All set for International MacKenzie event at Lahinch

MONTHS of preparation have been put in for what promises to be a great occasion at Lahinch next week when the famed Clare club will host the annual international get together for members of Dr Alister MacKenzie-designed courses.
Teams from MacKenzie-designed courses in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Britain and the US will join their Lahinch counterparts from Monday to Thursday inclusive.
This is the sixth staging of the event, which started in MacKenzie’s home in Pasatiempo in California..
In 1927, the great golf architect Alister MacKenzie was invited to submit a design for a new layout. The redesign work took one year to complete and featured undulating triple tiered greens. MacKenzie said, “Lahinch will make the finest and most popular course that I, or I believe anyone else, has ever constructed”.  After Lahinch, MacKenzie went on to design, among others, Augusta National, Cypress Point and Royal Melbourne.
A round of golf in the Greg Norman-designed Doonbeg is included on Monday for the visitors. On Monday evening, the official flag-raising ceremony will take place at 6.30pm followed by a reception and dinner in the clubhouse.
A tour of the Burren has been organised for Tuesday and this will include a visit to O’Connor’s in Doolin where there will be a traditional music session to entertain the visitors.
There will be a ladies’ team-of-four competition on the championship course on Wednesday and Thursday, while the men will play the Castle Course on Wednesday and the championship course on Thursday. The theme is friendship and the cup that will be presented is named the Friendship Cup.
Participants will play with visitors from different clubs and the pairings will change each day.
At the conclusion of play on Thursday, there will be a prize-giving reception in the clubhouse followed by a farewell ceremony.

Bruen Shield
THE opening rounds in the race for the Jimmy Bruen Shield will take place this Saturday and Sunday in Lahinch. The competition begins with the meeting of West Clare neighbours, Doonbeg and Kilrush at 8am on Saturday morning. All Clare clubs will play over the weekend with the winners on Sunday afternoon going through to the North Munster final.

Shannon
SHANNON hosted a team-of-four competition at the weekend when the winners were Colm Flynn (5), Pat Madden (14), Colm Reidy (14) and Denis Quinlan (16) with 100 points. They had three to spare over Ronan (15) and Niall Hynds (12), John O’Connor (21) and John Monahan (23).
In the weekly open singles, Gerard O’Malley (21) was the winner with 43 points from Ray Kiely (12) with 40 points and Jeremiah Walsh (20), who also had 40 points. Jason O’Donnell (2) won the gross with 37 points.
In the ladies’, Eileen Murphy foursomes, Jean Murphy Wright (9) and Joan Hoctor (36) were the winners with 40 points from Lyn Darcy (15) and Lynn Kelly (18) with 37 points.

Kilrush
THE winners of the Friday mixed at Kilrush were Gay Looney, Noel Haier, Peggy Mulqueen and Lucy Blake from Seamus O Doherty, Sean Moran, Freda Moran and Geraldine Burke with third spot filled by Pat Shannon, Michael Hemmings, Margaret Clancy and Agnes Shannon.
The winner of the open singles on Sunday was John Donnelly with 37 points from John McNeilis on a similar score. Seamus O’Doherty was third with 36 points.
Donnelly also won the open singles on Monday with 37 points from McNeilis on 35 points, while the ladies’ winner was Peggy Mulqueen with 39 points from Mary McNamara who also scored 39 points.
In the ladies’ Australian spoons foursomes on Thursday, Marion Brennan and Anne Hogan were the winners from Mary Bolton and Peggy Mulqueen.
Entries are now being accepted for the Glynn Cup, a men’s fourball matchplay and the draw will take place on the weekend of May 20.

Woodstock
THE winner of the Wednesday open singles at Woodstock was Colm Mullen (9) with 43 points from Tom Hanrahan 98, who had 42 points.
In a similar competition at the weekend, Andrew Mason (16) was the winner with 44 points from Joe Casey (18) with a similar score and tom Hanrahan (7) with 43 points. 
In the two-person scramble on Monday, Paul (14) and Matthew Sherlock (12) were the winners with 67.3.

Lahinch
THE Thursday open singles at Lahinch was won by Kevin Cleary (13) with 37 points from Ger Ryan (16) with a similar score. Philip Chambers (18) was third with 35 points.
The ladies played for the Neville Stewart Cup on Saturday when the winner was Marjorie Ahern (11) with 39 points from Nicola Kenny (2)) on 37 points and Olivia Lucas (9) with 37 points. Jenny Hennessy won the gross with 29 points.
In the silver category, Georgina Condon (16) was the winner with 36 points from Rose Doyle (12) with a similar score. Liz O’Driscoll (21) won the bronze category with 36 from Anne Regan (28) with 35 points.
There was a men’s fourball Stableford competition on the Castle course on Saturday when the winners were Sean (11) and Kieran Shanahan (21) with 43 points from Dermot Hurley (11) and Denis Creedon (7) who had 42 points.
The lady captain’s (Nollie McCarthy) prize to the men was the competition on Sunday when the winner was Eugene Judge with 42 points from Damian Keane on a similar score. Tommy Lenihan was third with 41 points followed by Donie O’Shea with 41, Fergus Blake with 40 and Alan Murphy with 39. Dermot Morris won the gross with 37 points. The winner of the junior prize was Jack Hennessy.
In a men singles Stableford competition on Monday for the Visitors’ Cup, the winner was Aidan O’Driscoll (11) with 38 points from Enda Connolly (6) with 37 points, Darragh McDermott (12) with 36 points and Tom Doyle (11) with 35 points. Eddie Power won the gross with 30 points.
The ladies had a scotch foursomes competition on Monday for the Granard Cup and the winners were Una McCarthy (16) and Niamh Carey (33) with 43 points.

