Dromoland hosts Pierce Purcell Shield

Dromoland will host the Pierce Purcell Shield competition this weekend and all Clare clubs will be participating.
This competition is for players in the handicap range from 12 to 15. The winners of the weekend competition will go through to contest the North Munster final.

Sinéad ­represents Munster
Munster went down to Ulster in the ladies’ inter-provincial championship at Royal County Down last week.
In the final, Ulster defeated Munster, whose team included Lahinch member, Sinéad Sexton.
Sinéad played with Chloe Ryan in the foursomes and they halved their match when the Clare teenager sank a 30-ft putt on the 18th.
Later in the singles, Sinead was beaten 2 and 1 by Lucy Simpson.

Lahinch
It was a busy weekend at Lahinch, with a series of competitions for men and ladies.
Last Thursday’s open singles was won by Kevin Power (17) from Kilkenny with 38 points from David Sheedy (6) on 37 with Ronan Gilmartin (18) in third spot with a similar score. Patrick Whelan (Castle) won the gross with 37 points.
Eileen Rose Power (scratch) from Kilkenny won the ladies’ competition with 30 points.
Lahinch and Castletroy played the annual Quinlan Trophy match on Friday on the championship course, with the hosts winning on a score of 348 points to Castletroy’s 335.
The home club’s leading scorers were Olivia Lucas and Lynn Slattery with 39 points from Valerie Hassett and Anna Glynn with 36 points and Catherine McKenna and Connie Fahy with 36 points.
Castletroy’s leading pairings were Mary Quinlan and Michelle Magner with 40 points, Eithne Leonard and Angela O’Dwyer with 40 points Josephine Moran and Ann Noonan with 39 points.
In the Neville Stewart Cup, a ladies’ singles Stableford competition, Olivia Lucas (10) was the winner with 37 points from Oonagh Mee (26) with 36 points and Mary Daly (14) with 36 points. Valerie Hassett won the gross with 29 points.
In a men’s fourball Stableford competition on the Castle Course on Saturday, John Wall (10) and Darren Connolly (17) were the winners with 47 points.
The lady captain’s (Elaine Doyle) prize to the men was played for on Sunday and the winner was Jimmy Doyle (14) with 38 points from Gerard Dunworth (7) with 38 points. They were followed by Michael Sherry (12) with 37 points, Simon Morris (7) with 36 points, Kevin Cleary (15) with 36 points and Michael Healy (14) with 36 points. The gross was won by Niall Morrison with 31 points.
The ladies’ competition on Sunday was the Burns Lindow Cup, a singles Stableford event played on the Castle Course. The winner with 38 points was Susan Morrison (32) from Marjorie Ahern (12) with 37 points. In third spot with a similar score was Teresa Felle (30) followed by Mary Gibson (14) with 36 points. Olivia Lucas won the gross with 27 points.
Aedin McCarthy Junior (12) won the silver section with 36 points while Oonagh Fitzpatrick (20) won the bronze section with 35 points.
In the ladies’ scotch foursomes on Monday on the Castle Course, Yvonne (16) and Susan Morrison (31) were the winners with 41 points from Jean O’Callaghan (17) and Catherine McKenna (18) with 40 points.
The men played for the visitors cup on the championship course on Monday when Peter Hennessy (4) was the winner with 69 nett from Tony Molloy (10) on 71 and Jim Young Junior on 73. Ronan Cooney won the gross with 76.

