Mount Juliet Golf Notes

Doom and gloom on the Inter Club front in the past week with the elimination of the Ladies Junior Foursomes team by Moate and the demise of the Duggan Cup men’s team at the hands of neighbours Callan.

The Ladies Junior Foursomes team just failed in the second leg of their match against Moate ladies again on a 2/1 result. Hopes were high after the first leg but unfortunately Moate just proved too strong and so the last representatives left standing in any competition is the Ladies Challenge Cup team who meet Killerig next week in the quarter final.

The Duggan Cup team lost by a 3/2 margin winning one match at Callan but unfortunately losing the vital match of two played at Mount Juliet on the 18^th green. So our hopes lie with Helen Comerford’s charges to bring back a trophy in 2008.

Last week saw the June Ladies Invitation Day take place and the format was a 3 person team event. Unfortunately the weather proved to be a spoilsport with incessant rain falling for most of the day. However as the day improved towards late evening an enjoyable event was concluded with some good scores returned despite the conditions. Mary Fulton’s Team just pipped Rebecca Nixon’s team on a countback with Laura Mahony’s team bringing up third place.

Results:

Winners

Mary Fulton (18)

Viv Johnston (10)

(Castle Golf Club)

Sylvia Henning (19)

(Warrenpoint Golf Club) 77 points

Second

Rebecca Nixon (18)

Margaret Geoghegan (18)

(Borris Golf Club)

Mary Morrissey (25)

(Borris Golf Club) 77 points

Third

Laura Mahony (18)

Helen Close (10)

(Luttrellstown Golf Club)

Ciara Smith (23)

(Malahide Golf Club) 73 points

The J. B. Carr Memorial Trophy was decided last Sunday and again some very good scores were recorded on a very warm sultry Summer’s day. The best score of the day was recorded by Ruth Mulholland with 39 points and she beat Pat Price Jr. on a countback to decide who is the holder of the trophy for 2008. Ruth had nines of 19 and 20 points against Pat’s 21 and 18 points. Great scoring indeed for both players in the difficult and warm conditions.

In the ladies section Rebecca Nixon was second with 38 points and Sheila Williams recorded 37 points for third place. Runner-up in the men’s section was Paul Barrett with 37 points and Gavin Pierce was third with 36 points. The nines were won by John Thompson and Michael Doyle.

Results:

Ladies:

Winner Ruth Mulholland (13) 39 points.

Second Rebecca Nixon (18) 38 points

Third Sheila Williams (28) 37 points

Men

Winner Pat Price Jr. (14) 39 points

Second Paul Barrett (10) 37 points

Third Gavin Pierce (4) 36 points

1^st Nine John Thompson (14) 20 points

2^nd Nine Michael Doyle (16) 19 points

After the results on the week-end the Golfer of the Year competitions have not altered significantly with Mary Quigley and Stephen Price still maintaining their overall leads in their respective sections.

The Captains’ Prizes take place on 27^th and 28^th of this month with the timesheet opening at noon next Monday.

The Jack Nicklaus Trophy was played for last weekend and some good scoring was recorded in blustery conditions. The overall winner on a countback was Sarah Newman who had 39 points and just pipped Lynda Hickey by virtue of a better back nine holes. The winner of the men’s section was Hugh O’ Connor with 38 points but in this unique competition the player with the best score of the day is deemed to be the holder of the trophy for the coming year.

Sarah had nines of 17 and 22 points respectively and just beat Lynda’s score of 39 points by virtue of the fact that she had 22 points against 21 points for Lynda on the last nine holes. Both players carded a blank during their rounds, whereas Sarah had hers on the 6th – Lynda had her blank on the 15th and this in turn possibly cost her the overall prize.

Young Hugh O’ Connor also scored a very commendable score, especially after the start he had, which yielded no score for the first two holes. But he more than made up for that by returning all his 38 points for the remaining 16 holes. Hugh just beat Pat Doyle who had 37 points and he in turn failed to score on the par three 14th. This should prove a boost to Pat as he recovers from heart surgery last year and is showing a great return to form. In third place came Sally Gleeson for the ladies and David Kelly for the men both of whom scored 36 points.

