Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The Ladies Invitation Day for June took place last Wednesday and with the weatherman smiling kindly on all participants, a good day was had by all competitors. Scoring was very close with only a shot separating the three prizewinning partnerships. The format was a fourball betterball stableford with the winners returning a score of 38 points. Sandra Carr and her partner Pauline Ann Murray just got the better of the pairing of Lady Captain, Sally Gleeson, and her partner Jeanie Ronan who in turn beat Brenda O’Sullivan and her partner Pauline McEnery on a countback.

In the McCalmont Cup Matchplay, the competition has reached the quarter-final stage. Match pairings are as follows; Kathyrn O’Connor v Paul Barrett, Michael Brennan v Pat Price Jr., Helen Scully v John O’ Connor, Chris McHugh v Ruth Skehan with all four matches to be played by the 30th June.

Next Sunday sees the J. B. Carr Trophy down for decision with sections for both the ladies and men with Golfer of the Year points on offer to both sections. Preparations are in full flow for the Captains Prizes which will take place on Saturday 26th June. A limited number of tee times will be available on the Friday evening prior to the event for Juniors and to accommodate members who cannot play on the Saturday.

Results June Ladies Invitation Day

The next round in the popular Summer Series for teams of four competitors takes place on Wednesday 16th June and reservations can be made by phoning the golf shop or golf reservations at 056/7773071 or 7773064.

Mount Juliet have introduced a new Summer offer to players who wish to visit “a little bit of heaven“ for a day of recreation.

For €90 (Sunday-Thursday) and €100 (Friday and Saturday), interested golfers can avail of:

- a basket of range golf balls
- a round on the unique 18 hole putting course designed by Jeff Howes
- a snack on the 10th tee
- 18 holes of golf on the Jack Nicklaus designed championship golf course

Over the weekend two competitions were decided. On the inter club scene the Irish Mixed Foursomes team were pitted against Bunclody but unfortunately for Mount Juliet the Wexford side were comprehensive winners. The two matches at Mount Juliet were lost and once one victory was secured at Bunclody the remaining two matches were called in.

The monthly medal for April was played on Sunday last with the top sixteen players, regardless of gender, qualifying for the McCalmont Cup match play. In the medal competition some fine scoring was recorded in all categories. The lower category was won by Stephen Price with a fine score of 37 points and he had two shots to spare over his nearest rival in this category. The middle category was a closer affair with David Gleeson just getting home on a countback from Gerry Kinsella, both competitors scoring 38 points. The higher category was a triumph for David’s brother, Tim, who had an easy victory scoring another 38 points. In the ladies’ section Amelia Drumm triumphed with a great score of 40 points and she just secured her win by a shot from Ruth Skehan.

The draw for the match play took place immediately afterwards and there was a good divide of men and ladies in the draw with six ladies getting through to the first round as against ten men. Some interesting matches make up the first round which has to be completed by 31st May and the draw can be seen on the notice boards in the two locker rooms. The cut off score for the match play was 33 points with two scores of 32 points just getting the last two places.

After two rounds of the Golfer of the Year competition the leaders are:

Next Sunday sees the April Monthly Medal down for decision and the top 16 players will qualify for the McCalmont Cup Matchplay. This competition is unique to the club as the ladies and men are eligible to compete against each other in the match play rounds. There will also be points available for Golfer of the Year in both the ladies and men’s sections of the medal as well as the winner and runner-up of the match play.

Last weekend saw two more teams in action in the inter club competitions. The first team in action was the Barton Cup team and they were pitted against Kilkenny. Unfortunately for Mount Juliet, Kilkenny had a convincing victory winning by an overall margin of 4 ½ to ½. Kilkenny won all three matches at home and then proceeded to win another at Mount Juliet with the final match halved on the 18th. Two of the matches at Kilkenny went to the 17th with the other match finishing at the 16th.

The ladies team played Waterford Castle at Callan in the Challenge Cup and I am pleased to report that Mount Juliet had a convincing victory by winning the first three matches and the other two matches were called in. The first three winners were Anne Daly, Anne Murphy and Ruth Skehan with Wendy Beirne and Mary Cotter called in as the overall result could not be altered. Because of new conditions laid out by the I.L.G.U., all matches must now be played at neutral venues hence the match having to be played at Callan Golf Club. This was a nice start to the ladies campaign and hopefully they can go a lot further in this competition as they appear to have a strong team managed by Myra Phelan. In the next round they play Bunclody at Rathsallagh Golf Club.

The club took part in the annual outing for the Irish Association of Golf Club Secretary’s Trophy at Ballybunion last Monday. The team comprises of the Captain, Greenkeeper, Professional and Secretary and this year were represented by Jim Cusack, Robbie Anderson, Sean Cotter and Sean O’Neill. The team finished a creditable fourth out of a total of over twenty teams representing clubs from all over Ireland.