Ennis
Seventy-four members played in the Ennis seniors team-of-four 14-hole competition last week when the winners were Jim Felle, Michael Nunan, Joe O’Brien and Aidan Lynch.
In second place were Johnny Cullinan, Frank Landy, Frankie White and Sean Fitzpatrick followed by Greg Fogarty, Pat Cahill, John Cullinan and Tim Ryan.
In fourth place were Sean O’Gorman, Dick O’Connell, Jimmy McNamara and Peter Farrelly followed by John Keane Tom Purcell, Tim Kelly and Maurice Walshe. In sixth place were Pádraig Ryan, Tim McAllister, Vincent Gardiner and Pat Mullins, with seventh position filled by Charlie McEnery, Brian Kelly, Conor Murphy and Michael Torpey.
In the men’s fourball at the weekend, Frank Moore (NewcastleWest) and Jer Lacey (Charleville) were the winners with 42 points from Noel Whelan and Flan Glynn, who had a similar score. Jason Woods and Pascal Phelan were third with 41 points.
The winner of the Friday open singles was Syl Barrett with 38 points from David Egan (Spanish Point), who also scored 38 points. In third place was Gary Walsh followed by Jarlath Fahy (Woodstock) and they also returned 38 points. Anthony Sweeney (Woodstock) won the gross with 32 points.
In the ladies’ 18-hole Stableford competition, Deirdre Molyneaux was the winner with 36 points from Ann O’Loughlin on 35, Joan Barrett on 35 and Cora Kerins on 34 with Kitty Morris winning the gross with 21 points.
The winners of the ladies’ seniors outing were Phil Butler, Bridie Keane and Carmel Verling with 57 points from Mary Walshe, Mary Woulfe and Carmel Cummins on 56. In third spot with 53 points were Angela Gough, Oonagh Fitzpatrick and Ann Casey and they were followed by Margaret Dinan, Nora Kelly and Nuala Guinan, also with 53 points.

Woodstock
The weekly seniors’ 16-hole singles competition at Woodstock was won by Tom Dormer with 34 points.
In last week’s ladies’ 18-hole singles competition, Anne Marie Russell won with 36 points from Kathleen McEnery on 33. In a similar competition on Sunday, Teresa Sherlock won with 34 points from Bernie Power, who had a similar s core. There will be another ladies’ singles this Sunday when the draw for partners will be at 11.50am.
In the open singles on Wednesday, Thomas Gleeson (13) was the winner with 47 points from Shane Slattery (13) on 44 points with Michael Reen (11) in third spot with 43 points.
The weekend’s open fourball was won by Cathal O’Connor and Michael O’Brien with 45 points from Cormac Walsh and Tom Hanrahan on 42 points. There will be a club singles competition this weekend.

East Clare
In the men’s fourball competition at East Clare at the weekend Jim Donovan (15) and Liam Wogan (18) were the winners with 43 points from William (6) and Kevin O’Brien (21) on 43 points.
The winners of the men’s senior competition were Vinny Henchy, Michael Gough, Michael Quigley and Jack Hogan from Flan Mullane, John Brett and Trom Moloney, with third spot filled by John Farrell, Jackie McHugh and  Finbar Ryan.
Mairead Twomey and Ann McInerney won the ladies’ two-ball competition with 48 points from Mary Brennan and Breda O’Loughlin on 44 points.
The winners of the ladies’ seniors outing were Bess Fennessy, Mary Buglar and Mary Stritch from Mary Brennan, Mary Farrell and Mary Hayes.
The men will have a fourball betterball competition this weekend while the ladies will have a golfer-of-the-year competition.

Spanish Point
Spanish Point junior member Ross Burke has made extraordinary progress in the past few months. He started playing last year and immediately showed a great aptitude for the game and at the beginning of March this year had a handicap of 27. At this stage, two months later, he has consistently broken standard scratch, bringing in a regular return of over 40 points in competition and last week won the lady captain’s (Breda Murphy) prize to the men with 41 points. Significantly, with that win, he has now reduced his handicap to 14, which is an improvement of 13 shots in under two months and at 14 years of age his approach is commendable as he hopes to be in single figures later this year.
Brendan Reddan (16) was second with 40 points followed by Christy Leyden (21) with 39 points, Gerry Meade (16) with 38 points and David Fitzgerald (15) with 37points.
The winner of the Easter Monday open was Niamh Fitzgerald (32) with 48 points from Rory Sexton (28) with 42 points followed by Tony Duggan (17) Rathbane, with 40 points.
In the seniors’ open Brendan Reddan (16) was the winner with 40 points. Last Friday’s open singles was won by Ross Burke (15) with 41 points. In the junior open Cathal Whelan (9) won with 44 points.
Friday’s nine-hole scramble was won by Jim Marrinan (17), Fred Haptonstal (22) and Stephen Cunningham (20) with three-under gross.
The past captains and president’s day has been scheduled for Saturday, June 4.

