Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The weather had a say over the past week with the Ladies Invitation Day last Wednesday suffering the most. Torrential rain reduced the competition to nine holes and some of the participants having to be called in.

Thankfully the July Monthly Medal on Sunday did not suffer the same outcome with the rain, although threatening, staying away for the day. Scoring was reflected in the kind weather with some excellent returns in all categories. Pride of place goes to Michael Collins, who after winning the Captain’s Prize only two weeks before, kept his good form with another winning effort by outscoring his opponents in Category 1 with a fine 41 points. Michael had scores of 22 and 19 points respectively for each nine holes. After having a double bogey six on the 2nd hole he proceeded to cover the following seven holes in level par. He continued his good form on the back nine holes but unfortunately bogied the last three holes in his round to return a back nine of 19 points.

In Category 2 the winning score came from Christian MacManus with 37 points who had nines of 18 and 19 points to win his first medal. Ronan Murphy had a welcome return to form with 37 points in Category 3 and he also had similar nines as Christian.

The ladies section was won by Paula Moore with a great score of 40 points. Paula has been knocking on the winners door for some time and her big day came on Sunday scoring 20 points on each nine holes.

As both competitions counted towards Golfer of the Year no real change came in the leader boards for both the ladies or the men. Alan Hearne still holds a commanding lead over Kevin MacCartan with Michael Collins now slipping into third place on the back of his recent form.

Amelia Drumm still leads the ladies section with 51 points after scoring in six competitions but Sally Gleeson and Liz Beatty can overtake her as they have 41 and 36 points respectively after only four competitions. The winner is decided by the best scores in six competitions so all three players can still improve on their totals in the next two months.

The McCalmont Cup Matchplay has now reached the semi-finals stage with Alan Hearne facing Amelia Drumm in the top half and Jeff Howes pitted against Ruth Mulholland in the bottom half. Alan beat Michael Brennan in his quarter-final, with Amelia coming out on top against Sandra Carr. Jeff overcame Paul Barrett in his match and Ruth got the better of Kevin McCartan in her match.

Results July Monthly Medal

The latest round of the popular Summer Series Team Event proved to be a successful one for the golfer from Munster with the prizes won by golfers from Limerick and Clare. The team from Limerick came out on top by a point from the men from Clare. They scored an impressive 97 points and took home the spoils. The next round of the series continues on Thursday 14th July and the timesheet is now open.

Next Sunday sees the July Medal down for decision and this is a Golfer of the Year competition. The Ladies Invitation Day for July takes place today. Players are reminded to complete the quarter-final stage of the McCalmont Cup Matchplay as soon as possible.

Results Summer Series – 4 Person Team Event

Winners

Tom Irwin (19) Charleville G.C.
James Quinn (17) Charleville G.C.
John Hayes (17) Charleville G.C.
Ian Irwin (5) Castletroy G.C. 97 points

Runners-Up

Robert Dormer (8) Woodstock G.C.
Jason Dormer (10)
Martin Dormer (18)
P.J. O’Neill (12) 96 points

Tony Sparkles in Monthly Medal

The July Monthly Medal was played for last Sunday and competitors were lucky with the weather, as almost an inch of rain had fallen in the previous 24 hours, but Sunday remained nice and dry for a good turnout of golfers.

Best score of the day was recorded by Tony Frew who scored a very impressive 44 points which equated to a round of level par off his handicap of 8. Tony had nines of 22 points on each nine holes with bogies on the 7th and 14th holes, but he countered these dropped shots with birdies on the 2nd and 10th holes. He had no other dropped shots but completed his round with 14 pars for a very fine score indeed. Tony easily won his category and was an impressive six shots clear of his nearest rival.

In category 2, Alan Hearne just beat the present Captain, Jim Cusack, on a countback to claim the spoils with another fine round of 40 points. Alan had a rather sluggish start to his round by only recording 11 points for his first seven holes which included two double bogies and four bogies, but he really came to life from thereon as he scored 29 points for the last eleven holes and only dropping two shots to par on the 14th and 18th holes.

Category 3 was won by Paul Carty, who is having a very successful year on the golf course. Paul recorded 32 points for his round.

The ladies division also had a decisive winner in Margaret Clandillon who had three shots to spare from her nearest rivals. Margaret scored a fine 38 points with nines of 20 and 18 points respectively and had only one blip in her round, on the 16th where she failed to register a point. Margaret had three shots to spare from Paula Moore and Lady Captain, Sally Gleeson.

In the Golfer of the Year competitions, Stephen Price leads Alan Hearne with Andrew Nixon holding third place. Ruth Skehan holds sway over Amelia Drumm by four points. Ruth has scored in six competitions whereas Amelia holds a slight advantage by only scoring in five competitions, and can overtake her rival over the next few weeks. The C.S.S. for the men was 36 points and for the ladies was 37 points.

Last week also saw the running of the July Ladies Invitation competition and this proved to be a triumph for Ursula Mason who returned the winning score. The competition for July was an 18 holes singles stableford and Ursula hit top form by scoring 39 points and won by a shot from Brenda O’Sullivan with Sheila MacDonald a shot further behind. Ursula had nines of 21 and 18 points respectively and after a shaky start to her second nine holes, where she only scored two points in total on the 10th and 11th holes, she settled down again to record an impressive win. Brenda had a very indifferent start to her round by scoring 16 points on the first nine holes but came to life on the second nine by scoring a further 22 points.

The popular Summer Series continued last Thursday and the July competition proved to be a triumph for a team led by two New Ross members who returned the winning score of 90 points. They just held on by a shot from a team led by Stephen Price and three friends based in Dublin clubs. The next round in this series will continue in August with a similar four person team event.

The Friday evening competition, which is a social occasion for members and their guests, continues over the next few months and the next competition in the Member/Guest series will be on Sunday 25th July and this will be a Mixed Scotch Foursomes over 18 holes.

RESULTS

Ladies Invitation Day, 7th July 2010

Winner Ursula Mason (30) 39 points

Second Brenda O’Sullivan (33) 38 points

Third Sheila MacDonald (30) 37 points

First Nine Ruth Skehan (27) 19 points

Second Nine Helen Comerford (20) 21 points

Summer Series, 8th July 2010

Winners

Richard Murphy (14) (New Ross)

P.J. O’Connor (7) (New Ross)

James Nelson (20) (Corrstown)

Michael Murphy (14) (San Jose) 90 points

Runners Up

Stephen Price (7) (Mount Juliet)

Darren Kelly (18) (Malahide)

Ciaran Maher (20) (Balcarrick)

Brendan Feeney (7) (Balcarrick) 89 points

July Monthly Medal, 11th July 2010

Category 1 Tony Frew (8) 44 points

Category 2 Alan Hearn (15) 40 points

Category 3 Paul Carty (19) 32 points

Ladies Margaret Clandillon (26) 38 points