Mount Juliet Golf Notes

“Holes in One” were the main itemof discussion in the past week with two members achieving the rare distinction of holing out their tee shots. Finbar O’ Neill had his first ever ace by holing out on the 14^th last Sunday with a five iron. As the feat was performed during the Member/Guest day he will be duly rewarded for his fine achievement. The previous week James J. Brett also had an ace on the 11^th hole with a nine iron. James put his achievement down to a “perfectly hit shot”

In the Member/Guest Fourball competition last Sunday the winning pair of Sean O’ Neill and Liam Duggan scored 47 points to win by two shots from another man in form, John O’ Dwyer and his wife Margaret. In third place came Bill Connolly and Billy Fanning with 43 points. The winners turned with 22 points and added a further 25 points on their back nine with birdies on the 12^th and 17^th holes. They both dropped a shot to par on the 15^th but this was the only blemish in a very consistent round of golf by the pair.

Last week saw a further round of the Winter Series and a small entry saw Paul Madigan emerge victorious with 34 points for his 18 holes. In tricky conditions Paul was steady as ever throughout his round.

Next Sunday the Winter League for members resumes with tee times available from 9.30a.m. for intending participants.

Results member/Guest Fourball Stableford Sunday 4^th March

Winners:

Liam Duggan (12)…Callan G.C.

Sean O’ Neill (14)…47 points.

Second: 

John O’ Dwyer (5)

Margaret O’ Dwyer (34) Callan G.C…45 points.

Third:    

Bill Fanning (14)

Bill Connolly(14)…43points.

The Captain’s Prize to Ladies and Lady Captain’s Prize to Men competitions were held last Sunday. These are two of the “majors” played in the club and carry points in the Golfer of the Year competitions as well. Pride of place went to Pat Doyle and Helen Shields in their respective competitions as they proved to be the best in their class. Some fine scoring was recorded on a beautiful, sunny day and with a “shotgun” start conditions were the same for everybody who participated. A full turnout of players meant that prizes were keenly fought for in both sections.

The men’s prize went to Pat Doyle who kept his nearest rivals at bay by shooting 39 points which was a very commendable score with play off the white tees and the course playing every bit of its 7000 yards. Pat just held on by a shot from Tony Frew and Paul Barrett. Paul must have rued his 7 on the long 13th as a six would have given him the prize on a countback. He also had the misfortune of playing a wrong ball on the 8th which cost him a further two shots. Tony’s biggest blunder came at the 7th where he failed to register a point and has obviously retained his recent run of good form by “chipping in” on the last for a birdie three. The C.S.S. for the day remained unchanged at 35 points. The President, Des Fitzgerald, had the honour of achieving a hole in one at the 14th hole where he holed out his 3 wood.

The ladies prize was claimed by Helen Shields with 41 points but only by a whisker as Kathryn O’Connor also recorded the same score only to be beaten on a countback. Hot on both players heels came Brona Reidy with 40 points and she will surely rue dropping four shots on the 6th, 7th and 8th holes. Kathryn also had her bad luck by failing to score on the long 18th. Helen scored nines of 21 and 20 points respectively as against Kathryn’s score of 23 and 18 points.

The outcome of both competitions had no distinct bearing on the Golfer of the Year competitions as the chief contenders in both sections i.e., Stephen Price, Ruth Skehan and Amelia Drumm lost no ground to their nearest challengers.

The final of the McCalmont Cup between Michael Brennan and John O’Connor will be played this coming Friday. Next Sunday sees the continuation of the member/guest series with a 3 person rumble competition over 18 holes. The course closes next week for 3 days for the annual maintenance programme of the greens.

Results Lady Captain’s Prize to the Men

Winner – Pat Doyle (15) 39 points
Second - Tony Frew (7) 38 points
Third - Paul Barrett (10) 38 points
Fourth - John Thornton (11) 37 points
Past Captain - Tom Duggan (8) 36 points
1st Nine - David Kelly (5) 20 points
2nd Nine - Sean O’Neill (14) 21 points
Hole in One - Des Fitzgerald at the par three 14th
Long Drive - John Brennan

Results Men’s Captain’s Prize to the Ladies

Winner – Helen Shields (17) 41 points
Second - Kathryn O’Connor (34) 41 points
Third - Brona Reidy (14) 40 points
Past Captain - Brenda Fitzgerald (21) 32 points
1st Nine - Amelia Drumm (22) 18 points
2nd Nine - Anne Murphy (33) 19 points
Long Drive - Ruth Mulholland
Nearest Pin - Mary Quigley

Two competitions were played for in the last week with the running of the Family Day and the first Monthly Medal of the year decided last Sunday.

As usual the Monthly Medal is a Golfer of the Year competition and it really heralds the commencement of the golf season. The four winners were Stephen Price, Noel Murphy, Gerard Magee and Mary Quigley and as a result of this competition both Stephen Price and Mary Quigley are the early leaders in the Golfer of the Year competition. Stephen is looking for a unique double as he was Golfer of the Year in 2007. Mary, only new to the game, showed enormous promise last year when her handicap came tumbling down from 36 to 31.

Stephen Price and Gerard Magee had fine rounds of golf on a testing day to record 37 and 36 points respectively and after the recent inclement weather the course, off the white tees, was playing every bit of its almost 7000 yards in length.

The Family Day proved to be a success for Padraic O’Connor as it was during his Captaincy that the competition was first introduced. Padraic partnered his son Hugh to record 38 points to win this year’s competition from the present Captain Peter Quigley and his brother John by virtue of a better back nine holes. The format of the competition, as usual, was a fourball betterball stableford and the winning pair scored 18 points on the first nine holes and rounded off the scoring with 20 points on the back nine. This was enough to beat the Quigley brothers who had a first nine holes score of 21 points but failed to record any points on both the 12th and 18th holes for a back nine holes total of 17 points and this was to prove their downfall.

On the Inter Club scene the only team in action was the Ladies Junior Foursomes Team who played their second round (second leg) against Woodlands Golf Club. After holding a commanding lead in the first leg they consolidated their lead by winning comfortably. They secured their victory by winning the first match out by a margin of 3 and 2. The winning pair of Rita Garvey and Mary Fulton thereby ended any hope that the opposition had of a comeback. They now progress to the 3rd round of this competition and at the time of going to press the opposition is not yet known.
The Leinster Fourball Team will play Mountain View as the latter have defeated St. Helens in the first round and the Barton Cup team will soon be in action against Waterford.

The final round of the Waterford Crystal sponsored Winter Series takes place this week and will be reported on in next week’s edition of this paper.

In two weeks time the first of the new Summer Series commences. This will be held once a month and the format is a 4 person team event with a shotgun start at 2pm each day of the competition. The competition fee will be the same as the Winter Series.

Congratulations to Darcey Carr who had her first “hole in one” on the par three 3rd hole last week. Darcey is the daughter of John and Sandra and granddaughter of the famous J.B. For a young lady of only 13 years of age she is following in the family footsteps and as a matter of interest she holed out with an 8 iron.

Results – March Monthly Medal
Category 1 – Stephen Price (10), 37 points
Category 2 – Noel Murphy (18), 34 points
Category 3 – Gerard Magee (20), 36 points
Ladies – Mary Quigley (31), 32 points (last nine)

Results Family Day
Winners Padraic (18) and Hugh O’Connor (14) 38 points
Runners-Up Peter (7) and John Quigley (9) 38 points