Cregan lands two holes-in-one in Munster Strokeplay qualifiers

Jason O’Connor

LAST Sunday saw the Munster Strokeplay Qualifiers take place in Deerpark in Killarney with twelve players in three different grades advancing to the finals in Tipperary next month.

The seniors had a few holesin-one, most notably for Tralee’s Jason Cregan who secured two in finishing on 14 under par. Top scorer in the seniors was another Jason from Tralee; Jason O’Regan who finished with 16 under par the best score of the day.

Deerpark’s Damien Fleming had 13 under in qualifying while the last spot came down to the back nine between two of his Killarney club-mates as John McGrath and Ger Casey both tied on 12 under par with John’s better back nine seeing him through to next month’s finals.

In the Intermediate, meanwhile, three of the five spots on offer went to Deerpark with Gearoid Cronin leading the way on seven under par just one shot better than Padraig Hobbert from Tralee.

Deerpark’s John O’Brien shot five under to qualify as both Kieran Fitzpatrick from the Killarney club and Castleisland’s John Clifton finished on three under par to take the other spots.

In the Junior grade meanwhile our County Chairman David Hobbert of Tralee had the best score for the grade with three under par as Seán Ashe from the Gleneagle had level par with Listowel’s Fergus Keane claiming the last spot with four over as five of the six Kerry registered clubs had a player to make it through to the finals in Lakeside in Templemore on the weekend of June 16/17.

This weekend is one of the major weekends of the year in Pitch & Putt in the National Matchplay Finals in Tullamore, Co Offaly. Six Kerry players, five men and one lady take part in two of the three different events.

Damien Fleming, the 2011 winner of the event, is one of two Kerry players playing in the morning session against Jason Larkin from Ierne in Dublin. Tralee’s Jamie Blake plays Fermoy’s Peter O’Donovan in the same session meanwhile.

In the afternoon session, meanwhile, John McGrath takes on Ian Dillon from St Bridgets, while his Deerpark club-mate Jason O’Brien will play Jamie Hogan from the host club. Listowel’s Declan McCarron completes the Kerry interest in the Mens playing Leonard O’Meara from another Offaly club in Erry.

For the first time in over a decade the county will have a female competitor in a new Ladies event for the National Matchplay this year as Tralee’s Lisa O’Connor competes in the sixteen player Ladies Nett Section.

She faces a tough encounter with former National Junior Ladies Strokeplay Champion Sarah O’Neill from Cork in the First Round. The County Board would like to wish all six the very best of luck in Tullamore this weekend.