Ennis
IN the ladies’, St Flannan’s competition, Jean Moloney was the winner with 39 points from Ann Kelly on 36 and Mary Leahy on 36. Maura McNicholas won the Friday open for ladies with 37 points from Della Burns on 34 points. 
The senior men held a three-ball modified scramble last week when the winners with 81 points were Luke Coote, Ned Ryan and Michael Kenny from Liam Roche, Tom Pender and Tim McAllister who had 77 points. In third spot with 76 points were Tony Coote, John Vaughan and Sean O’Gorman followed by Piece Cahill, Tom Pilkington and Pat O’Reilly with 75, Gerry Gilligan, Frank Sheedy and Pat McGuire with 75 with sixth spot filled by Paddy Cahill, Bill Leacy and Seamus Hanrahan with 73.
In the May Bank Holiday Monday singles competition, Steve Burns was the winner with 38 points from Phelim O’Neill on 37 and John McEntee on 35. Donal Vaughan won the gross with 26 points.
There was an open team-of-four competition on Sunday when the winners with 93 points were Gerry Gilligan, Ger O’Halloran, Frank Landy and Mike Considine. They had one to spare from Jason Woods, Pat Whelan, Mattie O’Neill and Mike Ensko.
The winners of the open fourball on Saturday were Garrett Barry and Fintan McEvoy with 41 points.
Friday’s open singles was won by Leroy Crowe with 40 points from Colin Ryan with a similar score. William Howard was third with 38 points followed by Frank Landy with 38 points, while the gross was won by Kieran Cunnane with 36 points.

Dromoland
AT Dromoland, the ladies’ Bumper Medal competition was won by Yvonne Shanahan with 73 nett from Julie Newman on 75 nett with Mary Arthur third with 77 nett.
The winners of the recent men’s team-of- four competition were Declan and Jason O’Leary, Mark Hogan and Donagh Moynihan with 82 points. In second place with a similar score were Seamus Cusack, Sean Daly, Mike Hickey and Jason Woods.
The four person scramble winners were Eoghan and Conor O’Loughlin, Peter and Stephen Hennessy with 57 nett. They pipped David and Colm Fitzgerald, Brian Arthur and Majella Cotgreave.
In the men’s the winner was Tom Frawley with 39 points from Brian Sheedy on 37 points and Declan Cusack on 37 points. Noel Stapleton won the over 18 handicap category with 34 points, while the junior winner was Daniel Brennan with 39 points.
There will be a singles Stableford competition this weekend.

Spanish Point
ACTIVITIES for the various teams on the inter-club schedule are happening each week and next up is the Jimmy Bruen team who play at Lahinch on Saturday. They meet the winners of Kilkee and East Clare at 2.45pm and team managers, Brendan Reddan and Eamonn McMahon have had their panel practising regularly.
The JB Carr team played Ennis last week in their second-round match, at Spanish Point and lost to this very strong team, who won the All-Ireland Trophy in 2010 and still retain the nucleus of that side. The score was four games to one.
Last weekend, the lady captain’s (Nuala Kilroy) prize to the men was the main event and was played in singles stroke format and had golfer-of-the-year points on offer. It also coincided with the opening of the new green on the eight hole, which brings the course back to the par of 68 as planned in the new Austin Skerritt design opened a few years ago. This green was designed for the club by well-known Ennis golfer Noel Pyne and the course committee together with the head green-keeper deserve great credit for bringing it into play so soon as it was severely damaged in the heavy winter rain.
Continuing his run of good form, the winner of the prize with a great score of 64 nett was Donal Burke (19) from Brendan Reddan (15) with 67 nett. John O’Brien (14) with 69 nett, Brendan McKenna (20) 69 nett and Gerry Meade (16) with 71 nett.
The Friday open winner was Pat Greene (13) with 29 points. The draw for the Gallery Cup matchplay has been made and the committee remind members that the deadlines for completing rounds must be adhered to.
In the ladies’ 18-hole Stableford competition last weekend, the winner was Áine Buckley (19) with 37 points from Martina Skerritt (19) with 34 points and Geraldine Reddan (24) with 33 points. The Granard foursomes competition will be played for next weekend with a timesheet in operation.

