Mount Juliet Golf Notes

With the continuing good weather favouring all golfing activities, last weekend saw a full programme enacted on Saturday and Sunday.  Norman Kilroy had his panel of charges for participation in the Duggan Cup out in preparation for the coming season.  There was a challenge match arranged between two teams of five pairs and this proved to be very informative with some pairings showing excellent early season form.  How very different the weather made, compared to 2011, when hardly any golf took place until late February.  Norman was pleased with his trials and has now laid a marker for other team managers to start work on their panels.

On the competition front, a Member/Guest Fourball Stableford took place on Sunday with a good entry including some new members featuring.  The scoring was excellent with all prize winning scores exceeding the 40 points target off 3/4 handicap allowance.  The winning pair of Denis Treacy and Dean Smithwick scored 45 points which included a bonus point on the 1st hole.  They had nines of 22 and 23 points and just edged out the Callan pairing of Sean Brett and John Dwyer.

Denis and Dean finished their last nine holes in style with Denis scoring four points for his birdie on the long 13th and Dean finishing with two fours on the 17th and 18th for a further six points.   The Callan pairing also came with a run on the last nine holes as well with a further 23 points which included four birdies, three from Sean Brett and one from John O’Dwyer.  They only just failed by a shot to overhaul the winners.  In third place came the father and son pairing of Tony and Michael Collins with a score of 42 points.

The popular Winter League for members resumes next Sunday with tee times from 10am onwards.

Results: Member/Guest Fourball Stableford Sunday 22nd January

Winners       Denis Treacy (10) & Dean Smithwick (12) Kilkenny             45 points

Second        Sean Brett (10) & John O’Dwyer (5) Callan                       44 points

Third            Michael Collins (11) &Tony Collins (14) Tramore                42 points

Last Sunday, the Member/Guest series resumed on a slightly chilly but predominantly dry day. There was a record turnout for the event. Scoring on overall was good with the winning team recording an easy victory. The format of the event was a 3 person (member +2 guests) rumble and the winning team consisted of Jim Cusack and his two guests Michael Healy and Dan Cronin. They returned a very good score of 81 points to win by two points from Pat Doyle and his guests, Ron Kelly and John Cardiff. They in turn had four points to spare over Padraic O’Connor’s team. Jim and his playing partners scored very consistently throughout the 18 holes and only showed some frailty on the last few holes. However they managed to hang on and emerged as convincing winners on the day.

Results

Winners:
Jim Cusack (14)
Dan Cronin (18) Slade Valley G.C.
Michael Healy (20) Bodenstown G.C. 81 points

Second:
Pat Doyle (14)
Ron Kelly (12) Newlands G.C.
John Cardiff (13) Bodenstown G.C. 79 points

Third:
Padraic O’Connor (18)
Hugh O’Connor (14) Woodbrook G.C.
David Ryan (13) Charlesland G.C. 75 points

The next Member/Guest Day takes place on Sunday 6th April and in the meantime the Family Day takes place on Easter Sunday with the Monthly Medal down for decision on Sunday 30th March.

The second last round of the Winter Series takes place on Tuesday 11th March and a full report will appear in next week’s notes. The last competition in the series before the Grand Final, takes place on Tuesday 1st April and the format will be a 3 Person Rumble. The timesheet for this competition is open and reservations can be made by phoning 056/7773071 or 7773064.