Captain’s prize time at Gort

LAST weekend it was the turn of the ladies to battle it out for the captain’s (Ann Marie Cradock) prize at Gort and the event attracted a big entry.
This week it’s the turn of the men who will play for Bernard Gillane’s prize with the leaders coming back for a play off on the following Friday evening.
The format for the ladies prize was 18-hole stroke and the winner was Patricia Skehill with 66. She had two strokes to spare from Ruth Naughton with Siobhán O’Connor, also with 68, in third spot. They were followed by Kathleen Sands on 69, Ros Burke with 69, Olga Price with 71, Maura O’Grady with 71, Marie Hannon Healy with 71, Mandy Cosgrove with 72 and Maura Hanrahan with 72. Judith McGann won the gross with 79 while other prize winners were Mary Fahey Coen (past captain), Sara Broderick (committee prize) Pat Wynne (back nine), Josie Collins (front nine and nearest the pin), Mary Kilroy (long drive) and Noreen Mulcair (nine-hole competition).
Bernard Gillane was the winner of the lady captain’s prize to the men on Sunday with 44 points. He won by two from Anthony Curran with third spot filled by Aidan Cafferkey on 40. He was followed by Noel Geoghegan on 39 and Kevin Moran, also with 39.
There will be an open fourball on Thursday next, July 20.

Shannon

The men’s July medal at Shannon saw Jim Fitzgerald return to the winners’ enclosure with a 66 nett. The highlight of Jim’s opening nine that he covered in one over was a birdie at the 8th. Jim covered the back nine in a steady three over with a further birdie coming at the 14th.
Jim had two shots to spare from Noel O’Sullivan who just edged out Derek Sweeney by virtue of a better back nine. A quartet of Christy Sherlock, Ben Coady, Kevin Murphy and Chris Harrigan occupied the next four spots, all returning 69 nett the gross was captured by junior, Daniel Brennan, with a level par 72.
The Wednesday open singles last week saw Vincent Hodge pip visitor Ruairi Price from Dromoland and Kieran Moloney by virtue of a better back nine, all three returning 40 points. The gross was captured by visitor Lorcan Hassett from Dromoland with 32 points.
The ladies 18-hole singles Stableford saw new member Eileen Carey capture her first victory with 36 points by virtue of a better back nine from Vie Leahy who had to be content with the runners-up prize. The gross was won by Margaret Hope with 22 points.
Open week on Sunday saw Paudie Ryan capture the men’s singles with 43 points. Paudie had one point to spare from visitor Mark Coleman from Limerick. Next came Michael Moore, Kevin McCarthy Tom Prendergast and Damien McCarthy all with 40 points. The gross was won by Lewy Halpin Jnr with a level par round of 36 points.
Open week continues with boys and girls singles on this Friday and a mixed scotch foursomes in the evening and a three-person scramble on Saturday. The ladies will play for the July medal next week.

Spanish Point

Mick Kelly was last week’s winner of the senior outing at Spanish Point with 30 points, from Terry Lyons on 24 points.
In the Thursday open, Cathal Whelan won with 37 points.
The Friday nine-hole scramble was won by Eamonn McMahon, Micheál Hehir, and Stephen Cunningham who were one under par for their round.
There were over 60 competitors for the Martin Talty Cup on Sunday when Eamonn McMahon, playing off 19, was the winner with an impressive 45 points. He won by a point from Martin Casey (18) with Diarmuid Whelan (8) in third place on 43 points.

Ennis seniors

Seventy two members played in the Ennis seniors team of three competition last week when the winners were John McLoughlin, Ferdie O’Donoghue and John Guinan with 49 points. They had three to spare from Michael Kenny, Padraig Ryan and Sean Fitzpatrick. In third spot with 45 points were James Ball, Charlie McEnery and Colm McNevin followed by PJ Garry, John Keane and Michael Butler with 45, Noel Pilkington, Dick Pyne and Tim Kelly, also with 45.
In sixth place with 44 points were Pierce Cahill, Martin Concannon and Noel Pyne and they were followed by Dick Herbert, Noel Ruane and Michael Kerin who also had 44 points.

