Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The President’s (Des Fitzgerald) Prize for ladies and men was played last week and the format, as usual, was 18 holes singles stableford. On a very testing day weather wise, the scoring was reflected in the conditions that players had to endure to complete their rounds with a strong blustery wind accompanied by occasional showers. The standard scratch scores of the day tumbled to their lowest with 32 points for the men’s competition and 33 points for the ladies. However both Ray Moore and Mary Fulton beat the conditions to win their respective sections of the competition. With a “shotgun” start all players had to endure similar conditions for their round.
Ray recorded a winning score of 35 points to win the men’s section and Mary returned 34 points to beat off her rival competitors in the ladies section.

Ray started his round with a double bogey six and only had 15 points after nine holes. He started his back nine with a double bogey seven for a further point but then turned on the style to record a further 19 points for his last eight holes giving him a total of 35 points. He just got home by a shot from Norman Kilroy who played very consistently to record scores of 17 points for each nine holes. Norman had the misfortune to blank the third hole and double-bogied the long 17th in an otherwise faultless round.

Mary also started her round in a slow manner and after five holes had only recorded 6 points but for the remaining 13 holes she was the model of consistency with a further 28 points. She finished with two very solid pars on the 17th and 18th, both par 5′s, for a closing six points which clinched the title for her. In second place came Amelia Drumm who after scoring three points on her opening hole proceeded to blank the 2nd, 3rd and 4th holes and finished her first nine holes with a total of 11 points. She then proceeded to register a great 22 points for her last nine holes only to come up short by a shot from catching Mary for the winner’s prize.

Last Sunday the September Monthly Medal was played for and with a blustery wind blowing, scoring again was difficult. The best score of the day was by Alan Hearne, who spreadeagled his field of fellow competitors by shooting 38 points which was five shots better than his nearest rival. The foundation of Alan’s round was his first nine holes which he covered in 38 shots, just two over par, to record 21 points. He added a further 17 points on his back nine to end up a comfortable winner of his category. James E. Brett won category 2 with 31 points and Ken MacDonald had a fine 33 points to win category 3.

The ladies section was won by Sandra Carr with 33 points who started her round with two sixes and also failed to score on the long 5th hole but she steadied the ship on the last nine holes by adding a further 18 points to her first nine holes of 15 points to emerge a worthy winner. The conditions reflected in the C.S.S. for the day with the men’s standard scratch reaching its lowest figure of 32 points and the standard scratch for the ladies becoming non-counting at 33 points.

As this was the last counting competition for the Golfer of the Year, the clear winners in each section were Alan Hearne and Amelia Drumm. Both golfers had a very successful year and their respective handicaps came tumbling down during the last few months. There will be more details of their achievements next week as Amelia plays Jeff Howes in the McCalmont Cup final this week.

Next Sunday sees the Captain’s Team play the Lady Captain’s Team in the annual challenge with a “shotgun” start at 11 o’clock and there are still vacancies on both teams for members to put their names in the hat for this fun event which will be a fourball stableford.

The popular Winter Series Team Event commences on Thursday 13th October and tee times can be booked in the usual manner by contacting reservations or the golf shop at Mount Juliet.

Results September Monthly Medal

Results President’s Prize

Ladies Section

The weather had a say over the past week with the Ladies Invitation Day last Wednesday suffering the most. Torrential rain reduced the competition to nine holes and some of the participants having to be called in.

Thankfully the July Monthly Medal on Sunday did not suffer the same outcome with the rain, although threatening, staying away for the day. Scoring was reflected in the kind weather with some excellent returns in all categories. Pride of place goes to Michael Collins, who after winning the Captain’s Prize only two weeks before, kept his good form with another winning effort by outscoring his opponents in Category 1 with a fine 41 points. Michael had scores of 22 and 19 points respectively for each nine holes. After having a double bogey six on the 2nd hole he proceeded to cover the following seven holes in level par. He continued his good form on the back nine holes but unfortunately bogied the last three holes in his round to return a back nine of 19 points.

In Category 2 the winning score came from Christian MacManus with 37 points who had nines of 18 and 19 points to win his first medal. Ronan Murphy had a welcome return to form with 37 points in Category 3 and he also had similar nines as Christian.

The ladies section was won by Paula Moore with a great score of 40 points. Paula has been knocking on the winners door for some time and her big day came on Sunday scoring 20 points on each nine holes.

As both competitions counted towards Golfer of the Year no real change came in the leader boards for both the ladies or the men. Alan Hearne still holds a commanding lead over Kevin MacCartan with Michael Collins now slipping into third place on the back of his recent form.

Amelia Drumm still leads the ladies section with 51 points after scoring in six competitions but Sally Gleeson and Liz Beatty can overtake her as they have 41 and 36 points respectively after only four competitions. The winner is decided by the best scores in six competitions so all three players can still improve on their totals in the next two months.

The McCalmont Cup Matchplay has now reached the semi-finals stage with Alan Hearne facing Amelia Drumm in the top half and Jeff Howes pitted against Ruth Mulholland in the bottom half. Alan beat Michael Brennan in his quarter-final, with Amelia coming out on top against Sandra Carr. Jeff overcame Paul Barrett in his match and Ruth got the better of Kevin McCartan in her match.

Results July Monthly Medal

The first of five medal competitions for this year were played last Sunday with the running of the March Medal. This competition proved to be a triumph for last year’s Golfer of the Year, Stephen Price, as he returned the best score of the day and duly won his category. Stephen scored a very impressive 43 points, which was one under gross off his handicap of 6. Play was as usual off the white tees and Stephen made the best of the Summer-like conditions to post the winning score.

Stephen started very impressively with a birdie on the 1st hole and followed it with another birdie on the short par three, 3rd , and dropped a shot on the par three, 6th. This was to be his only bogie in the round as he parred all other holes to make a total of 15 pars, 2 birdies and only one bogie. He had nines of 22 and 21 points respectively for his eighteen holes and as a result he leads the Golfer of the Year as this was the commencement of this year’s competition.

In category 2, Alan Hearne also returned a fine score of 41 points to win his category convincingly. Alan had a fine start to his round also with birdies at the 3rd and 4th holes and completed his first nine holes with 23 points. His fine round gradually came to a halt and he returned a steady 18 points on the back nine holes.

Category 3 was won by Padraic O’Connor with 34 points, which could have been a few shots better but for blanking the 1st and 5th holes where he had the unfortunate experience of playing a wrong ball. Also in this category, Frank Kelly had the unusual experience of having an eagle on the 9th when he holed out his second shot with a 5 wood.

The ladies section was won by Liz Beatty with 32 points by virtue of a better back nine holes from three other players and Liz is now the early leader in the G. O.Y.

Next Wednesday, 6th April, sees the first of the popular Ladies Invitation Days for 2011 with the running of a three person scramble.

Results March Monthly Medal

Category 1 Stephen Price (6) 43 points

Category 2 Alan Hearne (13) 41 points

Category 3 Padraic O’Connor (21) 34 points

Ladies Liz Beatty (17) 32 points