Dromoland
In the Australian Spoons ladies’ foursomes on Saturday at Dromoland, the winners were Mary Arthur and Yvonne Shanahan from Julie Newman and Fran Feigherty. This week’s ladies’ competition will be a bumper medal stroke event.
In the weekend 18-hole singles Stableford competition, Stephen O’Mullane was the winner with 39 points from Con Ryan on 38, Donie Hassett on 37 and Brian Shalley on 35. Jason O’Leary won the junior section with 38 points.
The Tuesday evening mixed scramble continues to be a huge success.

Gort
The men’s competition at Gort at the weekend was a team-of-four event and the winners with 91 points were Trevor Cummins, John Kelleher, Kevin Mulkerrins and Ronnie Killeen followed by Kieran Reddy, Tony Curran, Sean Hansbury and Eamon Morrissey with 89 points. In third spot with a similar score were Michael Cunningham, Gerry Cahill, Philip Dunne and Paddy Grealish.
Last week’s open singles was won by David Hannigan with 42 points from Gerard Smith, with a similar score. They were followed by Ed Purcell with 39 points and Bernard Byrne with 37 points while Eoin O’Ceallaigh won the gross with 31 points.  
This weekend the men will have a golfer-of-the-year stroke medal competition.
Meanwhile, in last week’s ladies’ singles, Ruth Naughton won with 73  from Siobhán O’Connor on a similar score and Josie Collins on 74.
Last week’s ladies open singles was won by Helen McCormick with 46 points from Sara Broderick on 36 and Josie Collins on 35.
This week’s ladies’ competition will be the Australian Spoons 18-hole foursomes.

Portumna
In the open classic at Portumna at the weekend the winners were Anne Fahy (19), Brid Kelly (24), Mary McDonagh (21) and Carmel Cunningham (15) with 108 points. They won from Philip Madden (20), Cyril Lowry (14), Mike Coniry (18) and Martin Kennedy (8) on 104 points.
In third spot with 102 points were Ronan Nevin (13), Pat Healy (14), Alan Hayes (15) and Eddie Moloney (17) followed by Geraldine O’Reilly (29), Marie Kelly (30), Ann Daly (30) and Debbie Ann Leonard (24), with a similar score.
In fifth spot with 100 points were Mabel Conroy (23), Pauline McEvoy (27), Jim Donoghue (23), and Sean Whelan (11), followed by Mickey Glynn (15), Francis McClearn (12), Frank Forde (20) and Martin McDonagh (20), with a similar score. In seventh spot with 99 points were Gerry (12) and Ronan Madden (19), Mickey Glynn (15) and Francis McClearn (12), followed by Carmel (15), Jimmy (15) and Kevin Cunningham (7) and Damien Donoghue (10) with 98 points. A point back on 97 points were John (9) and Philip Harte (12), John Kennedy (12) and Gerry Coleman (16), with 10th place filled by John (19), Lyons (14) and Ollie Lyons (18) and TJ Shiel (6) on  96 points.
In the open three-ball competition, the April winners were  Tom Concannon, Oughterard Golf Club, Enda Finn, Curra West and Dermot Dunicon, Curra West, with 55 points from  Eamon Kelly, Liam Sheedy and Paddy Kennedy, Nenagh, with 53 points.
The three-ball final will take place this coming weekend.
The JB Stronge Cup will be played on Sunday. This is an 18-hole open stroke competition and it is one of the major events of the golfing calendar at Portumna.
The local Ability West three-ball will take place from Tuesday, May 17 to Friday, May 20.

