Mount Juliet Golf Notes

Will it be possible that this long Winter will soon relinquish its grip on golf courses so that some competitive golf can be played soon without the weather disturbing plans again. No competitive golf has been played at Mount Juliet since last November. Next Sunday the Member/Guest competition is down for decision, weather permitting, and this competition will be an 18 holes fourball stableford betterball with a two tee start from 10am to 12.10pm. The January competition had to be cancelled due to frost and maybe this one can get off the ground.

The Winter Series will resume on Wednesday 9th March and as ever this popular competition will be a four person team event over 18 holes. This competition is open to ladies or men’s teams or a combination of both and tee times can be reserved by phoning 056 7773064 / 7773071.

The draw for this year’s Cups and Shields Championships can be viewed on the G.U.I. website and the matches that matter to Mount Juliet sees them pitted against Killerig in the Irish Mixed Foursomes with Killerig having the advantage of 3 matches at home and 2 matches at Mount Juliet. The Leinster Fourball Trophy team are up against Athy in the first round, with Athy having the advantage of the odd match of the five at Athy. The Irish Mixed has to be played before 25th April and the Leinster Fourball has to be played before 12th April. The Pierce Purcell Shield qualifying round will be played at Borris Golf Club on Saturday 14th May and the Barton Shield qualifying round will be hosted by Mount Juliet on Saturday 11th June. The draws for the I.L.G.U. championships will be available in two weeks time.

The inter club draws for this year have been completed by the Leinster Branch of the G. U. I. and Mount Juliet have some stern tests in front of them if they are to make any progress. The Pierce Purcell Shield qualifying round will be held in Enniscorthy Golf Club on Saturday 22nd May with the top four qualifiers out of 10 teams going through to the match play stages on the following day. In the Barton Cup, the opponents are near neighbours Kilkenny, with the home advantage resting with Kilkenny. The Leinster Fourball team are also away to Waterford and the Irish Mixed Foursomes team are drawn against Bunclody with Mount Juliet getting the home advantage. All matches have to be played by early April so the managers of the various teams have a busy two months to prepare their respective panels of players.

The draws for the competitions in the Midland District of the ladies branch of the I.L.G.U. will be made this week and these draws will be available on their website soon.

Next week, weather permitting, sees the next round of the popular Winter Series and tee times can be booked by phoning 056/7773071 or 77773064.

The Monthly Summer Series for May was played last week and a team from Limerick were victorious on a breezy but warm day. Jed O’ Dwyer from The Hurler’s Cross pub led his team to a convincing victory with a very good score of 93 points. They had nines of 48 and 45 points respectively and ran out winners by 2 points from the Kilkenny based team of Liam Slevin, Niall O’Gorman, Victor Smyth and Ken Hovenden who in turn beat the Dublin team of Pamela Harrington, Susan Hegarty, Gilly Campbell and Philip Wardick on a countback.

The next competition in the series takes place on June 10^th with the format the same for all the series which is a four person team event. Each event is a “shotgun start” at 2pm which is proving to be very popular with the players.

Two more teams were in action on the Inter Club scene and unfortunate to relate that both teams suffered a defeat. In the first leg of the quarter final of the Ladies Junior Foursomes against Moate Golf Club, the Mount Juliet team acquitted themselves well by losing 2 matches to 1 with the second leg due to be played in two weeks time at Mount Juliet. Hopefully they can reverse the away result and march through to the semi-final.

In the qualifying round of the Pierce Purcell Shield held at Wexford Golf Club last Saturday the Mount Juliet Team, although acquitting themselves well, lost out when they failed to qualify for the regional playoff. Unfortunately the only men’s team left in competition now is the Duggan Cup team and they now play Callan in early June.

Pierce Purcell Team at Wexford last Saturday

Next Sunday sees the Jack Nicklaus Trophy down for decision and this is a Golfer of the Year competition and is regarded as one of the “majors” in the club to win.

All members involved are reminded that there is only a fortnight left to complete the first round of the McCalmont Cup matchplay.

Results Summer Series:

Winners:
Jed O’ Dwyer(11)
Tony Finan(17)
Mike O’ Brien(13)
Donal Hanley(18) Casteltroy G.C.……… 93 points.

Second:
Liam Slevin(12) Castelcomer G.C.
Victor Smyth(10)
Ken Hovenden(15)
Niall O’ Gorman(10) Kilkenny…………. 91 points.

Third:
Pamela Harrington(32) Boystown
Philip Wardick(10)
Susan Hegarty(32)
Gilly Campbell(14) Edmondstown………91 points.