FEATURES: The competitive John J. Doherty Memorial Cup took place on Sunday 25th with Richard Spratt taking the trophy home.
With the awful weather of late, Sunday 25th was the busiest day of the week and taking prime spot on the first tee at Barnhill were Cat 4 members who were playing for the prestigious John J. Doherty Memorial Cup.
With a field of almost thirty entrants it was the ever improving ‘form’ player Spratt who took the trophy home when returning a winning score of 35pts. In second place was the ‘also ran’ of so many competitions this year, Victor Byrne, scraping through on B.O.T. with 33pts from John Bradley while Pat Mc Garrigle and Adrian Daly collected the ‘nines’ prizes with 17pts and 20pts respectively. Guest member prize was won by no other than Kate Gallagher. Congratulations to all Cat 4 members for their support during the year and appreciation to Padraig Mullenny for his photographic services on presentation night.
Sunday’s confined competition was won by Cat 4 handicapper Victor Byrne [23] who proved that just a few pars are required for a winning score. Having played ‘handicap’ golf on front nine, Victor’s back nine of 20pts gave him the edge over single figure member Michael Collum [7] whose birdie at 2nd had him record a one over gross 37 front nine but double bogey’s at 12th and 16th left him short of winning points. Best gross of the day was returned by Darragh Mc Menamin with 31pts. gross.
Congratulations to the club’s 2016 Murphy Maintenance sponsored Doubles MatchplayChampions Enda Mannion and Conor Friel who defeated the father and son partnership of Dessie [snr] and Dessie [jnr] Shiels in an enthralling final on Sunday.
Played in wet, showery conditions, Enda and Conor took early control of the match with the help of some astute ironplay and, on the slow paced greens, went into a three [3] hole lead thru fifth which was held until the turn. With the Shiels’ readjusting to the inclement weather on the back nine, it was too and fro from tee to green over the next six holes with the winners holding steady for a 4&3 win, the match ending on the 15th.
Congratulations to both pairs in reaching the final of this hard fought competition and to the new, 2016 champions, Enda and Conor.
Congratulations to 2016 Murphy Maintenance sponsored Club Singles Matchplay Champion Philip Cassidy who defeated Eunan Mc Garrigle in one of the tightest matchplay finals witnessed at the club in a number of years when the two adversaries required a play-off hole to decide the title!
With Philip having gone one up at 1st, [Hall Door] Eunan pulled level at 3rd after having gone through the green and proceeding to chip-in for birdie. From then, the game went too & fro between both players with neither ever being more than one up on the other.Taking the turn advantage Eunan one up, all square once more thru Settlement [11th] until par three 16th when Phillip went one up for first time since first hole only for Eunan to win back at Aughaninshin [17th] and with 18th halved, match went to play-off hole at 1st.
With the course playing longer than normal from blue tees, the first mistake of the day was made by Eunan whose three iron found OB on right whilst Philip’s ball found fairway. Following a second ball from Eunan over the trees to within ninety yards of the green, Philip slightly pulled his second to the greenside bunker from where he came out short and proceeded to putt to three foot. Meanwhile, Eunan ‘wedges’ to ten foot, misses the putt, finishes for a six and concedes the match to Phillip. Played once again in the upmost sportsmanship manner and respect, congratulations to both players for such an exciting, quality golf match.
Congratulations to the club’s ‘Seniors’ team [over 50’s] who came away from Portsalon G.C. on Sunday last with a magnificent 2 & 1/2 matches [v. 2 &1/2] against a very strong and fancied Portsalon team in this, the Donegal Seniors Matchplay final.
A massive plus for the Kevin Kiely led squad who are looking to retain thistrophy from 2015 with the 2nd leg scheduled for Sunday 16th October at Barnhill. Congratulations to all involved and best of luck in the return leg.
Hard luck to the Tommy Doherty led u16 club team who were defeated over two legs by Dunfanaghy Golf Club in the final of the Donegal Boys u16 Matchplay competition.
The two matches, both home and away, showed a great future for golf in Donegal, were played with the upmost sportsmanship, courtesy and respect for one another and, in general, these young men were great ambassadors for their clubs.
Congratulations to Dunfanaghy on their win and I’m sure that all these juniors will be meeting each other in many matches in the future.
Just a reminder that the club fundraising Race Night takes place on Friday October 29th in the clubhouse. Horses can be purchased from Anne Condon or any committee member.
Members are asked to have patience with the ongoing maintenance work being carried out on the course over the next few weeks.
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