NEWROSSSENIORS
In glorious autumnal weather, we went on our final away outing of the year to the picturesque Faithlegg Golf Club situated on the Waterford Estuary.
After the morning coffee it was out to do battle on the championship course, and many thanks go to Kevin in the Pro Shop for getting us out before our allotted time.
As usual with this Seniors group, there was intense competition and some great scoring. Captain Andy, fresh from his South American cruise and with his new crew including a past Captain from another sporting sphere, seemed to be cruising for victory when they shot 52 points on the outward nine holes.
But on the back nine holes, the homeward voyage, they hit the rocks, got becalmed, then got derailed, ran out of steam, or simply blew up, clocking only 36 points.
So much for the proverb, ‘a good start is half the battle’ - not when you fail to capitalise on it like in this instance.
Meanwhile, a Wexford/Kildare/Kilkenny quartet kept playing consistently good golf right through the 18 holes and in the end ran out clear winners.
Michael Kavanagh (16), Jimmy ‘Ross’ Ryan (17), Michael Brennan (20) and Jamesie Murphy (24) put two nines of 47/46 together to emerge victors with a cracking score of 93 points.
Despite being becalmed on the back nine, Eddie Keher (12), Andy Ronan (14), Jimmy O’Neill (17) and Aidan O’Connor (20) shot 88 points to claim the runners-up position.
Third place went to Mikey Lee (17), Michael Gannon (18), Willie Naddy (20) and Martin Burke (25) with 87 points. A better back nine (43/39) and a final total of 85 points saw Jimmy Furlong (12), Billy Redmond (19), Tony Sexton (22) and Jim ‘Dublin’ Ryan (25) get the fourth prize.
On the same score (85 points) and taking fifth prize were Tony Harford (14), Liam Glasheen (21), Frank Boyle (23), and Les Jastrebski (25).
Back on home turf on Thursday, we had a big turn-out with 13 teams taking part in our weekly outing. A stiff, cool north-westerly breeze but perfect underfoot conditions made for some great scores being recorded.
Even though there were difficult pin placings on all the holes with the flagstick at the back on the majority, some teams made short work of the set-up, producing scores well in advance of the 90 points target figure.
A single point separated the winners from the runners-up, the 96 total of Patsy Farrell (20), Kenny Irwin (21), Tom Furlong (22) and Donie Cody (23) being good enough to claim first prize.
Four teams finished on 95 points and it took a countback to sort them out. The better back nine score (46) of Hughie O’Connor (19), Billy Redmond (19), John Joe Murray (21) and Mick Wade (22) saw that team take the second prize.
It took a better score on the last six holes (31/30) to give Tony Harford (14), John Colfer (18), John F. Roche (21) and Mikey Lee (19) third prize, also with 95 points. Nearest the pin prizes went to Willie Byrne on the ninth hole and Dick Cuddihy on the eleventh.
As and from next Thursday, November 1, our new starting time is 11 a.m. sharp, to avoid any possible delays due to overnight frosts which may occur from time to time.
All players should be in house in good time for the draw for teams which is at 10.45 a.m. On the board for November are Willie Kelly, Willie Naddy and John Joe Murray.
The sympathy of all the Senior players go to our colleagues, Pat Kehoe and Martin Hartley, both of whom have recently been bereaved.
Pat’s wife, Noleen, was laid to rest in St. Stephen’s Cemetery, New Ross, on Monday, October 21, and Martin’s brother, Tom, was interred in Glenmore Cemetery on the same day. May they both rest in peace.