To herald the arrival of Spring the final rounds of both the Open Winter Series and the Members Winter League concluded last week. The popular Winter Series for teams of four concluded with an 18 holes singles stableford for all the players who qualified over the past few months and this was played last Wednesday in testing conditions off the white tees. The impressive winner was former Limerick hurler, Liam O’ Donoghue, who left the remainder of the field in his wake by returning a very impressive 40 points. Liam had nines of 20 points respectively and would have been an evewn easier winner but for failing to score on the long 18th. Liam was chased home by another clubman, Tom McDarby, some four shots behind on 36 points. In third place came another Munster man, John Nevin, from Thurles G.C. Liam picked up a nice prize of a stay in Mount Juliet House which includes dinner, spa treatment and golf for two people. This concluded the popular series for 2011/12 and will be followed soon by the Summer Series for teams of four.
The other competition which was confined to members and which was concluded last Sunday was the final round of the Winter League. The last round of the competition on Sunday was won by Ted Hoyne with a fine score of 40 points. In second place on 38 points came this year’s captain, Alan Hoyne, who was three shots clear of third placed, Tim Kavanagh, on 35 points. The league proved to be a repeat win for last year’s winner and long time leader Alan Hearn. Alan won the overall from Frank Kelly with this year’s captain Alan Hoyne in third place.
Next Sunday sees the McCalmont Cup match play get underway with the running of the April Monthly Medal and 48 qualifiers will emerge from next Sunday to do battle over the next few months for the trophies. This year the format will be slightly changed as there will be two competitions in the match play event. Thirty two men will qualify for the match play stages and there will be a separate competition for sixteen ladies who also qualify on scores returned. In previous years the ladies and men did battle for the same trophy but because of the keen interest shown, the Committee decided to run a separate competition simultaneously for each category and both of them will carry Golfer of the Year points. This is the second round of the monthly medal competitions and this medal will also carry G. O.Y. points for both the ladies and men. The early leaders in the G.O.Y. are Kevin McCartan and Imelda Drumm.
Results Winter Series Final Wednesday 4th April
Winner: Liam O’ Donoghue (19) Limerick G. C.……….. 40 points.
Second: Tom McDarby (18) Limerick G.C……………… 36 points.
Third: John Nevin (14) Thurles G.C………………………. 35 points.