Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The Duggan Cup team had a great win against Castlecomer last Friday when they just prevailed by the odd match of five.  Mount Juliet had the advantage of three matches at home with two matches away.  Unfortunately the away pairings of Alan Hoyne/Pat Garvey and John O’Connor/Michael Brennan came up against formidable opposition in Castlecomer and were duly put to the sword.

At Mount Juliet the team pairings comprised of John O’Dwyer/Frank Smyth, Ted Hoyne /Jon O’Sullivan and Jeff Howes/Sean O’Neill.  All three matches were in control after nine holes and the first and latter pairings went on to have comprehensive victories on the 13^th and 12^th holes respectively.  The pairing of Ted Hoyne and Jon O’Sullivan were 3 up after the 14^th hole and seemed to have victory within their grasp only for the Castlecomer pairing to stage a determined comeback over the closing holes.  However, Ted and Jon held on to finish in style on the 18^th and so the team progresses to the next round against neighbours, Callan, who won at a similar stage last year.

Last Sunday, in difficult weather conditions, the “Rumble for Crumlin” charity event was held.  The rules of the competition are the best individual score is recorded for the first six holes, then two scores are recorded on the next six holes with all three scores recorded for the last six.  The competition was won in a very convincing fashion by a team led by this year’s captain, Dermot Divilly, who returned 83 points to win by a big margin.  The winners had 17 points on the first six holes and added 31 points on holes 7 to 12 and finished the last six with a further 35 points.  The two other members of the team were Michael Brennan (12) and Dermot Fennelly (11).  This team will now go forward and represent the club at the final later in the year.

Next Sunday sees the start of the Summer League and a timesheet is in operation with entries at the golf shop.  Twenty four ladies from the club had a very enjoyable overnight golf trip led by the Lady Captain, Dorothy Kilroy, to Carton House recently.  But as usual what happens in Carton House stays in Carton House.  Dorothy reports that the “Ladies Monday Morning” competition is becoming very popular and entries are picking up each week.

Last Sunday saw the closure of all serious golf for 2010 with the last of the medal competitions decided and this competition also heralded the final round in the Golfer of the Year for both the ladies and men. In the medal competition itself, the best score of the day was returned by six handicapper, Alan Hoyne, who hit a run of form to score 40 points. This won him first prize in his category and the other categories were won by David Gleeson and Christian McManus. The ladies section was won by Ruth Skehan who beat her rival in the Golfer of the Year competition, Amelia Drumm, by one shot. Unfortunately for Ruth it was not sufficient to haul back long time leader, Amelia, in the G.O.Y. competition.

Alan scored 20 points on each nine holes and but for a blank on the tricky par four, 7th, he would have added to his total score. Against that he birdied the 2nd and 5th on his outward nine and returned a highly creditable one over par gross, 37 shots, on his homeward nine holes which included a hole out for a par on the last from the greenside bunker. David Gleeson returned 37 points to win category 2 and he did this the hard way by scoring only 15 points for his first nine holes and then came to life by scoring a further 22 points on his last nine. In category 3 Christian McManus just pipped Gerard Magee to win the medal and Gerard who turned with 22 points could only add a further 11 points on the last nine holes.

In the ladies section Ruth scored 35 points and just got home from Amelia, who looked to have the medal well within her grasp after 11 holes when she had scored 24 points. But incredibly she failed to score on the 12th, 13th and 14th holes where she visited bunkers. But to her credit she regained her composure and scored a further 10 points on the last four holes. Ruth, after an indifferent start, had nines of 15 and 20 points to secure her medal.

In the Golfer of the Year competitions Stephen Price won the men’s section for the third time from Michael Brennan and Alan Hearne. Michael had a great chance of winning as he had scored 20 points after nine holes but ran into plenty of trouble on the last nine holes and only scored a further 12 points when 15 points would have won the trophy for him.

Amelia won the ladies trophy by virtue of her amazing run of wins in the March, April and May medals and this foundation was the key to her triumph. Congratulations to both winners and the trophies will be presented at the annual dinner on Saturday week. This will be followed on Sunday by a competition between the Captain’s Team and the Lady Captain’s Team

Results September Monthly Medal

Tipperary to the fore again!

The last of the “majors” was played for on Saturday and it foretold pending doom for Kilkenny with the winning of the President’s (Des Fitzgerald) Prize by Tipperary member, Tadhg Gleeson, and he did it as convincing as the hurlers did. Tadhg, who was Captain of Mount Juliet in 2005 and had never won a competition in his long association with the club, like the hurlers certainly came good on the day that mattered. He spreadeagled the large entry of competitors with a stunning round of 45 points off the white markers to win easing up.

The President’s Prize for the ladies was played in conjunction with the men’s prize and this proved to be a family affair with Des’s wife, Brenda, winning the honours by the narrowest of margins from Tadhg‘s daughter Sarah. Snapping at both players heels came Nora Deane just a point behind with Tadhg’s wife, Sally, a further point behind Nora in fourth place.

Tadhg had nines of 23 and 22 points respectively on each nine holes and had a total of 11 pars with the remainder of his round comprised of 7 bogies off his handicap of 16 which has now been reduced to 13 as the S.S. for the day was 35 points. I am sure that little adjustment is the least of Tadhg’s worries after his great victory and Tipperary‘s All Ireland. In second place came Paul Barrett who is certainly playing very consistent golf at the moment which he indicated by almost winning the last competition played.

Brenda played very good golf as well and but for failing to score on the short par three 11th, she would have reached the 40 point mark. This was her only hole not to register a point at, which was an indication of her consistency. Congratulations to both Tadhg and Brenda on their achievements and Brenda still has a chance of the double if she wins the Lady President’s Prize in October.

As a result of the weekend results, the Golfer of the Year competitions in both categories has tightened up considerably with only the September medal to decide the outcome. At the top of the men’s competition, Stephen Price and Michael Brennan are locked together on 36 points and they are just in front of Alan Hearne who has 35 points.

In the ladies section, Amelia Drumm is 5 points clear of Ruth Skehan but both can improve their total by featuring in the September Medal next Sunday and a top three finish by either player could decide the winner.

Last Wednesday the Ladies Invitation for September took place and this was a fourball betterball competition with the usual good entry. The winners of this competition were Myra Phelan and her visitor from Milltown, Helen Cosgrove, who had 40 points. They just beat the mother and daughter combination of Sandra and Darcey Carr, also Milltown, by a point. The Kilkenny and Borris visitors came up trumps in the nines.

Forthcoming fixtures include the September Medal next Sunday and the last of the Summer Series, which as usual is a team of four event, takes place next Wednesday 15th September. The Winter Series is scheduled to commence on the 20th October. Bookings for any of these competitions may be made by phoning 056 7773071 or 7773064.

President’s (Des Fitzgerald) Prize, Saturday 4th
September 2010

Ladies Invitation Day, Wednesday 1st September 2010

Next Sunday the September Medal is down for decision