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

There was no joy for the last two men’s teams standing in the Inter Club activity held at various venues last weekend with the elimination of the Junior Cup team and also the Pierce Purcell team. Both teams acquitted themselves well before succumbing to their opponents. The Junior Cup team failed to qualify for the match play stages at Arklow G. C. on Saturday but the Pierce Purcell team excelled by qualifying for the match play stages for the first time. They finished third in the stroke play qualifying round on Saturday which was held at St. Helens Bay G. C. and unfortunately for Mount Juliet they exited to the eventual winners, Wexford G. C., in the semi-final on Sunday morning but only after a titanic struggle by a score of 3/2 with the last match going the full distance. The team and panel deserve enormous credit for their fine showing and none more so than manager, Pat Doyle, who unflinchingly gave a great deal of time and planning in trying to win that elusive pennant. The team on Saturday consisted of Brian Blanchfield & David Wyer, Pat Garvey & Chris McHugh, Jim Cusack & Terry O’ Reilly, John Kennedy & Shay Quinn and Frank Smyth & Norman Williams with John O’ Connor replacing Shay Quinn on Sunday morning for the match play.
Last Sunday saw a Member/Guest Fourball Stableford competition played at Mount Juliet and this proved to be some compensation for Niall Magee who was an unlucky loser in the medal competition the previous week. Niall and his partner Ronan Kelly returned a winning score of 45 points to edge out the mother and daughter combination of Sandra and Darcey Carr by two points. The winners had nines of 24 and 21 points respectively against the runners-up score of 43 points made up of nines of 23 and 20 points.
This Friday sees the Charity Team Day for the Special Olympics down for decision with a full timesheet and on Sunday the Jack Nicklaus Trophy will be played for with the added bonus of G. O. Y. points on offer. This competition is one of the principal competitions of the Mount Juliet year and honours the great man himself who designed the course.

Results Member/Guest Fourball Stableford Sunday 20th May

Winners
Niall Magee (10)
Ronan Kelly (8) Ashbourne G.C. ………….45 points.

Runners-Up
Sandra Carr (17)
Darcey Carr (6) Milltown G.C………………43 points.