The final qualifying round of the Winter Series took place last week and the winning team’s score was well clear of the runners-up. The winning team was led by well known racing commentator, Des Scahill, and his team consisted of a combination of Laois, Kilkenny and Kildare personnel. The winners had an impressive round of 97 points with nines of 47 and 50 points respectively. They had three shots to spare over a team comprised of four members from Galway Golf Club. The winners qualified for the final day which will be decided over 18 holes this Wednesday and the format of the final, as always, will be stableford singles.
The first of the inter club teams in action for 2011 was the Fourball Trophy Team and their opponents were Athy Golf Club. The draw advantage was with Athy, with three matches at Athy and two matches at Mount Juliet. The overall match was won in thrilling style by Mount Juliet by a three matches to two aggregate. Heroes of the tie were Ken MacDonald and Ronan Murphy who won at Athy by a margin of 5 and 4. Both matches at Mount Juliet were won narrowly, but decisively, with John O’Connor and Bryan Higgins winning by 2 and 1. The final pairing of Dermot Divilly and Pat Hegarty won 2 up with Pat closing the door on the 18th by sinking a 25ft., putt to seal the victory.
The other pairings of John Mulholland / Frank Kelly and Billy Murphy / Padraic O’Connor lost narrowly at Athy. Hopefully this early vein of form will act as a catalyst for some of the remaining teams in competitions.
Results Winter Series
Winners
Des Scahill (9) (The Heritage)
James Farrell (8) (Kilkenny)
Lar Ryan (9) (Rathdowney)
Shay Quinn (17) (The Heritage) 97 points
Runners-Up
B. McGraughan (8) (Galway)
D. O’Kelly (6)
P. Shallow (6)
R. Ramberg (12)
(Galway) 94 points