Fairways and greens are busy once again
COURTOWN
Last weekend saw the long-awaited Captains’ drive-in on Saturday, postponed from earlier in the year due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
The two senior captains arrived at the course in style, with men’s Captain Keith Reid piloting lady Captain Julie McCartan’s carbon neutral, twin-engined, semi-detached private plane.
The plane was flown in under radar cover, swooping in low over the Irish Sea before landing in the vicinity of the 17th fairway and taxiing to a halt just in front of the clubhous, much to the surprise and delight of the large crowd of spectators who had gathered since early morning.
When the excitement of the emergency landing had died down, and with the two Captains having spent the necessary period in quarantine, it was down to the serious business of the Captains’ drive-in.
Lady Captain Julie had the honour this year and without any hint of nerves, despite the large gallery of onlookers, hit a perfect shot straight down the middle.
Men’s Captain Keith, not to be outdone, hit a boomer and, despite the best efforts of an unseasonably leafy tree which had somehow or other taken up position in the centre of the fairway, managed to leave himself with a relatively easy two iron into the green.
Both Junior captains followed with splendid drives of their own, showing that there is hope for the future of golf in the Courtown club.
After the formality, there was a nine-hole shotgun-start scramble followed by food upstairs in the clubhouse, served in accordance with the strict social distancing regulations currently in operation.
The competition over the first nine holes was won by the team comprising the lady Captain Julie McCartan (21), men’s Captain Keith Reid (11), club President Paddy Bernie (20) and lady President Celia O’Riordan (25) with a net score of 25.3.
Runners-up were Adrian Copeland (1), Ned Copeland (15), Harry Poole (22) and Lynne Copeland (25) on 25.4.
The back nine competition was won by Eamonn Siggins (22), Seamus O’Donoghue (13), Ciaán Doyle (15) and Marion Siggins (27) on 25.3, while in second place were Tadgh Sheehan (10), Orla Sheehan (10), Mark Sheehan (28) and Frances Kavanagh (27) on 26.3.
Wednesday, July 1, was the first men’s competition since the return to golf and was the first in our summer series sponsored by the Gorey Guardian newspaper.
This series of gents’ open singles competitions will run every Wednesday during July and August, and some great prizes are on offer throughout. The cost of entry is €5 for members and €25 for visitors.
There are prizes for first, second and third places and best gross score each week, and the top five finishers in each week’s competition will qualify for the grand final to be held on Wednesday, August 26.
The winner of the grand final will receive a set of Ping irons, with the runner-up winning a golf bag and third place getting a pair of golf shoes.
There will be a golf jumper and a golf polo shirt for fourth and fifth place finishers respectively. There will also be prizes available for the non-qualifiers’ competition held on final day.
Wednesday’s competition was won by Darragh Brooks (10) with 40 points (countback). Runner-up was George Slattery (12), also on 40 points.
In third place was Tony Finn (26) with 38 points (countback), while fourth was Evan Byrne (19), also on 38 points.
Niall Hughes (18) finished fifth, also with 38 points. These five have qualified for the grand final. Best gross was Dave Maher (2) on 31 points. A total of 163 played, and the C.S.S. was 35.
Thursday, July 2, was our monthly Seniors’ open. The winner overall was Cathal O’Donohoe (15) with 43 points.
Category 1 winner was Patsy Kavanagh (18) with 39 points. Category 2 was won by Neville Steadman (3) with 38 points, while Category 3 was won by Joe Kenny (14), also with 38 points.
A total of 105 played, and the C.S.S. was 35. There was a hole-in-one scored on the third by Danny Whitty (12).
The gents’ singles competition held on Sunday, July 5, was won by Tommy Dixon (6) with 38 points. In second place was Darren Moore (16) on 37 points, followed in third by Philip Sherwood (22) on 36 points.
Best gross was Alan McDonald (2) with 30 points. The ladies’ competition was won by Helen Mundow (32) on 38 points, with Angela Merrigan (24) second on 30 points.
Don’t forget that Wednesday of this week sees the continuation of the men’s open Gorey Guardian summer series, while Saturday and Sunday are qualifying days for the men’s Captain’s prize, with the final taking place the following Saturday, July 18.
Don’t forget also that the club’s Mossel Bay Restaurant is back open for business, and reservations can be made by contacting them on mosselbaycatering@gmail.com. The club office can be contacted on 087-1030330.
NEW ROSS SENIORS
At last we have the green light for our weekly outing thanks to club Captain Seán Furlong, who has generously allocated us a two-hour slot on the timesheet each Thursday.
With the rules covering a ten-minute interval between teams on the timesheet, we are limited to twelve teams or 48 players each week, so it is a question of first come, first served to be included.
It is hoped to resume our champagne scramble competition on Thursday, July 24. All names of those wishing to take part should be forwarded to Jamesie Murphy (jamesiemurphy@gmail.com, 085-1846172, or 051-421151) as soon as possible. The first 48 names in will be formed into teams, just as we do for away outings.
