Mount Juliet Golf Notes

Definitely things are beginning to look up weather wise as we had another two competitions in the last week. This makes a total of four in the past month which is four more than we had in the previous eight weeks.
The Member/Guest competition was a 3 person rumble and on a very cold, wet day it was a case of the survival of the fittest. The fittest on the day were Kevin McCartan’s team who returned a good score of 75 points. They just pipped the team led by last year’s Lady Captain, Rita Garvey, by a point. Kevin’s team had nines of 32 and 43 points respectively whilst Rita’s team scored 29 and 45 points.
The penultimate round of the Marble City Travel sponsored Winter Series was played last week as well and this resulted in a win for three members of Muskerry Golf Club. The team, all low handicappers, had a very commendable score of 75 points and as usual play was off the white tees for the men and red tees for the ladies.
They just pipped a team of fellow Corkonians from Harbour Point. The winners had sixes of 14 points, 26 points and finally 35 points. The winning formula was that each of the three players scored on the last six holes whereas their rivals all had glitches on these holes. The trio now join the other qualifiers for the Grand Final on 31st March. Only one round of the series remains and this is scheduled for Tuesday 24th March and 24 players will then line out on 31st March to see who is champion for 2008/2009.

Results Member/Guest 3 Person Rumble

Winners:
Kevin McCartan (18)
Philip Dunne (14) Athlone G.C.
T.J.McIntyre (16) Gowran Park ….. 75 points.

Second:
Rita Garvey (25)
Ann Gavagan (15) Glen of the Downs
Kate Cloonan (17) Lahinch G.C …. 74 points.

Results Winter Series 3 Person Rumble

Winners:
Liam Harte (4) Muskerry G.C.
David Lane (4) Muskerry G.C.
Ben Harte (7) Muskerry G.C ….. 75 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.

The last of the “majors” for the ladies was played for last week with the running of the Lady President’s(Mrs. Mary Jones) Prize. There was an excellent entry and the recent “Indian Summer” conditions prevailed on the day. The good weather had the desired effect on the scoring and Sarah Newman came out on top with a great score of 40 points. Sarah really powered home on the back nine holes scoring 22 points to add to her first nine holes score of 18 points. In second place, and not for the first time this year, came the Lady Captain, Brona Reidy, with a score of 39 points.

This was Sarah’s first “major” and she was thrilled to make the breakthrough. Only four points separated the first six players and all had tales of “what could have been” but did not happen. In the evening the ladies sat down to a dinner in Mount Juliet House and social get together.

Last week also saw the last of the Ladies Invitation days for 2007. The format was a 4 person team event and this time the Lady Captain, Brona, got it right by leading her team to a convincing victory. The team returned a score of 76 points to win by 2 points from their nearest rivals. The winning team consisted of Brona Reidy, Cumain Curran, Karen O’ Donoghue and Michelle O’ Dwyer. The runners up were led by the Captain’s wife Norma Sullivan and her other team members were Maire Shee, Mary Morris and Mairead Morris. The runners up just pipped the team which consisted of Betty Hendrick, Lynda Hickey, Margaret Logue and Ursula Mason on the last nine holes.

On Sunday last the final 18 holes Member/Guest Day for 2007 also took place. The format was an 18 holes singles stableford and there was another fine entry of competitors. The winner of the men’s section was Joe Hyland with a score of 38 points and he just got home from three players all of whom had 37 points. In the ladies Mary O’ Neill took the honours with a score of 37 points and her nearest rival was two shots adrift. Again the present run of fine weather prevailed for the day after a foggy start to the morning.

This week sees the commencement of the popular Waterford Crystal sponsored Winter Series and there will be one further round on the 25th October before “Summer Time” ends. The competition on the 25th will be a 3 Person Rumble and tee times can be booked by phoning 7773071 or 7773064

Results: Lady President’s Prize:

Winner: Sarah Newman(28) 40 points.
Second: Brona Reidy(16) 39 points.
Third: Malu Treacy(31) 38 points.
Fourth: Mary O’ Neill(34) 37 points.
1st Nine: Norma Sullivan(30) 18 points.
2nd Nine: Helen Comerford(20) 18 points.
Par 3’s: Margaret Twomey(36) 10 points.
Par 5’s: Rita Garvey(24) 13 points.

Member/Guest 18 Holes Singles Stableford.

Men

Winners – Joe Hyland (10) – 38 points
Second – Tom Mulcahy (14) – 37 points (last 9)
Third – Andrew Nixon (15) – 37 points (last 9)
Fourth – Tommy Butler (20) – 37 points
C.S.S. 37 points

Ladies

Winner – Mary O’Neill (34) – 37 points
Second – Terry Egan (16) – 35 points
C.S.S. 36 points