McMahon wins captain’s prize at Dromoland

NOEL McMahon emerged as the winner of the captain’s (William Fitzgerald) prize at Dromoland at the weekend.
He finished with 102 for the 27 holes and won by half a shot from Brian Arthur who, in turn, was a shot ahead of Flan Downes. They were followed by Brian Shally with 106, and Damian Ryan on 106. Brian McMahon won the gross with 74 while the category for 18 and over was won by Niall Geraghty with 110. The nines were won by Con Ryan with 31 and Declan Colleran with 33.5 while Paul O’Brien won the past captain’s prize. In the junior section, Aidan O’Mahoney was the winner with 40 from Kevin Connellay on 34.
This weekend’s competition will be 18-hole singles Stableford.

Shannon
SCORING was exceptional in the Intermediate Scratch Cup at Shannon last week. The winner with a five over par round of 77 gross was Michael McInerney, who covered the front nine in three over, highlighted by a birdie at his opening hole. He then came home in two over with a further birdie at the 14th. He had two shots to spare from visitor Denis Healy from Rathbane. The back nine was required to separate Seamus Twomey and John Collins, both returning 80 gross.
In the nett section, the back nine was required to separate Gavin Meehan and William O’Brien, who both returned 65 nett with Gavin edging out William. James Bullman edged out Ronan Hynds for third place.
The Wednesday open singles saw former member, now playing out of Limerick, Denis O’Brien victorious with 40 points. Denis covered the outward nine in level par with his only concession to par coming at his opening hole but which was offset by a birdie at the second. A steady back nine of two over for a total of 40 points was sufficient for victory by one point from Terry O’Connor on 39. Terry had nines of 19 and 20 points, the highlight of which was a birdie at the 10th. In third place was Daniel Brennan, who was around in one over par. Highlight of his round were birdies at the eighth, 13th and 17th. The gross was won by Jamie O’Shea who was around in two over highlighted by his opening nine, which he covered in level par ,recording nine straight pars.
In conjunction with the men’s captain’s prize, Shannon hosted a 12-hole ladies’ competition, which saw Eileen Carey capture the spoils with 28 points. Eileen had three points to spare from Margaret McCarthy on 25 points, while Nancy Parry was third with 24 points with Eleanor O’Brien fourth on 23 points.
The ladies’ open day on Tuesday last was a team of three, which saw a trio of Pauline Kilmartin, Claire Carmody and Connie Corry capture the spoils with 69 points. They had two points to spare from Marie Hogan, Eileen Carey and Marian Boyce on 67 points.
Highlight of the weekend was the lady captain’s (Mary O’Brien) prize. The ladies were out in force and the weather relented after a wet morning.
Two recent prize winners filled first and second places. Despite starting out in inclement weather, Hilary Clein captured the honours with 70 nett. Hilary had one shot to spare from Eileen Carey who nearly pulled off a remarkable double having won the men’s captain’s prize to the ladies the previous weekend. In third place was Caroline Fanneran on 73 nett with Connie Corry fourth with 73 nett, while the gross was captured by Michelle Pyke.
The lady captain’s prize to the men saw Noel O’Brien take home the spoils with 39 points. Noel had one to spare from Ronan O’Reilly and Alan Power. Ed Hickey captured the gross with 35 points.
The men’s July medal will be played for this weekend, while the ladies will have an 18-hole Stableford competition in aid of Cancer Research.

Lahinch
IN the ladies’ invitational team-of-four competition on the championship course at Lahinch last week, the winners were Elaine McCarthy (23), Mona Davis (21), Oonagh Fitzpatrick (20) and Mary McMahon (17) with 91 points. They won by two from Mary O’Mahony (17), Ann O’Friel (24), Mary Byrne (14) and Ann McCarthy (18). In third place with 86 points were Pat Ramsey (22), Maura Ryan (18), Anna Marie Darmody (19) and Monica Finnerty (15) with  86 points. In fourth place were Jackie McGrath (17), Siobhán Joyce (20), Jane Hughes (14) and Laura Moran (34) with 83 points.
In the men’s open singles on Thursday last, Fergus O’Callaghan (9), from Kinsale, was the winner with 39 points from Sean McSweeney (10) (Charleville) with 33 points and Kevin McGrath (5) (Lahinch) on 30 points. In the men’s singles on Saturday, Tim Maher (9) was the winner with 34 points.
In the Frank O’Brien Cup, 3 T’s qualifier on Sunday, Jackson Coleman (6) was the winner with 38 points from Denis Cullinan (14) with a similar score. Murt McMahon (9) was third and he also had 38 points while the gross was won by Noel Pyne with 32 points.

Ennis
ENNIS seniors held a team-of-four competition on Thursday last in which 60 played. The winners were Jim Scully, Jim McNamara, Pat O’Reilly and Bernard Hanrahan from John Keane (Teagasc), John Joe Coyne, Frank Landy and Johnny Cullinan. In third spot were Joe Guilfoyle, Sean Fitzpatrick, John Keane (ESB) and  Frank White and they were followed by Aidan Guilfoyle, Pat Shannon, Michael Kerin and Aidan Lynch.
This Thursday is a seniors’ open day in Ennis and a timesheet is in operation.