Teams will be published in good time in this newspaper and on the golf club website. After this initial trial run, we will again ask for the first 48 applicants for the next two weekly outings.
Rules – 1) Selected teams play together for two weekly outings.
2) Entry fee of €6 or €24 per team to be collected by team captain.
3) The envelope with names thereon to be placed in a Seniors’ box.
4) This box will be situated in the lobby of the golf club. 5) Play is restricted to twelve teams going out at ten-minute intervals.
6) Players should only arrive in the car park ten minutes before tee-time.
7) Score cards should be placed in the Seniors’ box. 8) One experienced person to check score cards for results.
9) Champagne scramble - play own ball on par threes. No team can win first prize two weeks running.
WEXFORD LADIES
Wexford ladies were ‘back with a bang’ last week as competition golf returned to the fairways after the Covid-19 hiatus.
Judging by the great scores recorded during the week, all the casual golf really worked well for some of the ladies.
We started the week with a great turn-out for our Senior 14-hole single stableford, with the entry fee now coming out of the new purse system.
Results (36 played): 1, Mary Fallon (19), 29; 2, Josephine Brennan (13), 28; 3, Wendy Tiernan (16), 25 (back seven); 4, Geraldine Broaders (16), 25 (back seven); 5, Von White (26), 25 (back seven).
Well done to the prize-winners, and it was great to see so many ladies eager to play.
Tuesday evening saw the much anticipated return of the open mixed fourball competition, organised as ever by Kathleen Murphy and her ‘team’!
Results: Paul Harrington (15/12) and Aisling O’Leary (2/2), 35 points (back seven); 2, Kieran Purcell (23/18) and Geraldine Broaders (20/16), 35 points; 3, Larry Byrne (10/8) and Carmel Murphy (9/7), 34 points.
Well done to all the prize-winners, and a big thanks to Kathleen for organising.
Although it was a very overcast day, there was no stopping the ladies playing in the first 18-hole stableford competition for over three months on Thursday.
Results (67 played 18 holes, 13 played nine holes; C.S.S. 73 – 35 points): 1, Theresa Morris (27), 40; 2, Bridget O’Neill (31), 39; gross, Aisling O’Leary (2), 31; 3, Deirdre Colfer (18), 37 (back five); Senior, Sally O’Neill (19), 37; nine-hole, Delia Brosnan (36/17), 18 (back six).
There was great scoring in a closely-fought competition. Well done ladies!
Next Thursday’s competition will be an 18-hole single stableford.
The timesheet is now open for the ladies’ and gents’ Pro Shop Classic on Friday, July 17.
As it will not be possible to have any nearest the pin or longest drive competition, our professional, Liam, has organised a nine-hole competition that evening for those who can’t play during the day.
There is now a waiting list system for ladies’ competitions set up on the BRS timesheets.
When you log on and if you can’t book a time which suits you to play, you can choose your waiting list time by simply entering your preferred start and end time.
The waiting list is now set up for the 18-hole competition, nine-hole competition, and the mixed on a Tuesday evening.
Final reminder to all... wash your hands, use your own pen, and stay safe!
DONOHOE’S SOCIETY
Donohoe’s Golf Society played The Burrow twelve-hole course in Rosslare on Sunday. We had 18 players on the morning, thankfully escaping the worst of the weather.
The Nolans made it a family occasion, with Willie Nolan first with 25 points, and in second place was ‘Prof’ Nolan with 24 points.
Winners of the birdie money were ‘Prof’ Nolan and Joe Byrne.
Next Sunday we play Rathaspeck Manor. Please be there by 8.45 a.m.
COOLATTIN
Wednesday, July 1, men’s open singles (C.S.S. 71): 1, Anthony Cousins, 46 points (countback); 2, Paul O’Keeffe, 46 points; 3, Pádraig Doyle, 40 points.
BALLYMONEY
Thankfully last week saw a return to competition play at the club. Wednesday saw a very big turn-out for a ninehole competition.
This was the first test for competition under the new regime following the guidelines for safe play and for entering scores using the Masterscore board.
Results: 1, Ger McNally (19), 22 points; 2, Ger Corrigan (19), 21 points; 3, Martin Murphy (17); 4, Jake O’Shea (22), 21 points; 5, Ed Walsh (13), 21 points.
The weekend saw good conditions with the odd shower, and the course being very busy, with the biggest field ever for an open competition in Ballymoney.
A total of 142 players returned scores in the singles stableford played over Saturday and Sunday.
Results: 1, Colm Stafford (22), 41 points; 2, Paul Cleary (14), 39 points; 3, Brian Leavy (11), 39 points, holding off David Levingston and Anthony Gammell on countback; front nine, Patrick Webster; back nine, Clive Curran.
Next weekend sees the first medal (strokes from back tees) of the year, after a nine-hole on Wednesday.
Names for this year’s matchplay are being taken at the clubhouse.