Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The last “major” for the ladies took place last week with the Lady President’s(Mrs. Mary Jones) Prize down for decision and this proved to be an exciting affair with Pauline McEnery just getting the better of Rita Garvey on a countback after both players finished with 36 points. Pauline played very consistent golf throughout her round with nines of 19 and 17 points respectively and scored on all holes. Rita started impressively and recorded 21 points for her first nine holes but failed to score on the 15th and 16th holes and this proved to be the losing of first prize as she only scored a total of 15 points on the last nine holes to add to her first nine score. Third place was won by Myra Phelan with 34 points and she just pipped the newly crowned Golfer of the Year, Brenda O Sullivan, by virtue of a better last nine holes. Presentation of prizes took place after a superb dinner and the evening finished with an enjoyable social night.

Two competitions were played on the Saturday and Sunday of All Ireland Hurling Weekend. The Saturday competition was a Member and Guest Fourball Betterball Stableford and this was won by Paul Madigan and his guest Liam Delahunty on a countback from Pat and John Stakelum. Both partnerships scored a fine 46 points with the winners just edging out the Tipperary pairing on the back nine holes.
On Sunday there was an 18 holes singles stableford and again this competition ended in a tie for first prize with Aidan Keegan from Waterford just getting the better of Mick O’ Riordan from the K Club. Both players finished on 36 points.
Last Sunday saw a team representing the Captain, Alan Hoyne, taking on a team representing the Lady Captain, Ruth Mulholland. The format of the competition was an 18 holes singles stableford with the best 5 cards from each team to count for the overall prize. Victory was achieved by the Captain’s team who defeated the Lady Captain’s team by an emphatic margin on this occasion.
Best score of the day was achieved by the lady in form, Brenda O’ Sullivan, who together with Mark Logan scored animpressive 39 points to win both their respective categories. Presentation of prizes took place afterwards where the Lady Captain was presented with the wooden spoon.
This week will be a busy one at Mount Juliet with the big Pro-Am taking place on Wednesday prior to the Irish P.G.A. Championship which commences on Thursday and this will continue through to Sunday. The competition will be 72 holes stroke play over four days with the top 50 players plus ties qualifying for the final 36 holes on Saturday and Sunday and there is substantial money on offer for the overall leaders on Sunday. There should be some excellent golf played over the four days and spectators will be able to follow play over all four days.

Results Lady President’s(Mrs Mary Jones) Prize
Winner: Pauline McEnery (34)…………….36 points.
Second: Rita Garvey (23)…………………..36 points.
Third: Myra Phelan (23)………………….34 points.
Fourth: Brenda O’ Sullivan (26)……………34 points.
1st Nine: Geraldine Higgins (35)…………….18 points.
2nd Nine: Helen Scully (16)…………………..17 points.
Nearest Pin: Emer Foley.

Member/Guest Fourball Betterball Stableford Saturday 29th Sept
Winners;
Paul Madigan (3) Callan G.C.
Liam Delahunty (16) Rathdowney G.C….46 points

Runners-Up;
Pat Stakelum (18) Thurles G.C.
John Stakelum (14) Thurles G.C…………46 points.

Open 18 Holes Singles Stableford Sunday 30th September
Winner: Aidan Keegan (15) Waterford G.C………..36 points.
Runner-Up: Mick O’ Riordan (6) The K Club…………36 points.

Lady Captain’s Team v Captain’s Team Sunday 7th October
Lady Winner: Brenda O’ Sullivan (26)…………………..39 points.
Second: Myra Phelan (23)………………………….38 points.
Third: Marie Costello (16)………………………..34 points.
Men’s Winner: Mark Logan (11)…………………………..39 points.
Second: Ken MacDonald (26)……………………….38 points.
Third: John O’ Dwyer (5)…………………………..37 points.

The Winter Series was played last week and this resulted in a win for three friends from Laois and Kilkenny who returned a winning score of 78 points. The format was a three person rumble over 18 holes and the winners had a comfortable victory over the opposition. The next round of the series takes place on Wednesday 7th December and tee reservations for this competition can be made by telephoning 056 7773071.

Last Sunday saw the Member/Guest competition over 16 holes for hampers. The format was a fourball stableford and the winners scored an impressive 40 points. They were two shots clear of their nearest rivals who scored 38 points each. Conditions were good for scoring with no rain but the course played long after the heavy rainfall on Friday. The winners, Gerard Magee and his guest, Paul Lawlor, scored 23 points for the first nine holes and added a further 17 points on the last seven holes. The runners-up also scored 23 points on their first nine holes but could only manage a further 15 points on their homeward journey. This was sufficient to beat the third pairing on a countback.

Results Winter Series

Winners

Shay Quinn (14) (The Heritage)

James Farrell (7) (Kilkenny)

Lar Ryan (8) (Rathdowney) 78 points

Member/Guest Fourball Stableford

Winners
Gerard Magee (18)
Paul Lawlor (8) 40 points

Second
Sean O’Neill (14)
Liam Duggan (12) 38 points

Third
Alan Hearn (9)
Maurice Neligan (11) 38 points

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