East Clare
STEPHEN Moloney (12) was the winner of the captain’s (William O’Brien) prize at East Clare on Sunday with 95 nett.
He won by eight shots from John Moloney (16) with 103, with Martin McInerney (19) in third spot followed by Mike Stritch (17), Derek Kenny (9), Mike Rochford (8) and Pat McNamara (13). Eoin McGuinness won the gross with 76. The category winners were Val Donnellan (15), Enda Donnellan and Mick Ryan (27). Other prize winners were Jack Brennan (past captain), Donal Cooney (16) 68 (best score Saturday), Dominic Stuart (17) 67, (best score Sunday) and Brendan Moloney (11) 107.5 (seniors).
In the ladies’ Wednesday competition, Vera Loughnane was the winner from Regan Conway.
The winners in the men’s seniors competition last week were Liam Skelly, Jim Greene and Richard Keating from Batt Sheehan, Michael Quigney and Oliver Quigney.
There will be an 18-hole singles Stableford competition for men and ladies this weekend.

Kilrush
MARY McCarthy (27) was the winner of the lady vice-captain’s (Mary O’Sullivan) prize at Kilrush with 39 points. Captain Geraldine Burke (20) was second with a similar score followed by Margaret Donnelly (20) with 38 points and Nicola O’Leary (33) with 36 points.
The nines were won by Kathleen O’Brien with 20 points and Pearl Mulcaire with 19 points. 
The men’s vice-captain’s (Declan O’Donovan) prize was played on Sunday and the winner was John Saunders (17), with 42 points from Jim Young Jnr (6) with 40 points and Paul Mannion (16) with 39 points. Gerard Kelly (7) won the gross with 36 points.
The category winners were Denis Nolan (9) 37 points, Pascal Looney (12) 37 points and Michael Studdert (22) with 34 points. The nines were won by Jack Kiely (17) with 19 points and John McNeilis (21) with 21 points.
In the June open singles, Pat Murtagh (13) was the winner with 44 points from Denis Nolan (9) on 41 points and Billy Clarke (13) with 40 points.

Kilkee
IN the members’ cup at Kilkee, the four to qualify were Ger O’ Flynn (12) with 68, Eddie Price (5) 68,  Derek Garvey (17) 69 and Ronan McInerney (90) with 71. Ronan McInerney (9) beat Ger O’Flynn (12) one-up. In the quadrangular, Tim Ahern (14) won with 38 points from Tony Nation (11) on 37 points and Tom O’Halloran (20) with 36 points.

Portumna
THE open fourball Stableford competition at the weekend at Portumna was won by Pat Healy (11) and Martin Kennedy (6) with 43 points from Gerry (9) and Ronan Madden (13) with 41 points. In third spot were Dan (14) and Eoin Lynch (5) with 40 points, while the gross was won by John Cleary (4) and Sean Robinson (5) with 36 points.
The Monday open was won by Ryan Hanrahan (27) with 46 points from Trevor Moran (16) with 39 points and Jamie Conboy (13) with 38 points. The gross was won by Sean Cleary (3) with 36 points.
Next weekend, Portumna Golf Club are running a team-of-four open (any combination) and there will be 10 prizes in this competition.
Past captains’ day will take place on Friday, July 15 from 3.30pm to 5pm.

Spanish Point
LAST weekend was very busy at Spanish Point with the staging of the annual parent club fundraiser and the organising committee of Fergal Hehir and Kathleen Twomey were very happy with the support.
The format was a team of four with two scores to count. The winning score of 103 points was recorded by Michael Waters (14), Martin Morrissey (13), Aidan Sexton (16) and Michael Liddane (14). In second place was Tom Mernagh (5), Brian O’Loughlin (10), Hank Molloy (16) and Cathal Whelan (8) with 97 points while Michael Talty (14), Shane Fitzgerald (17), Stephen Guilfoyle (16) and Niall Heeney (13) were third with 96 points. In last week’s seniors’ open, Brian Walls (13) (Skerries) was the winner with 35 points from Patrick O’Boyle (18) with 35 points.
In the Thursday open, Johnny Wilson (18), with 46 points, was the winner. This weekend, the Martin Talty Memorial Open Singles will be the attraction and a timesheet will operate.

Woodstock
THE Wednesday open singles at Woodstock was won by Dara Walsh (17) with 44 points from Joe Davis (13) with 42 points.

Doonbeg
JOHN Igoe was the winner of the singles at Doonbeg at the weekend from Declan Conway.
The captains’ prizes (Kevin Hayes and Helen Williams) will be played this Sunday and tee times can be booked through pro shop. The presentation will follow in Darby’s Bar.
The draw for the fourball matchplay has been made and all first rounds and preliminary rounds must be completed by July 18.

Clarecastle
JASON Considine was the recent winner of the captain’s prize (Joe Green) outing at Portumna. John McCarthy was second with Noel Connellan third, Joseph Barry fourth and David Green in fifth. Bernard Hanrahan Jnr and Pakie Murtagh were the winners of the respective nines. Roger McMahon claimed the past captains’ prize. Niall McMahon won nearest to the pin and Colin Higgins won the longest drive. Jim O’Shea was the guests’ section winner. The next outing will be to Woodstock on Friday afternoon, July 8 where the society will compete with Éire Óg Society for the Sutton Cup.

Bridgetown
EAST Clare was the venue on Saturday last for an outing for members of the Bridgetown Society.
The overall winner on this occasion was Joe McArthur with 34 points and he won by two from Dominick McArthur with Francis Moloney, also with 32 points, in third spot.
Category A was won by Pat Fitzgerald with 31 points from Mike O’Brien on 28 points. Category B was won by John Daly on 25 points from Mike Leonard on 22 points while category C was won by Brendan Fitzgerald on 20 points from John Walsh on19 points. The nines were won by Barry O’Sullivan and Tony Fitzgerald with Paudie Murray winning the prize for nearest the pin.
Adare Manor is the venue for the society’s next outing which will be on July 16 when the tee will be available from 8.30am to 9.30am.