GORT was the venue for the final outing of the season in the Clare-Galway Seniors’ League last week when 95 members played.
In category A (handicaps (0-12) Ollie McNamara (Woodstock) was the winner with 33 points from Tommy Madden, Gort, who had a similar score. John McGuire (Kilkee) was third with 32 points.
Category B (handicaps 13-18) was dominated by Gort members with Willie McNamara the winner with 39 points from Kevin Mulkerrins on 38 and Gerry Cooney on 37.
Brendan Kearney from Gort won category C (handicaps 19 and over) with 35 points from Sean Fitzpatrick (Ennis) on 34 and Christy Wiley from Gort on 34.
Ennis member, Noel Pyne, won the golfer-of-the-year award

Ennis
ENNIS seniors had a team-of-four competition last Thursday. The winners, with 78 points, were Paul Mockler, John McLaughlin, Tom Pilkington and Pádraig Rutherford. In second place on 73 were George Dilger, Michael Butler, Tony Coote and Michael Ball. In third were Eamonn Murphy, Tom Pender, Dick Herbert and Conor Murphy on 71 followed by Pat O’Reilly, Joe O’Brien, Greg Fogarty and Eamon Corry on 71. In fifth place were Pat Cusack, Jim Hennessy, Michael Nunan and Michael Finn on 71 followed by Gerry Gilligan, Michael Torpey, Ollie Kenneally and Frank Coffey on 71. In seventh place were John White, Sean O’Gorman, TJ Waters and Colm McNevin on 70.

Kilrush
KILRUSH ladies commenced their competitions for 2012 last Thursday with the Mary Gleeson singles. The winner was Mary Carmody (36) with 28 points from  Anne Coen (17) with a similar score with third spot filled by Margaret Clune (31) with 27 points, followed by Nicola O Leary (33 ) also with 27 points.
In the men’s singles competition on Sunday, Brian Scanlan was the winner with 29 points from Noel Healy on 28.
In the senior men’s scramble last week, the winners were Barry Taylor, Paddy Carmody, PW Glynn and Leo Harvey, from Aeneas O’Connor, Michael Hemmings and Tom O’Dea, with third place filled by John Robinson, Kieran Lillis and Tom McGrath.
Members of the club are asked to attend the Fair in the Square this Saturday from 11am to 3pm.

Woodstock
TOM Hanrahan (9) was the winner of the club singles at Woodstock at the weekend with 46 points, from Frank Tone (17) who had a similar score helped by a hole-in-one at the 14th. In third spot with 45 points was Frank McEnery (15).
This week’s competition will be a club singles, while the semi-finals of the spring league will take place on Sunday.

Shannon
THOMAS O’Dea (13) was the winner of the March medal at Shannon at the weekend with 65. He pipped Patrick Hickey (15), who had a similar score with Kieran Considine (10) in third spot on 68. Noel O’Brien (9) was next with 68 followed by John Paul Meaney (11) with 68, Michael Condon (15) with 70 and Tom Kiely (13) with 70. Ronan Hehir (6) won the gross with 74 from Ed Hickey (1) with 75.

Lahinch
IN the men’s singles Stableford competition at Lahinch on Saturday, Cathal Hegarty (11) was the winner with 41 points, from Dan O’Donovan (10) with 39 points and Eugene Hyland (12) with 38 points. Mark Ryan won the gross with 33 points.
In the ladies’ singles Stableford competition on Sunday, Jenny Cagney (14) was the winner with 29 points.
The winners of the men’s four-ball Stableford competition on Sunday on the old course were Mark Ryan (+1) and Thomas Neenan (1) with 43 points and they had one to spare over Jerry (8) and Jeffrey Foley (15).