Dromoland

The winners of the weekend three-ball scramble at Dromoland were Mike Casey, Declan O’Leary and David Casey from Brendan O’Flanagan, Brian Arthur and Brian Hickey with third spot filled by Stephen O’Mullane, Alan Larkin and Tim Mullane.
The competition this weekend will be the monthly medal while the intermediate scratch cup will be played for on Sunday. A timesheet will apply.

East Clare

Denis Corcoran was the winner of the men’s singles competition at East Clare last weekend with a score of 42 points. He won from Michael Murphy who had a similar score. Michael G O’Halloran was third with 41 points.
In the ladies singles competition, Nancy Starr was the winner with 39 points from Mairead Toomey on 38 and Pauline Nugent on 37.
The winners of the men’s seniors competition were Richard Keating, Flan Mullane and Tom Moloney from Finbarr Ryan, John Stack and Conor Tuohy.
The men’s club will host a new competition this weekend, the club championship, that will comprise four handicap categories, 0-5 (senior), 6-12 (junior), 13-18 (intermediate) and 19 and over (novice).
There will also be a singles Stableford competition for the ladies.

Woodstock

The Woodstock junior foursomes team had a great win over Shannon in Nenagh on Sunday last. The team was Joan Barrett and Nancy Burke, Bernie Power and Una Patton, Teresa Sherlock and Maireád Carroll with substitute Mary Gleeson. The team manager is Marianne McGough.
They will play Nenagh in Shannon on this Sunday.
In the captain’s (John O’Connor) fourball on Sunday, the winners with 46 points were Ray Casey and Ed Grace. Mike Kelly and Jarlath Fahy had a similar score and they finished second a point ahead of Mark Hogan and Darragh Collins.
In the ladies section, Joan Barrett and Mairead Carroll were the winners with 37 points from Maura Umlawski and Agatha Merry on 35 points.
In the weekly seniors 16-hole competition, Jim McMahon was the winner with 33 points.
The Wednesday open singles was won by PJ Carmody with 42 points from Conor Secton on 41 points and Sean Burke on 39 points.

Kilrush

Anthony Burke won the St Gobain, open singles at Kilrush last Wednesday with a score of 63 nett. He had a shot to spare from Denis Lawlor with Bernie Clancy a further shot back in third spot. The nines were won by Michael Shiel and Denis Nolan.
In the Kay Glynn mixed scotch Stableford competition on Friday, Tom Prendeville and Marion Brennan were the winners with 41 points from Gabriel Looney and Stephanie Roughan who had a similar score.
Saturday’s team-of-four competition was won by the Lissycasey quartet of Tony, Barry and Finbarr McMahon and Martin Daly with 93 points from Pakie O’Dea, Roy Capon, Tom O’Dea and Gabriel Looney on 91 points.
Tony Kenny won Sunday’s open singles from Seamus O’Doherty and Larry Byrne, all three scoring 40 points. Tom Smyth and Tomas Prendeville won the nines with 22 and 23 points respectively.
In an open singles Stableford competition Denis Nolan won with 45 points from John Normoyle on 43 and Damian Casey on 42. The category winners were Michael O’Reilly and Martin Morrissey with 41 points each and Noel Kilkenny with 40 points.

Nora Daly Society

The members of the Nora Daly Society from Magowna House played for their president’s (Jer D Griffey) prize at Woodstock last week when Michael Murphy emerged as the winner from Tony Lawlor. In third place was Alan Markham followed by Noel Casey and Michael Hayes.
Niall Connellan won the front nine and the long drive while Ger Daly won the back nine. Noel Casey won the prize for nearest the pin while the winner of the guests section was Eoin O’Loughlin. Kathleen McEnery won the ladies section.
The society’s next outing will be on Saturday week, July 24 to Ballykisteen when the tee will be available at 9.30am.

