Mount Juliet Golf Notes

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

The Winter Series was played last week and this resulted in a win for three friends from Laois and Kilkenny who returned a winning score of 78 points. The format was a three person rumble over 18 holes and the winners had a comfortable victory over the opposition. The next round of the series takes place on Wednesday 7th December and tee reservations for this competition can be made by telephoning 056 7773071.

Last Sunday saw the Member/Guest competition over 16 holes for hampers. The format was a fourball stableford and the winners scored an impressive 40 points. They were two shots clear of their nearest rivals who scored 38 points each. Conditions were good for scoring with no rain but the course played long after the heavy rainfall on Friday. The winners, Gerard Magee and his guest, Paul Lawlor, scored 23 points for the first nine holes and added a further 17 points on the last seven holes. The runners-up also scored 23 points on their first nine holes but could only manage a further 15 points on their homeward journey. This was sufficient to beat the third pairing on a countback.

Results Winter Series

Winners

Shay Quinn (14) (The Heritage)

James Farrell (7) (Kilkenny)

Lar Ryan (8) (Rathdowney) 78 points

Member/Guest Fourball Stableford

Winners
Gerard Magee (18)
Paul Lawlor (8) 40 points

Second
Sean O’Neill (14)
Liam Duggan (12) 38 points

Third
Alan Hearn (9)
Maurice Neligan (11) 38 points

The Summer Series played last week proved to be a triumph for four golfers from Newbridge Golf Club as they swept to victory in a very decisive manner returning a fine score of 97 points.  They had seven points to spare from their nearest rival competitors who all hailed from Tipperary.  The Newbridge team were consistent throughout their round with nines of 48 and 49 points respectively.  The next and final round in the series will take place on Wednesday 21st September and already the timesheet for this is filling up at this point, almost four weeks out.

Last Sunday, a Member/Guest competition took place and this was won in emphatic style by Pat Doyle and his guests from the Ring of Kerry Golf Club who obviously thought it unnecessary to cheer on their football team in Croke Park.  This competition proved to be a landmark for Pat as well as he scored three birdies on three of the four par 3’s.  Pat registered birdies on the 3rd, 6th and 11th holes as part of his team’s winning score of 86 points.  The format of the competition was a three person rumble and Pat’s team scored 20 points, 32 points and 34 points for each six holes. With a fine entry of 30 teams in the competition Pat’s team had 3 points to spare from his nearest rival teams led by Sean O‘Neill and Jim Cusack.

The final stages of the McCalmont Cup are drawing to a conclusion with Amelia Drumm waiting to play the winners of the match between Ruth Mulholland and Jeff Howes.  This competition could yet end up as an all ladies affair for the first time in its history.  Amelia is having such a good year as she is almost assured of the Golfer of the Year title as well as possible victory in the cup.  The men’s competition in the Golfer of the Year is still up for grabs but it looks now like a straight fight between Alan Hearne and John Keane with Alan holding the upper hand with only two ranking competitions to go.

The President’s (Des Fitzgerald) Prize takes place on Saturday 10th September with a shot-gun start at 12 noon and the timesheet for this “major” opens on Monday 29th August.  Presentation of prizes will take place after play and this will be followed by dinner in Kendals Restaurant.