ONtheFAIRWAYS
ROSSLARE
The first 18-hole competition of the year was played on Sunday week and attracted a big entry. After the comfort of the short winter course, it was a shock to the system to find the tees back to the limit. The course was immaculate with lightning-fast greens.
It was a good day for high handicappers, with four of the six prize-winners 18 handicap or over. The winner, with 38 points, was Pat Wright (20). Pat, who figured well in the winter months, had pars at the sixth, eighth, 14th, 16th and 18th in halves of 17 and 21 points.
He won on the last six from Philip Breen (18). Philip had pars on the sixth, ninth, tenth and 17th, and a birdie three at the 13th. However, his failure to score points on the fifth proved costly.
In third position, also on 38 points, was Ciarán Frost (3), with Tom Enright (20) fourth on 36 points.
Ian Lynch (scr.) had birdies at the eighth, tenth, 13th and 18th, and a great eagle three at the third, for a one under par round of 71 to take the gross prize. The veterans’ prize was won by Eddie Breen (19) with 36 points.
Saturday fourball (18 holes): 1, Paud O’Brien (4) and Noel Byrne (20), 44 points; 2, John Long (7) and Dave Noonan (8), 41 points.
Fixtures: Saturday, March 25, ladies’ fourball and gents’ fourball; Sunday, March 26, gents’ singles.
Both competitions are open to visitors paying green fees.
WEXFORD LADIES
A total of 24 adies played in Monday’s Seniors’ competition held on March 13.
Results: 1, Anna Sullivan (20), 26 points; 2, Wendy Tiernan (21), 24 points (back seven); 3, Breda Devoy (24), 24 points.
Last week’s competition held on Saturday and Thursday, March 11 and 16, was sponsored by ladies from the club. Congratulations to all winners.
Results: 1, Leonie Furlong (12), 37 points; 2, Ruth Kennedy (5), 34 points (back six); 3, Cathríona Walsh (13), 34 points (back nine); gross, Tara Dunne (3), 34 points; Senior, Margaret Hearne (15), 30 points; nearest the pin, Carmel Murphy. The nine-hole competition was won by Róisín Leahy (34/16) with 19 points.
On Monday, March 27, at 7.30 p.m., Seán Collier will deliver a motivational talk on goal setting and preparation for tournaments. The talk is open to everyone, not just those on teams. There will be a free raffle on the night for a €30 voucher from the Pro Shop.
Next week’s stableford competition on Thursday, March 23, is sponsored by Peter O’Hanlon Photography.
ROSSLARE LADIES
Last Tuesday we threw away our mats and played our first 18 holes of the season. But to let us off light for the first week, we played in teams of three, with two scores to count on each hole and all three scores to count on the par threes.
You could see all the pals lined up in each team, and regular partners Niamh Byrne and Vandra Deacon with Joyce Maguire came first. This was followed by more best pals, and regulars Sheila Crosbie, Ann Kelly and Gráinne Dunphy, coming second. Well done ladies.
The course is in great condition and we would like to ask everyone to please use their sandbags now that the mats are gone.
Tuesday, March 28, is a ladies’ foursomes strokes sponsored by McCauley’s Chemists.
Saturday, March 11, 18-hole fourball: 1, Vonnie Kelly (9/8) and Joan Bowe (12/11), 40 points; 2, Valerie Doyle (10/9) and Kathleen Cullimore (18/16), 37 points.
Tuesday, March 14, ladies’ team of three sponsored by Selskar Bookshop: 1, Niamh Byrne (9), Vamdra Deacon (15), Joyce Maguire (19), 81 points; 2, Sheila Crosbie (13), Ann Kelly (17), Gráinne Dunphy (24), 78 points; 3, Paula O’Leary (12), Val Mernagh (15), Paula Stafford (15), 77 points.
RATHASPECK
Rathaspeck Golf Club held its A.G.M. on Sunday, following a three-man team event won by outgoing Captain Ray Nolan, James Byrne and Mick Murphy.
It was great to see Ray back after his hip replacement and in such good form.
Mick Cleere was unanimously elected Captain for this coming year.
This year’s fixture list starts with the free sub competition next weekend, March 24-25. A timesheet will be in operation from 8 to 9.30 a.m. on Saturday and 8 to 10 a.m. on Sunday.