Sixmilebridge

Nenagh will be the venue for an outing for members of the Sixmilebridge society on this Saturday when the tee will be available from 10.30am.

Corofin

There was a relatively small turn out for the July outing of the Corofin Society to Nenagh last Saturday.
In a competition played for the most part in very wet conditions, Michael Ryan, Tubber, emerged winner from Geraldine Lynch and Pat Curtis with Darren Kierce, fourth. Pat McCarthy and Martin Flaherty won the nines.
The next outing of the society will be to Kilrush on Saturday, August 7.

Strong challenge from Sinead

Lahinch’s Sinead Sexton was three shots off the lead following the first round of the Irish girls close golf championship at the Grange Golf Club in Dublin on Tuesday.
Sinead shot a round of 78 that left her three strokes behind leader Amy Farrell from Moate.
Jenny Hennessy from Ennis is in a group nine shots back from the leader having returned a score of 84.
The only other Clare competitor in the competition, Chloe Duggan from Lahinch returned a score of 96 in round one.

Portumna

The captain’s (Pete Gibbs) prize will be played for at Portumna on Saturday and Sunday week.
Last week’s 18-hole singles Stableford competition was won by Donal O’Meara with 41 points from John O’Brien who had a similar score. David Burke was third with 40 points. Sean Robinson won the gross with 32 points while the seniors section was won by Jackie Gilchrist with 37 points.
In the ladies section, Mary Cahalan won the 18-hole stroke competition with 68 from Ann Cuddihy with Annette Cahalan in third spot.
In the weekly nine-hole competition, Tom Moloney was the winner with 22 points from Shane McHugo who had a similar score. Sean Cleary won the gross with 18 points.
In the seniors section, the 14-hole competition was won by Christy O’Rourke from David Slattery.
There will be a ladies and gents open fourball competition on this Saturday and Sunday. There will be a men’s open singles on Monday.
The mixed foursomes keep beat Loughrea in the zone final last week and now go to Ballina (Mayo) to play in the semi finals and finals. The Connacht finals will be hosted by Portumna next year.
The seniors also got through to the next round after they beat Loughrea last Tuesday.

Lahinch

Helen McGrath from Spanish Point was the winner of last week’s ladies singles at Lahinch with 23 points.
The ladies section held an outing to Tralee on Wednesday and the winners of the team event were Olivia Hayes, Val Shannon Anne Vaughan and Jean O’Callaghan with a score of 89 points. They were followed, two points back, by Rina Hanrahan, Connie Fahy, Mary O’Brien and Maire Hanrahan with third spot filled by Pat Comer, Noeleen Boylan, Carmel Pattison and Aisling Maher on 86 points.
Thursday’s men’s open singles was won by Eddie Power from Kilkenny with 38 points. Kevin Ryan (Dunmore) was second with 37 points followed by Aaron McNulty on 35 points. David Conway won the gross with 32 points.
In the ladies gold medal singles stroke competition on Friday, Aedin McCarthy junior was the winner with 74 nett from Val Shannon on a similar score. Liz O’Driscoll was third with 76.
The lady president’s (Mary Daly) prize was played for on Saturday and the winner was Jenny Cagney with 37 points from Chloe Duggan on a similar score. Jenny Hennessy was third with a similar score. The gross was won by Orla Barry with 31 points.
In the silver division, Valerie Shannon was the winner with 36 points from Miriam Abernathy on a similar score with Mary Sadlier a point back in third spot.
Susan Morrison won the bronze category with 34 points from Maire Hanrahan on 33 and Rosaleen Frazer on 32.
Rena Hanrahan and Marie O’Connor won the nines and both scored 19 points.
In the men’s Stableford competition on the Castle course on Saturday, Eamonn Foley was the winner with 44 points from Paul O’Brien on 42 and Dan O’Donovan on 41.
Thomas Benn and Donal Curtin won the men’s foursomes competition on the championship course on Sunday from Gerry McGrath and Michael Power.