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 final stages of the McCalmont match play in the men’s section is at hand and the finalists are now known. In the semi-finals Mark Delahunty beat Billy Fanning and Frank Smyth beat John O’ Dwyer and the final will be played in the coming weeks before the President’s Prize Day.

The ladies final has been completed and after Brenda O’ Sullivan got the better of Helen Hedigan with Rebecca Nixon edging out Bernie Madigan all was set for an interesting match between two very much in-form players. Rebecca had to concede 16 shots to Brenda and this proved to be too much of a task as Brenda got home on the last green to seal a great win. Rebecca had the upper hand early in the match and turned two up after nine holes but relaxed her grip on the 11th and 12th and the match was all square after 16 holes. Brenda snatched the initiative on the long 17th and went one up and held her advantage on the 18th to capture the trophy.

After round 8 of the Summer League the table is headed by Ted Hoyne on 28 points. He is followed by Alan Hoyne on 23 points with Hugh O’ Connor and Paul Madigan on 22 and 21 points respectively.

On this Wednesday the September Ladies Invitation Day takes place and on Saturday 15th September the President’s(Des Fitzgerald) Prize takes place with Golfer of the Year points at stake. The last competition in the G.O.Y. is the September Medal on Sunday 23rd. The President’s Prize competition will be a timesheet and not a “shotgun” start and tee times can be booked on-line or by contacting the golf shop.