Mount Juliet Golf Notes

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.

On Friday last the fundraiser for the Special Olympics was held which included golf, dinner in Kendals Brasserie Restaurant and the evening concluded with an auction of sporting memorabilia and other items.

The auction was conducted by former rugby international, Fergus Slattery, and although it did not take too long to auction all items, it greatly contributed to a very deserving cause in helping some of our athletes to partake in the Special Olympics. Full credit to the chief organiser of the event, Norman Kilroy, a former captain of the club and a person who gives his time every year to run the events of the day. Over €30,000 was raised on the day and this will be added to the overall fund to cover the enormous costs of sending the Irish team to the games.

Last Sunday saw the May competition for Member/Guest decided and the format was a fourball stableford. The winning score of 42 points was returned by Pat Price Sr., and his guest David Kelly. They were two points clear of their nearest rivals Michael Williams and Aidan McDonald. Because of the inclement weather and the recovery rate of some players who played on Friday, the entry for this competition was smaller than usual.

Next Thursday sees the next round of the Summer Series which an open competition for teams of four players. Tee times can be obtained for this competition by phoning golf reservations or the golf shop.

On Sunday next the first of the “majors” is down for decision with the running of the Jack Nicklaus Trophy. This singles competition will count for points in the Golfer of the Year for men and ladies.

On the Inter Club scene, the Duggan Cup team are due to meet our neighbours Gowran Park on Friday next.

May Member & Guest Fourball Sunday 22nd May

Winners

Pat Price Snr. (14)

David Kelly (7) (Malahide) 42 points

Second

Michael Williams (20)

Aidan McDonald (6) (Kilkenny) 40 points

The race is almost over ?

Next week sees the culmination of the Professional golf scene in Ireland with the final of the Lexus Race to Mount Juliet down for decision on Saturday 16th October. There will be a Pro-Am tournament on Friday 15th which is part of the weekend competition. The professional tournament itself decides which of our Irish professionals will head the order of merit for 2010 and will involve the top 30 players on the current list. At the moment this list is headed by David Mortimer who recently won the P.G.A. Irish Championship and he just leads from David Higgins with John Kelly in third place. There is a sizeable amount of money to be won on the weekend so the competition will be keen and the public are sure to see some great golf. Kilkenny professional Jim Bolger lies at 16th place on the money list at the moment and is assured of his place in the final. The winner will receive an invite into some of the top professional tournaments on the European tour in 2011. The Pro-Am will be an interesting day on Friday with teams of three amateurs joining a professional in a team event to try and win some of the valuable prizes on offer. There is only 1 remaining vacancy in the amateur team event on Friday so if some of you fancy a game in a very competitive atmosphere on Friday, call the golf shop and Francis will try to accommodate you and give you the necessary details regarding the Pro-Am Event.

Last week saw the last of the Summer Series decided and this proved to be an emphatic win for a team of Kilkenny golfers with a score of 94 points. They had a clear 5 points to spare from their nearest rivals. The winners had nines of 45 and 49 points respectively and they really put on the style on the back nine holes to clinch their win. This was the last in the series and the Winter Series will commence in two weeks time with the same format of last year i.e., teams of four, any combination, with two scores to count on each hole.

Results of Summer Series