This will be the format for competitions every fortnight following next week’s competion.
At the meeting a number of issues were discussed, including matchplay, away outings starting with Enniscorthy G.C. on May 6, and some adjustment to the competition format.
New members are most welcome, either as a member of the Society or full membership which would automatically include you in the Society. Please contact club Secretary Mick Cuddihy on 0863847609 with any queries.
We are looking forward to seeing you all back again this year, and let’s hope the weather picks up sooner rather than later.
ST. HELEN’S LADIES
Friday, March 17, St. Patrick’s Day open singles stableford: 1, Mari Byrne (21), 19 points; 2, Bernie Furlong (16), 18 points; 3, Marian Byrne (19), 18 points.
Saturday, March 18, nine-hole scramble: 1, Mary O’Riordan, Aileen Foran, Mark Tully, Jim Murphy, 24.7; 2, Mary McCormack, Terry O’Toole, Paddy Elliot, John Sinnott, 25.4; 3, Bernie Furlong, Aidan Furlong, Dominic Mann, Brian Moore, 26.4.
ST. HELEN’S
We had a great turn-out for the winter league final on Saturday, March 4. Congratulations to the winners, Team Pearse, and to the individual prize-winner, Jim Brauneisen, and runner-up Aidan Furlong.
Another big winner on the night was Declan Murphy, who came up trumps in the raffle for the free membership for 2017.
The St. Patricks Day open was sponsored by Paddy Codd and Jonathan Maher and featured an Irish-themed menu and live music following some great golf.
Saturday’s Captains’ drive-in was a fantastic occasion down in lovely St. Helen’s. A magnificent crowd of members and guests enjoyed every minute of a fun-packed day.
Mick and Ann arrived in resplendent attire - wedding dress glistening in the March sunshine. Mr. and Mrs. Helen’s Bay 2017 set the theme for the year - married to the golf club!
Twenty teams of four battled it out in the nine-hole scramble, following which, we all settled down to cheer on Ireland. When they had the job done and the ‘Auld Enemy’ beaten and bruised, we celebrated with live music from the best in the business, our own Ron, Denis and Tony, and the craic continued through the night.
Well done to everyone involved: Captain Mick, lady Captain Ann, officers, committee, members and guests, and not forgetting Yvonne, Marie and staff. All in all it was a great day’s golf, food, music and legendary St. Helen’s Bay craic.
Saturday, February 25, open singles sweep: 1, Jim Murphy (9), 23 points; 2, Eamon Masterson (12), 21 points.
Wednesday, March 1, Wednesday club: 1, Michael Vaughan (24), 25 points; 2, Pádraig Tiernan (13), 24 points; 3, Seamus McCormack (15), 23 points.
Saturday, March 4, open singles (eleven holes): 1, John Sinnott (4), 26 points; 2, Pádraig Tiernan (8), 25 points.
Wednesday, March 8, Wednesday club: 1, Paul Lattimore (27), 23 points (countback); 2, Brian D’Eath (23), 23 points; 3, Terry O’Toole (19), 19 points.
Saturday, March 11, open singles (eleven holes): 1, Pádraig Tiernan (8), 27 points; 2, ‘Buzzer’ O’Brien (6), 25 points; 3, Jimmy McMahon (14), 24 points (countback).
Sunday, March 12, sweep (eleven holes): 1, Pat O’Connor (3), 25 points; 2, Mark Tully (14), 23 points.
St. Patrick’s Day open (14 holes), sponsored by Paddy Codd and Jonathan Maher: 1, Jimmy McMahon (18), 32 points; 2, Mark Tully (18), 29 points (countback); 3, Pat O’Connor (4), 29 points; nearest the pin (seventh hole), Gay Redmond.
Saturday, March 18, Captains’ drive-in, nine holes shotgun scramble: 1, Mark Tully (23), Aileen Foran (36), Mary O’Riordan (30), Jim Murphy (14), 24.7; 2, Mary McCormack (27), Paddy Elliott (14), Terry O’Toole (19), John Sinnott (6), 25.4; 3, Bernie Furlong (20), Dominic Mann (24), Aidan Furlong (14), Brian Moore (28), 26.3; 4, Declan Murphy (11), Mary O’Reilly (25), Fergus Leavy (16), Kate Masterson (12), 26.6.