Shannon
The ladies’ April medal at Shannon saw Jean Murphy-Wright return the best gross score of the year to date with a five-over 79 for a nett 70, which saw her victorious by one shot.
Jean covered the front nine in three over with a birdie at the fourth being the highlight. She then covered the back nine in two over with a further birdie at the 13th. Jean had one shot to spare from Hillary Clein and lady captain Mary O’Brien, both returning 71 nett, with Hillary edging out Mary courtesy of a better back nine. Ann Daly was fourth on 73 nett with Vie Leahy fifth on 74 nett. Vie’s daughter, Michelle Pyke, won the gross with 88 gross.
The men’s Wednesday open singles saw Michael Kilmartin lead the rest of the field a merry dance when his 44 points saw him a comfortable winner by three points. Michael laid the foundation for victory when he covered the front nine in one over par for 24 points. Highlight of his front nine were back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth. A rock-steady back nine of 20 points, highlighted by a birdie at the 18th, was sufficient for victory. In second place was Colm Hanley, who was around in one over par for 41points. Highlight of Colm’s round was a finish of birdie, par, eagle which saw him cover the back nine in one under par. His tremendous finish allowed him to edge out Jim O’Grady on the back six. Jim also had an excellent back nine, which he covered in two under, with his only concession to par coming at the 15th but offset by birdies at the 12th, 14th and 18th. The gross was captured by Daniel Brennan, who covered his last 11 holes in six-under par.
The men’s open singles last Saturday saw all home players finish in the prizes. Brendan Hughes won the spoils with 43 points. After a moderate front nine of 19 points, Brendan caught fire on his inward journey, which he covered in one-under par for 24 points.
Brendan’s concession to par came at the 13th and 16th but was offset by three birdies at the 10th, 15th and 18th. In second place was Brendan Foley with 40 points while a better back nine enabled Ricardo Pino edge out Liam Hogan for third place. The gross was captured by Bryan Power with 33 points.
On Sunday, there was an open team-of-four which saw a quartet of Seamus Doyle, Kieran Carmody, Declan Carmody and Jeremiah Breen capture first place with 99 points. In second place were Vincent Hodge, Ger Flanagan, Liam Heffernan and Dave Heffernan on 96 points. In third place were visitors B Naughton, M Kennedy-Hogan, M Hickey and M Scanlon on 95 points.
On Monday, there was open men’s singles, which saw Jim O’Grady go around in one-under par for 42 points. Despite a concession to par at the first, Jim covered the next 13 holes in three-under, recording birdies at the second, third and sixth holes. A double bogey at 15 did not derail his score as he covered the last three holes in level par to win by two points from Liam Hogan.
In third place was Kieran Keating on 39 points, who just edged out Adam McMahon into fourth place courtesy of a better back nine. Pádraig Cahillane captured the gross with 33 points. This weekend, the professional’s (Artie Pyke) prize to the men and ladies will be the attraction.

Kilrush
Entries for competitions at Kilrush over the May Bank Holiday weekend were very good.  The weekend kicked off with the Friday mixed and the winners were Pat Shannon, John Hehir, Aida Stanford and Margaret Hehir from Finbar McMahon, Ailish Lorigan and Mick Lane.
The ladies’ singles competition played for on Thursday was won by Margaret Griffin (28) with 41 points and she was followed by Mary Bolton (24) with 38 points, Martina Hannan (27) with 38 points and Maeve Murphy (25) with 38 points.
In category 1 Niamh Whelan (12) won with 34 points while the category 2 winner was Annie Gallagher (19) with 35 points with the category 3 prize going to Ursula Lineen (33) with 37 points.
The annual club fundraiser team of four, played for over Saturday and Sunday, was won by Ollie McNamara (12), Tomas Prendeville (12), Tom Prendeville (16) and James Murtagh (17) with 93 points followed in second on 92 points by Denis Nagle (8), Finbar McMahon (15), Noel Haier (18) and Tom O’Dea (26).
In third spot on 91points were Robert Prunty (13), Kieran Lillis (15), Michael Hemmings (19) and Tom Clarke (8).
Noel Haier scored a hole in one at the 14th and in doing so secured a very valuable five points for his team.
The open singles, played for on Bank Holiday Monday, was won by Brian Scanlon (13) with 35 points from Shane McGibney (22) on 33 points
The Leadmore Trophy will be played for this Sunday with a timesheet in operation and the weekend kicks off with the Friday mixed, with the draw at 6.15pm sharp.

Kilkee
The bank holiday fourball at Kilkee was won by P Haugh (7) and J Keane (18) with 46 points from J McNamara (15) and T Carr (14) with 43 points while third spot was filled by L Mullane (12) and P Sheahan (16) with 43 points.

Building of Hope
Woodstock will be the venue for a golf classic on Friday, May 13 in aid of the Building of Hope project. Details are available from Helen O’Neill at 085 1295644.