In the Golfer of the Year competitions Stephen Price leads from Pat Doyle by only 5 points now and Mary Quigley still maintains a lead on Lynda Hickey in the ladies section.

Congratulations go the Ladies Challenge Cup team who have now reached the quarter final stage by disposing of Tramore last Saturday in convincing fashion. The overall result was a 4/1 win, with victory secured in the three matches played at Mount Juliet and one match at Tramore. The winning quartet were Ursula Mason, Ann Daly, Ann Murphy and Mary Cotter with Mary Carr, making her debut at Inter Club level, losing narrowly at Tramore. Mount Juliet will now meet the winners of Carlow and Killerig in the quarter final. Best wishes also go the Ladies Junior Foursomes team who play the second leg match against Moate next Sunday and provided they win will also qualify for the quarter final in that competition also, they trail by two matches to one after the first leg.

Forthcoming fixtures include the Ladies Invitation Day for Wednesday June 4th and the J. B. Carr Trophy on Sunday 8th June

Results Jack Nicklaus Trophy:

Ladies: (C.S.S : 36)

Winner: Sarah Newman(25) …. 39 points
Second: Lynda Hickey(27) …… 39 points
Third: Sally Gleeson(12) ………. 36 points

Men: (C.S.S : 35)

Winner: Hugh O’ Connor(14) … 38 points
Second: Pat Doyle(14) …………. 37 points
Third: David Kelly(6) …………….. 36 points

First Nine: John Thompson(14) ….. 19 points
Second Nine: Michael Doyle(15) … 20 points

The Ladies Junior Foursomes lost their the second leg match against Moate 2/1.

The Monthly Summer Series for May was played last week and a team from Limerick were victorious on a breezy but warm day. Jed O’ Dwyer from The Hurler’s Cross pub led his team to a convincing victory with a very good score of 93 points. They had nines of 48 and 45 points respectively and ran out winners by 2 points from the Kilkenny based team of Liam Slevin, Niall O’Gorman, Victor Smyth and Ken Hovenden who in turn beat the Dublin team of Pamela Harrington, Susan Hegarty, Gilly Campbell and Philip Wardick on a countback.

The next competition in the series takes place on June 10^th with the format the same for all the series which is a four person team event. Each event is a “shotgun start” at 2pm which is proving to be very popular with the players.

Two more teams were in action on the Inter Club scene and unfortunate to relate that both teams suffered a defeat. In the first leg of the quarter final of the Ladies Junior Foursomes against Moate Golf Club, the Mount Juliet team acquitted themselves well by losing 2 matches to 1 with the second leg due to be played in two weeks time at Mount Juliet. Hopefully they can reverse the away result and march through to the semi-final.

In the qualifying round of the Pierce Purcell Shield held at Wexford Golf Club last Saturday the Mount Juliet Team, although acquitting themselves well, lost out when they failed to qualify for the regional playoff. Unfortunately the only men’s team left in competition now is the Duggan Cup team and they now play Callan in early June.

Pierce Purcell Team at Wexford last Saturday

Next Sunday sees the Jack Nicklaus Trophy down for decision and this is a Golfer of the Year competition and is regarded as one of the “majors” in the club to win.

All members involved are reminded that there is only a fortnight left to complete the first round of the McCalmont Cup matchplay.

Results Summer Series:

Winners:
Jed O’ Dwyer(11)
Tony Finan(17)
Mike O’ Brien(13)
Donal Hanley(18) Casteltroy G.C.……… 93 points.

Second:
Liam Slevin(12) Castelcomer G.C.
Victor Smyth(10)
Ken Hovenden(15)
Niall O’ Gorman(10) Kilkenny…………. 91 points.

Third:
Pamela Harrington(32) Boystown
Philip Wardick(10)
Susan Hegarty(32)
Gilly Campbell(14) Edmondstown………91 points.