Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The Ladies Challenge Cup team were in action against Wexford and the venue was Waterford Castle. The overall result was a great win for Mount Juliet by a margin of 3 matches won to 2 matches lost.

Mary Cotter started the winning ball rolling with a convincing victory by a margin of 6 and 5 against her opponent. Then Brenda O’Sullivan kept the winning mood going when she won on the 16th green against her opponent. In between these two victories, Anne Murphy lost her match also on the 16th green and Joan Pierce was having a great battle with her opponent and was one down on the 17th tee. But Wendy Beirne closed out her match with a long putt on the 16th green for a winning margin of 3 and 2. Joan eventually lost on the 17th green but at that stage the important victory was secure. The team now progress to the semi-final on the 25th July against the winners of Woodenbridge or Tara Glen with a neutral venue to be decided. The team is managed by Helen Comerford and is ably assisted by another member of the panel, Dorothy Kilroy, who with Anne Daly completes the full team panel. Hopefully the team can progress to the final for the first time in the history of the club.

The competition for both Golfer of the Year Trophies is hotting up with Alan Hearne just a point in front of Kevin McCartan in the men’s section. In joint third place some seven points adrift of the leader, is John Keane and John Barrett.

The ladies division is led by Sally Gleeson with 41 points and she is five points clear of Amelia Drumm with Liz Beatty some points adrift in third place. This weekend sees the Captains’ Prizes down for decision in both categories and with bonus points on offer in both competitions the Golfers of the Year could easily be decided. A bumper entry will compete for the most coveted prizes of the year with the presentations taking place in Kendals Restaurant after dinner on Saturday night.

The J. B. Carr Trophy, which was played for last Sunday, proved to be a triumph for the ladies of Mount Juliet with the best three scores of the day registered by the lady members. Pride of place went to Helen Scully who returned a great score of 38 stableford points for the 18 holes. Helen scored 18 and 20 points respectively for each nine holes and just got home from the lady in form, Sally Gleeson, who scored 37 points who in turn just pipped Mary Divilly for second prize on a countback.

On a difficult day for scoring, with some wind and rain to contend with, the men were not able to reach the target of 37 points set by the ladies and their best score returned was 36 points. This was scored by Stephen Skehan with nines of 20 and 16 points respectively. He had a shot to spare over Pat Garvey who in turn had a shot to spare over Alan Hearne.

The trophy, which was presented by the Carr family to commemorate their illustrious father who was president of the club for a number of years, is a replica of the West of Ireland silver salver which the great golfer won many years ago. This trophy will be held by the winner, Helen, for the next 12 months. She had only one real mistake on her card and this was on the long par four, 4th, where she failed to register a point. Mary Divilly had the distinction of scoring an eagle two on the long ninth when she holed out her second shot with a 5 wood and scored 6 points which contributed to her overall score as a result.

The first round of the McCalmont Cup match play has been completed and the eight players through to the quarter finals are Michael Brennan, Alan Hearne, Amelia Drumm, Sandra Carr, Jeff Howes, Paul Barrett, Kevin McCartan and Ruth Mulholland. The quarter finals have to be completed by the end of June.

Members are reminded that the nine hole singles stableford competition continues each Friday evening from 5pm onwards and the player with the best 7 cards returned by the end of September will be declared the winner. There will also be prizes for the runner-up and third overall as well.

Results J. B. Carr Trophy

Overall Winner Helen Scully (18) 38 points

Men

Winner Stephen Skehan (18) 36 points

Second Pat Garvey (12) 35 points

Third Alan Hearne (11) 34 points

First Nine Dave Wyer (12) 18 points

Second Nine Tim Kavanagh (16) 18 points

Ladies

Winner Sally Gleeson (12) 37 points (last nine)

Second Mary Divilly (25) 37 points

Last week there was a bag of mixed luck on the Inter Club front with two ladies teams in action. The Challenge Cup team were pitted against Kilkenny Golf Club at the neutral venue of Callan and they came out on top by a margin of 3½ matches to 1½ matches. The format of the competition was 5 singles and Mary Cotter, Ann Murphy and Wendy Beirne all won their respective matches with Dorothy Kilroy securing a half in her match. While on the course. Brenda O’Sullivan lost narrowly to her opponent.

The All Ireland Fourball team lost narrowly to the ladies of Carrick-on-Suir Golf Club but only on a countback. In this competition two pairs play at home and two pairs play away. While our two home pairs achieved victory, the away players lost and on a countback of holes won and lost, Mount Juliet came out on the wrong end. The pairings were Helen Scully/Ruth Skehan and Helen Hedigan/Mary Fulton, both of these pairings played at Mount Juliet. At Carrick-on-Suir, the pairings were Sally Gleeson/Jon Hegarty and Myra Phelan/Rita Garvey. It is interesting to note that Helen and Ruth were 5 down after nine holes but recovered for a great victory on the 18th.

Next Sunday sees the running of the J.B. Carr Trophy in memory of our former illustrious President Joe, and this is a Golfer of the Year competition with extra points available.

On Tuesday next the open Summer Series for teams of four players continues and reservations for tee times can be made by phoning 056 7773071.