East Clare
KEVIN Stritch (17) and Martin Tuohy (19) were the winners of the men’s scotch foursomes at East Clare with 59 nett from Teddy O’Hanlon (14) and Michael O’Hanlon (18) 60 nett.
In the men’s seniors competition, the winners were William McLysaght, Tony McNulty and Vinny Henchy, from Chris Davis, Willie Roche and Jim Fahey, with third spot filled Brendan Moloney, Ted Harrington and Steve Symes.
The winner of the ladies’ medal was Trish Browne with 67 nett, while Bridie Hanrahan with 72 nett won category A. Mary Brennan with 72 nett won category B and Deirdre Cooney with 73 nett won category 3.
In the ladies’ seniors competition, Sue Casey won from Jenny Ryan with Bess Fennessy in third spot.
There will be a singles matchplay qualifier for men this weekend, while the ladies will have an 18-hole Stableford competition.
This is the last week for qualifying for the final of the winter league. There is still a mighty battle on for the four final places and as Kevin Mannion’s team made a great stride last week, other teams also had very good results over the weekend.

Kilkee
THE winning team in week three of the spring league at Kilkee comprised J Murray (10) 29 points, L Mullane (12) 29 points, M Reidy (16) 33 points, M Miniter (17) 35 points, M Smyth (18) 28 points and L O’Connor (24) 17 points. The best individual score last week came from J Lynch (12) with 35 points.

Spanish Point
THE senior open day, open to both male and female golfers, which takes place each week on Tuesday, continues to attract a big entry. The winner on Tuesday, March 13, was John McMahon (24) from Dingle with 38 points and he was followed in second place by Patrick O’Boyle (19), also with 38 points. John O’Sullivan (18) shot 38 points to take first on Tuesday, March 20.
For the Saturday and Sunday of St Patrick’s weekend, the competition was a team of three or four scramble and the winners were Liam Ryan (14), Ray Ward (15), Jim Marrinan (16) and Robbie Healy (16) with 52.9 nett (par 66). Runners-up were the team of Brendan Reddan (16), Tony Crowley (19) and John O’Brien (15) with 53.7 nett.
On Monday, March 19, the competition was a nine-hole re-entry and conditions were very windy. Continuing his current good form was Paidi McGough (11) with 21 points.
The Friday open last week was won by Kevin Hynes (17) with 38 points.
In the singles stroke competition at the weekend, the winner was Seamus McMahon (15) with 65 nett, from Joe Flynn (17) 66 nett, Liam Ryan (14) with 67 and Donal Burke (19) with 68 nett.
Competitions continue as per the fixture list with time sheets in the clubhouse. First round of the 2012 J B Carr Trophy versus Woodstock will be at Spanish Point on Thursday, April 5 at 2pm.

Dromoland
THE winners of the three-ball scramble at Dromoland were Pat McGrath, Aaron Duggan and John Collins, followed by Frank O’Grady, Cormac O’Neill and Seamus Cusack, with third spot filled by Brian Shally, John Dreelan, and Sean Burns
Next weekend’s competition is an 18-hole singles Stableford.
In the ladies’ section, the winter league has concluded after 10 weeks of uninterrupted play in great conditions. The winning team comprised Mary Arthur, Beata Porter, Ann Murphy, Karina O’Neill and Tina McGuire. The winners of the 18-hole competition last week were Cora O’Toole, Joan Ryan and Mary Galvin.
The Granard Cup Foursomes was played on the March 25 and the winners were Mary Arthur and Beata Porter from Maureen McKeogh and Yvonne Shanahan, with third spot filled by Geraldine and Annette Ryan.
All the above ladies will go forward to represent Dromoland at Hermitage Golf Club later this year. The nine-hole mixed scramble commenced on Wednesday evening.
There will be a members’ table quiz on this Thursday, March 29 in the newly refurbished clubhouse.

Gort
IN the men’s singles competition at Gort at the weekend, John Rodgers (8) was the winner with 41 points from Aidan Cafferkey (12) with 40 points. Peter O’Sullivan (11) was third with 40 points followed by Niall Gillane (21) with 39 points. The gross was won by Enda Cradock (2) with 35 points.
James Mulqueen had a hole-in-one on the eighth hole. There will be an 18-hole scotch foursomes this Saturday and Sunday with an open 18-hole singles on Monday.
The ladies will have an Easter challenge competition this Sunday.

