will stand alone with valuable prizes for each day. The format will be a four person team event with a shotgun start at 2pm. each day.

Last Wednesday a team from Galway were runaway winners with a score of 90 points. They were seven shots clear of a team from Carrick on Suir, who in turn were a point clear of their nearest rivals. The magnificent prizes for the day were sponsored by Callaway Golf and all four teams involved in the prizes walked away with Drivers, Golf Bags, Putters and Watches.

The day itself was dry but a very chill wind blew from the east and this made scoring quite difficult but it proved to be no deterrent to the winners. The series continues on Tuesday 13^th May and reservations can be made by phoning 056/7773071 or 7773064.

Mark Wyse, Kevin Greely, Derek Keane, Paul Keane, Michael Keane, Mark Swan,
Winners Cregmore Park and Loughrea Golf Clubs

Results

Winners

Paul Keane (12)
Kevin Greely (12)
(Cregmore Park Golf Club)

Derek Keane (15)
Michael Keane (18)
(Loughrea Golf Club) 90 points

Second

John Mahon (11)
John O’Reilly (12)
Jim Kirwan (17)
Nicky Long (17)
(Carrick-on-Suir Golf Club) 83 points

Third

Dominic Carolan (10)
Cathal MacCanna (15)
(Luttrellstown Golf Club)

Alan McKnight (17)
Donnacadh Casey (7)
(Cork Golf Club) 82 points

Fourth

Anthony Kenny (13)
Paddy Naughton (17)
Tom Kenny (14)
(Mallow Golf Club)

Denis O’Brien (6)
(Lee Valley Golf Club) 78 points

On the Inter Club front, Mount Juliet teams had mixed fortunes with the Duggan Cup team just edging past Castlecomer on a tie hole. Unfortunately the Leinster Fourball Trophy team were just pipped by the final putt on the 18^th hole to lose to neighbours Mountain View. The Ladies Junior Foursomes team have a mountain to climb in the second leg of their match against The Curragh having lost all three matches in the first leg. The second leg takes place next Sunday at Mount Juliet.

The April Monthly Medal was decided last Sunday and because of the present dry spell some good scoring was the order of the day. The four category winners were Richie Guilfoyle, Norman Kilroy, Michael Meagher and Lynda Hickey.

In Category 1, Richie had a fine score of one over par gross to just pip Denis Treacy on the back nine countback. Denis failed to score on the par three 14^th hole and this proved to be the crucial difference. In Category 2 Norman beat Pat Doyle by a shot to claim his medal whilst Michael Meagher had three shots to spare in Category 3. Lynda Hickey hit a rich vein of form with 39 points to beat Mary Quigley by two shots to claim the ladies section. Thirty two players have now qualified for the matchplay stages of the McCalmont Cup as a result of this April Medal and the full draw will be made this week.

Results – April Monthly Medal

Category 1 Richard Guilfoyle (3) 38 points
Category 2 Norman Kilroy (15) 37 points
Category 3 Michael Meagher (20) 35 points

Ladies Lynda Hickey (28) 39 points

Men’ CSS – 36 points, Ladies CSS – 36 points

Next week the course closes for three days for the Spring maintenance.