Fixtures: Wednesday, March 22, Wednesday club; Saturday, March 25, open singles stableford; Sunday, March 26, open singles stableford; Wednesday, March 29, Wednesday club.
WEXFORD
Tuesday, March 14, Seniors’ 14 holes singles: 1, Pat Furlong, 34 points (back seven); 2, Pat Kavanagh, 34 points; 3, Terry Lyons, 33 points (back six).
Wednesday, March 15, 14-hole fourball: 1, Bill Roche, Peadar Dempsey, 37 points (back seven); 2, Patrick McGuire, Nick Harpur, 37 points.
Friday, March 17, three-person team event: 1, Nicky Murphy, Alan Keeling, Pat Moorehouse, 71 points; 2, Seán Hopkins, Mark Moore, Eamon Hopkins, 65 points; 3, Joe Cashe, Tommy and Nigel Morrissey, 62 points.
Saturday and Sunday, March 18 and 19, lady Captain’s prize to the gents, 18 holes singles: 1, Fred Boyd, 45 points; 2, Michael Moran, 40 points; 3, Tony Dorazil, 39 points (back nine); gross, Seán Hopkins, 32 points; 4, Pearse Frawley, 39 points (back nine); vets., Seán Kenny, 37 points.
NEW ROSS SENIORS
Apart from a little mist, we enjoyed nice weather for our outing on Thursday, with the course in very good condition. The greens, which had been cut that morning, were slick and fast, and all players were in praise of Seamus and the ground staff for their continued hard work in maintaining the course throughout the year.
Our champagne scramble saw a change in format, with all team members now playing their own ball on the par threes which made a huge difference to the scoring returns. Nobody broke the one hundred-point target but a three-person team made a valiant effort to do so.
Captained by Denis Kirwan (11), and backed up by Kevin Treacy (19) and Brian Dolan (22), they carded 93 points with the six-point bonus added, giving them a final tally of 99 points.
Second place with 97 points went to Jimmy Furlong (8), Willie Byrne (14), John Joe Cullen (18) and Tony Sexton (24). The 93 points scored by Andy Ronan (14), Jim ‘Ross’ Ryan (18) Larry Shannon (18) and Willie Naddy (19) proved good enough to get the third prize.
Nearest the pin prizes were won by Jim Kehoe on the ninth hole and Willie Byrne on the eleventh.
The next round of the table quiz goes ahead on Friday, March 24, with new teams welcome to join in at a cost of €20 per table of four.
The following are the teams and tee-times for our eagerly-awaited outing to Gowran Park on Monday, March 27: 10.30 a.m., Tony Harford, J.J. Cullen, Aidan O’Connor, Kenny Irwin; 10.38 a.m., Denis Kirwan, John Murphy, Brian Dolan, Jamesie Murphy; 10.46 a.m., John Browne, Willie Naddy, Frank Boyle, Tony Sexton; 10.54 a.m., Hughie O’Connor, Tommy Ryan, Tony Redmond, Jim Kehoe; 11.02 a.m., Eddie Keher, Tom Murphy, Larry Shannon, Dan Quigley; 11.10 a.m., John Kennedy, Kevin Treacy, P.J. McGrath, Martin Burke; 11.18 a.m., Andy Ronan, Michael Lee, Bob Dwyer, Michael Long; 11.26 a.m., Willie Byrne, Jimmy Ryan, Tom O’Shea, Bryan Hennessy; 11.34 a.m., Steve Travis, Luke Power, John Joe Murray, Les Jastrzebski.
We have procured a couple of extra spaces on the timesheet. Anyone still wishing to travel, please contact Jamesie Murphy on 051-421151 or text 085-1846172 as soon as possible and you will be signed in for the outing.
ENNISCORTHY LADIES
The Enniscorthy ladies have been enjoying the spring sunshine and the daffodils are in full bloom around the course. Over 60 ladies took part in a Scotch foursomes competition on Tuesday, March 14.
The first sponsored competition of the ladies’ season is taking place on Thursday, March 23. This competition is being sponsored by The Logo Centre. The change of day from the usual Tuesday is due to course sanding on March 21.
The ladies are also busy practising for upcoming matches which will be taking place over the coming weeks.
Keep up to date with activities and results by following us on facebook.com/enniscorthygolfclub.com, Twitter (@enniscorthygolf) or Instagram: enniscorthygolfclub.