Portumna
IN the club foursomes qualifier stroke competition at Portumna, the winners were Kevin and Michael Donnellen with 66.5 nett, from Leo Kelly and Jimmy Cunningham on 69.5.
In the open Monday competition last week, the winner was Tom Mulvihill (19) with 42 points from James P Touhy (6) with 38 points and Cathal O’Burne, Curra West. Billy McGarry (scratch) (Birr) won the gross with 35 points.
The club will host its first open father-and-son fourball on Good Friday. The club will host an open fourball over Easter weekend.
The club will host an open fundraiser this weekend when the format will be singles Stableford.

Clare Teachers
JIM McMahon was the winner of the Clare Teachers outing to Spanish Point on Saturday with 36 points. Michael Kilmartin was second and he had a similar score. Joe Griffin was in third spot with 32 points. The nines were won by Michael Drew with 17 points and Fintan McEvoy with 15 points. The category winners were John Doyle with 28 points, Peter Quinn with 31 points and Joan Murphy with 22 points.
The society’s next outing will be for the Hillery Cup and it will take place at Shannon on Saturday, April 28 when the tee will be available at 10am.

Clarecastle
JOHN McGrath was the winner of the Clarecastle society outing to Galway Bay. Paschal Russell was second and Colin Higgins, third. Joe Green and Martin Glenny won the nines. John Mulready was the winner of the guests’ section. The next outing will be to Athenry on Saturday, April 14.

Pitch and putt
AT the Clare Road Pitch and Putt Club on Sunday, the bronze trophy was won by Tommy Kelly from Gareth Kerin, while Marty Fawl won the gross.
The Clare County Board Scratch Cup will be played for this Saturday at Doolin when the tee will be available from 9am to 1pm.

 

100 teams tee up for golf challenge

MORE than 100 teams have signed up to participate in the third annual Clare Ultimate Golf Challenge, which gets underway Sunday.
In the only competition of its kind in Ireland, golfers must play at least five of Clare’s 10 golf courses between April and September, after which the top-ranking teams will compete in a final to be held in Doonbeg on October 23.
Other participating courses include Lahinch, Dromoland, Ennis, Woodstock, Shannon, Spanish Point, Kilrush, Kilkee and East Clare.
All proceeds raised by the event will go towards the Clare Tourism Forum’s 2013 marketing campaign.
“The challenge offers golfers the unique opportunity to play all 10 Clare golf courses, including two of the world’s top 100 ranked courses,” explained Barbara Faulkner, chair of the Clare Tourism Forum.
Ms Faulkner added, “The forum is delighted to see over 100 four-balls from golf clubs throughout Clare and surrounding counties represented in this year’s challenge.  We hope the event will once again generate funds that will be injected into much needed marketing and promotional activities during 2013.”
According to Joe Russell, manager of Doonbeg Golf Club and former forum chair: “It is very encouraging to see representatives from the golfing industry in Clare coming together to once again deliver a unique initiative. 
“The challenge also will help to promote the wider tourism sector as 400 golfers from throughout the region and beyond travel to the county to participate in the competition.”
Mark Nolan, forum member and managing director of Dromoland Castle added, “The Clare Tourism Forum represents a cohesive approach to marketing the region of Clare.  It is wonderful to see so many established golf courses give of their time and their facility to ensure the success of the competition.  It goes to show how working collectively can achieve much more success than operating independently”.
Further information is available on the Clare Ultimate Golf Challenge is available at www.clare.ie/golf.
The winners of last year’s Ultimate Golf Challenge were Des O’Brien (Kilrush Golf Club); Bill Hanley (Charleville Golf Club); Sean McGuirk (Limerick/Ballyclough Golf Club) and Brendan O’Keeffe (Ballykissdean Golf Club).