Letterkenny Golf Notes
With the fall of early evening and the Cat.4. Competitions being cut to nine holes, spaces are now of a premium with all Cat.4 members practicing for the penultimate outing of the season, the John J. Doherty Memorial Cup.
Monday 8th entry saw another significant increase and taking top spot was Robin Mc Dowell with 22pts.
In second spot was Aiden O’ Neill with 20pts, all that practice putting on the carpets paying off, and in third place with 19pts was Frank Grieve.
The following Monday, 15th, had up to thirty entries and again 22pts proved enough to win, this time returned by our local news scribe Diarmaid Doherty.
Diarmaid’s short game, practiced at lunchtimes in the back garden, proved good enough to outpoint the in-form Albert Strain into second place, relegating Ciaran Mc Fadden to third on BOT with 20pts.
Wednesday 10th Open was won by that well known ex-DJ, Derry man and Portsalon member John Logue [14]. With some strange scores recorded on front nine, double bogey at 2nd and “blank” at 8th, John suddenly remembered the recent tutorials received from his mentor Mick [mental] at the driving range and, starting with a birdie at 10th, managed 24pts on inward nine to return a total of 42pts.
In second place was Gerard Boyce [12] whose birdie at 3rd helped him return 23pts on front nine, but a “blank” at 11th gave him a finish score of 40pts in total. Running a close 3rd with 39pts was Brendan Mc Grath [6] with birdies at 2nd and 11th but an unusual bogey at 18th had him fall short.
Saturday 13th had the club host the Zeus Industrial sponsored Open and it was the “architect” of so many doubles, fourball, foursomes and mixed wins that took top place on the rostrum in this singles stableford competition.
Club competitions secretary Danny Mc Laughlin [13] probably thought that his mediocre 21pts on front nine wouldn’t be enough to gain a strong lead, especially after recording a triple bogey at 9th, but his reknowned resolve in matchplay came into play when he scored back-to-back birdies at 13th & 14th to return 24pts on inward nine and an overall 45pts. Three points adrift in second place was, coincidentally, Danny’s usual pairs partner Greg Sullivan [17] who also returned 21pts on front nine, birdied 12th but an uncharacteristic treble bogey at 17th put him out of contention and he finished with 42pts. With only one point separating 2nd, 3rd & 4th, John Mc Glynn [18] followed with 41pts and Keith Spence [13] with 40pts. Gross prize was once again picked up by the genial Eamonn Mc Glinchey [5] with 34 gross pts.
Sunday 14th confined competition had two Cat 4 members coming to the fore with Sam Hegarty [26] having a superb 24pts on back nine, including a “blank” at unlucky 13th, returning 41pts for a one point marginal victory over Damien Redmond [27] on 40pts, relegating by virtue of BOT to third place Michael Nelis [11] who, with birdies at 5th & 7th giving him 22pts on front nine, then birdied 11th for an overall score of 40pts. Gross prizewinner was Martin A. Gallagher [5] with 34 gross pts.
Wed. 17th Open was kindly sponsored by new business in town, Michael Murphy Sports & Leisure, and it took a 3-way BOT to decide the top places.
The top honour went to Darren Mc Glinchey [19] visitor, who, despite “blanks” at 3rd & 13th holes, managed a 22 point finish on back nine for an overall 41pts.
Relegated to runner-up was Mark Howard [15] also with 22pts on back nine but losing out to a bogey at 18th, and finishing of that trio was Eddie Margey [13] who, despite birdies at 2nd and 18th, must rue that “blank” at 16th which no doubt robbed him of an outright win.
Gross winner was again the in-form single figure handicapper of the year, Jamie Foley [3] with 33 gross pts.
Friday 19th had the magnificent scenic course of Letterkenny playing host to another major fundraiser, the Donegal GAA Training Fund. Played under the format of 4Ball B/Ball and with up to forty-six teams entered, the winning “dream team” of club captain Tom Mc Donagh, Henry Mc Cahey, Kieran Sweeney and Charlie Coughlan chipped through to the top rung of the podium by virtue of BOT with 98pts, half of which I am told was scored by the club captain Tom.
Pushing them all the way but relegated in that BOT was the Farren Roarty team consisting of Jamie Foley, Kevin Hensey, Tim O’ Farrell and John Brady. In third place was the Donegal County Council team of Brian O’ Donnell, Donal Murphy, Patsy Lafferty and Sean Canning on 97pts.
Congratulations to Fr. Brian Quinn, Peter Smyth, Kieran Kelly, Martin Carlin, Mark Bradley and Henry Mc Cahey on their perfect organization of the day.
Sat. 20th Open was won by Cat 2 member William White [11] who has been knocking on the winners circle door for a few months now.
Posting a winning score of 39pts which included a birdie at 7th for 23pts on front nine, William’s total could have been much bigger but for “blanks” at 10th & 17th.
In second place by virtue of BOT was Pat Dempsey [21] with 38pts from Tom Redden [20] who, with a “blank” at 17th, will hopefully “teach” himself to be more careful next time. Gross prize was won by Jamie Foley [3] with 35 gross pts.
Sunday 21st confined had a very good turnout in the early hours, and, not surprisingly, most of the members were taking advantage of the Brown’s on the Green special promotions and free finger food in the clubhouse bar during the All Ireland Final.
Despite the disappointing result for Donegal, a great time was had by all and many thanks and congratulations are extended to Noreen and staff for their efforts and service.
On the course, it was that man Ed. Margey [snr] [13] who called the “shots” with an emphatic 43pts., a three point winning margin over runner-up Christopher Duffy [5] returning 40pts.
Congratulations to Cat.4 player Paddy O’ Gorman who recorded his first “ace” at the par three 8th hole on Sunday. Paddy “engineered” his hole-in-one by striking a perfect 4-iron.
Junior Notes: With darkness falling due to an unfortunate late start to the second leg of the Donegal u-16 boys team final, the teams were playing the 18th when they were called in.
The match is on a knife edge as Letterkenny are 1 up playing the last hole and if they could get a half they would win the overall title but if Donegal GC [Murvagh] win the 18th, the match will go down the first again in Sudden Death in order to get a winner.
Both teams will be playing from around 100 yards out but Donegal will have the advantage of only playing their 3rd shots while Letterkenny will be playing their 4th & 5th shots.
They hope to be playing the 18th by 11.15am on Sunday morning so please come out and support our young lads if you can.
Remember: Sanding of the course began on Monday last, 22nd September. Apologies for any inconvenience, and 6 inch placing will be in place for the next few weeks.
Captain Tom Mc Donagh and all members of Letterkenny Golf Club would like to offer hearty congratulations to all members of the Donegal GAA squad who did their county proud in this year’s All Ireland, and we hope to see them all competing again in 2015.
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