Portumna
THE Portumna Branch of the Mentally Handicapped Association will hold their annual golf classic at Portumna on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This is the 19th anniversary of the event. All monies raised will go to constructing a gym in St Dympna’s Shannon Road.
Last week’s open singles was won by Pat Begley (19) with 37 points from Adrian Madden (10) with 36 points and Dermot O’Donoghue (5) with 34 points. JP McLoughlin (scratch) won the gross with 36 points.
In the club fundraiser classic at the weekend, the winning team comprised Mick McGivern (13), Ger Brehony (13), Dermot Egan (14) and Mike Coniry (16) with 102 points. They won by three from Pauline McEvoy (26), Carmel Cunningham (15), Mary Conwell (26) and Kathleen Lynch (16). In third spot with 98 points were Leo Kelly (9), Ciarán Kelly (20), Bríd Kelly (25) and Anne Fahy (17) followed by Mike Fallon (19), Graham Carty (15) Willie Carty (8) and Paul Claffey (15) with 97 points Mick Keyes (11), Lily Craydon (27) Alan Madden (20) and Denis Burke (17) with 97. In sixth place with 97 points were Francis McClearn (12), Mickey Glynn (12), John Hynes (20) and Martin McDonagh (20).
The annual JB Stronge open singles stroke competition will take place this Saturday and Sunday.

Shannon Chamber
SHANNON Chamber’s annual classic takes place, once again, on the longest day of the year. The team-of-four event will take place at Shannon and another big entry is expected.

Sixmilebridge
SIXMILEBRIDGE society will hold an outing to East Clare this Saturday when the tee is reserved from 9.30am to 10.45am.

Clare Hurlers’ Classic
SIXTY teams played in the Clare Hurlers’ Golf Classic on Thursday and Friday at Shannon. Scoring was good with the Tipperary team of Tony Lacey, Seamus Hickey, Peter Kennedy and Donal Keogh emerging as the winners with an impressive tally of 107 points. They became the first holders of the Ger Hoey Memorial Trophy, which was presented t by Siobhán Hoey, wife of the late St Josephs’ star.
In second place on 106 points were the Guinness team of Micheál Talty, Stephen Guilfoyle, Eric Murrihy and Fergal Hehir. They were followed by the Gate Bar from Limerick on 105 points and their team comprised proprietor Conor Moroney, Mike O’Brien, Kevin Moloney and PJ Moroney, all members of Broadford GAA.
In fourth place were former Cork hurler Ronan Curran, John O’Callaghan, Paudie Hurley and Pat Curran with 101 points. Kieran McDermott, Noel Lordan, Paul Talty and Tim O’Brien were next with 99 points followed by Shannon Golf Club (Aidan Mannix, captain, Jim O’Grady, Colm Egan and Karl Moloney) with 99 points and the Wolfe Tones team of Andy Carr Tom and Daniel Brennan and John McPhillips with 97 points.
The prizes were presented by Clare team manager, Davy Fitzgerald and team captain Pat Donnellan in the presence of other team members. The manager paid tribute to all who supported the event and to Shannon Golf Club.

East Clare
KIERAN McNamara (16) was the winner of the men’s open singles at East Clare with 41 points from Bryan Tobin (15) with 40 points and Mark McNamara (16) with 40 points.
In an open team-o-three competition, the winners were Tony Stuart, Dominic Stuart and Martin Crotty with 66 points from Ger Hogan, Brendan Foley and Catherine Minogue with 60 points.
The winners in the ladies’ section were Noreen Skehan, Deidre Cooney and Mary Rogers with 64 points.
In the ladies’ open team event, the winners were Rose Fitzgerald, Brigid Minogue and Nora O’Brien.
The winners of the Friday scramble were John Doyle, Mary Hogan and John Brett from Liam Husband, Noreen Doyle and Emer Dooley with third spot filled by Brigid Minogue, Margaret Lynch and Brendan Moloney.
This weekend the men’s club will have an 18-hole singles competition, while the ladies will have an 18-hole stroke event.

Gort
DEREK Kinsella (18) won the Monday open singles at Gort with 42 points from Eanna Melville (12) who had a similar score. Michael Kelly (18) was third with 40 points, while Adrian Conway (8) won the gross with 32 points.
Tom Finneran (14) won the weekend singles with 43 points from Jimmy Hannigan (18) on 42 points, John Melville (15) on 41 points and Pat Fitzpatrick (16) with 41 points. Colman Cooney (3) won the gross with 32 points.
This weekend, the club cup qualifier will be the competition for me.
Last week’s Rosebowl 18-hole stroke competition was won by Maura O’Grady (30) and David Daly (16) with 68 from Sara Broderick (22) and John Kelleher (10) with 69. In third spot were Regina Malone (34) and Pat Cradock (18) with 71.
This week the ladies will have an 18-hole stroke competition.

Pitch and putt
CONOR Hanrahan was the winner of the stroke play competition at the Clare Road at the weekend. PJ Considine was second with Billy Griffin winning the gross.
The two-ball scramble was won by Denis McElligott and Garath Kerin from Tony Clancy and Tommy Kelly.