Mount Juliet Golf Notes

Last Sunday saw the commencement of the Summer League and this resulted in a good win for Hugh O’Connor who continued his early season form by returning a solid 38 points in tricky conditions with the northerly wind continuing to make scoring difficult. Hugh, playing very solidly, had two nines of 19 points and just held off the challenge of Dermot Fennelly by a shot. Dermot scored only 15 points for his first nine holes but then turned on the style on his last nine holes by returning a further 22 points. In third place came Ted Hoyne with another 37 points only to lose second place to Dermot on a countback. The next round of the Summer League will take place next Sunday.

On the Inter Club scene, the ladies are doing battle with Borris this weekend in the Miele Fourball with two pairings at home and two pairings away. The result will be decided on matches won and holes won. The Pierce Purcell team are at Wexford in three weeks time to compete in the regional qualifying round and the panel are preparing for this important date. The Duggan Cup team will do battle against Callan on Wednesday next in the second round with the draw advantage favouring Callan.

On Wednesday next 8th May the May Ladies Invitation Day will take place and the format will be a four person team event. The following Sunday will see the May Monthly Medal down for decision and this is a Golfer of the Year event.

Results Summer League Sunday 28th April

Winner Hugh O’Connor (6) 38 points
Second Dermot Fennelly (11) 37 points.(last nine)
Third Ted Hoyne (8) 37 points

Mount Juliet Golf Notes Monday 29th April 2013

The first team in the Inter Club competitions run under the auspices of the Golfing Union of Ireland was in action last Saturday. The competition was the Leinster Fourball and the opposition was Waterford Golf Club. Due to the present inclement weather, all five matches had to be played at Mount Juliet as the Waterford course was unplayable. Unfortunately for the home side, Waterford prevailed on a score of 3 matches to 2 with the visitors holding the upper hand in all three matches that they won. The winning pairs were Padraic O’Connor/Dermot Divilly and Pat Stakelum/Bryan Higgins and the team was ably managed by Kevin McCartan.

Two stroke competitions were also held over the past week and the most important one was the March Monthly Medal which took place last Sunday. This was the first competition carrying points to decide the Golfer of the Year for 2013. As is usual in all member’s medal competitions, play was off the white tees for the men and with a bitter wind blowing from the east throughout the day, conditions for good scoring proved to be very difficult for all competitors. The target for the day proved to be 35 points which was achieved by Alan Hearne in Category I. The nearest to Alan’s score was Ronan Murphy who had 34 points in Category III. The other men’s category was won by Ger Dowling and nice to see Adrienne Walsh winning the ladies category with 31 points.

On St. Patrick’s Day there was an open singles played and scoring was very good with Richie Guilfoyle proving to be a convincing overall winner. Richie scored 40 points which equated to a one under par gross for the 18 holes. In second place, former Lady Captain Myra Phelan scored 38 points with John O’Dwyer filling third spot with 36 points.

On Sunday next, Easter Sunday, a Member/Guest Fourball Stableford will take place and the following Wednesday the first Ladies Invitation Day for 2013 will also take place and the format for this will be a 3 Person Rumble.

Results St. Patrick’s Day 18 Holes Open Singles

Winner Richie Guilfoyle (3) (Kilkenny) 40 points
Second Myra Phelan (22) 38 points
Third John O’Dwyer (5) (Callan) 36 points

Results, March Monthly Medal Sunday 24th March 18 Holes Singles

Category 1 Alan Hearne (7) 35 points
Category 2 Ger Dowling (16) 33 points
Category 3 Ronan Murphy (25) 34 points
Ladies Adrienne Walsh (23) 31 points

The Captains Prizes were the main focus of attention last weekend and after the present inclement weather fingers were crossed for favourable conditions. Unfortunately play on the Friday evening was abandoned due to incessant rain from early morning. It meant that players who intended to play on Friday had to be fitted in on the timesheet for Saturday which was a “shotgun” start at 9am and 2pm. Glad to report that all players were accommodated which made a line-up of almost 180 people partaking on the day and to everybody’s relief, the rain stayed away all day which added to a great day’s enjoyment for all concerned with the day.

Best score on the day was in the men’s section with 39 points winning the prestigious prize and the ladie’s section was won with 34 points. The conditions on the day, after all the wet weather, made the course play very long with no run on the ball. The course, as usual, was in pristine condition and as is obvious from the scoring it suited the longer hitters on the day. Gavin Pierce returned the winning score of 39 points to clinch Alan Hoyne’s Prize on a countback from Neil Magee. Gavin had a gross 74 which is a total of two over par for the white course. On his first nine holes Gavin dropped three shots to par on the 1st, 6th and 9th holes and birdied the long 5th to be out in 38 shots which was converted to 18 points stableford. On his back nine holes he had a birdie on the 12th but dropped a shot on the 15th and scored pars the rest of the back nine holes which counted for a further 21 points. Neil had nines of 19 points and 20 points respectively and but for a double bogie, six, on the final hole would have claimed the first prize.

In the ladies section Rebecca Nixon secured victory, much to her surprise, with 34 points. Rebecca failed to score points at the 1st, 4th, 10th and 15th but scored steadily for the remaining holes to clinch victory and win Ruth Mulholland’s lovely prize. Geraldine Higgins had a winning score of 35 points but because she had not the required number of cards returned beforehand she was awarded the second prize. In third place came Nora Deane on 32 points. A very enjoyable social day was rounded off by a dinner for over 200 people in the Hunter’s Yard in a specially erected marquee for the occasion.

Results Captains’ (Alan Hoyne & Ruth Mulholland) Saturday 7th July

Men’s Section:

Winner: … Gavin Pierce(5)…………………39 points.
Second…. Neil Magee(10)…………………39 points.
Cat. 1..……Owen Phelan(10)……………….37 points.
Cat 2.……..Bill Fanning(15)………………..35 points.
Cat 3.……..Ronan Murphy(25)……………..35 points.
Gross……..Gary Walsh(Scr)..………………32 points.
Past Capt….Billy Murphy((21).……………34 points.
1st Nine……Noel O’ Halloran(14)..…………19 points.
2nd Nine……John E. Hegarty(12).…………..19 points.
Par 3’s……..Finbar O’ Neill(15).……………10 points.
Par 5’s……..Shay Quinn(14) ….…………….13 points.
Visitors…….Ben Halpenny(17).…………….35 points.

Ladies Section:

Winner:…….Rebecca Nixon(18)…………….34 points.
Second:…….Geraldine Higgins(36)………….35 points.
Third:………Nora Deane(13)………………..32 points.
Gross:………Fiona Corbett(6)………………..24 points.
Past Capt…..Brona Reidy(13).……………….31 points.
1st Nine…….Ann Daly(34).…………………..18 points.
2nd Nine……..Paula Moore(35)……………….19 points.
Par 5’s……….Helen Comerford(22)…………..11 points.
Par 3’s..……..Joan McHugh(36)……………….12 points.

Fixtures Diary:

This Wednesday is a Member/Guest day with a three person rumble scheduled to take place and next Sunday the July Monthly Medal which carries Golfer of the Year points will be played.