*FILE PIC: Shane Lowry playing The Irish Open in Lahinch in 2019. Photograph: Brian Arthur
Last week Lahinch welcomed the Open Champion, Offaly man Shane Lowry, to Lahinch where he got some links practice ahead of the defence of his title next week at Royal St. George’s. On behalf of the members, Captains Margaret Cooney and Johnny O’Brien wished Shane every success as they posed on the first tee with Shane and the Claret Jug.
Following the Drive-In by captains Margaret Cooney and Johnnie O’Brien at Lahinch on Sunday, the club’s first major prize presentation ceremony of the season took place on the first tee with the winners of the following competitions being presented with the respective prizes:
Men’s Captains Prize to the Ladies (Yvonne Morrison); O’Loughlin Cup (Mary Fehily); JK Brice Cup (Jacqueline Joyce); Ladies Monthly Medal (Angela Cullinan); Burns-Lindow Cup (Kathleen Hayes); Neville Stewart Cup (Peggy Costello) and Barratt-Smith Cup (Siobhan Fenton).
Lady Captain’s Prize to the Men (Paul Cagney); Phelps Vase (Owen O’Neill); Ennistymon House Cup (Kevin Donovan); Frank O’Brien Cup (Fergus Blake);
Men’s Monthly Medal (John Wood); Kilcoran House Cup (Darragh Gough); Pretoria Cup (Sean Kelly); Coolbawn Cup (John Wood); Mick O’Loughlin Trophy (Kieran Maher).Mixed Foursomes: Lakeside Cup (John Daly & Mary Fahey Coen).
On the Inter-Club scene, the Ladies Challenge Cup team managed by Evelyn Lyons lost to East Clare 3.5/1.5 while the Ladies Junior Foursomes managed by Anne O’Riordan were defeated by Dromoland Castle..
The Senior Men’s Fred Perry team managed by Brian McElhinney played Ennis last Tuesday in the Munster West quarter final. With the overall match tied at 2/2, play in the final match was suspended after the 21st hole due to fading daylight. The match resumed on Monday evening when Ennis’ Mickey Sullivan and Brendan Pyne defeated Dave Sheedy and Dan Donovan at the Klondyke where Pyne recorded a birdie.
The Mixed foursomes managed by Aedin McCarthy and Jimmy Doyle play Ennis on this Thursday afternoon commencing at 4.00pm and they are followed by the Men’s Junior Cup team managed by Dave Givens who play East Clare commencing at 6.00pm.
Áine Donegan finished tied 5th in the individual competition which was part of the European Ladies team championship taking place at Royal County Down. Ireland qualified in second place but were narrowly defeated by Italy to exit the Championship.
Kilrush Golf Club:
The lady captain’s (Mary Bolton) prize was played for at Kilrush on Saturday when Agnes Shannon (21) emerged as the winner with 66. She had two strokes to spare over Joan O’Malley (20) with third spot filled by Margaret Clancy (14), also with 68. They were followed by Helen Williams (29) with 69, Ailish Lorigan (16) with 69 and Jean Lorigan (33) with 70. Anne Brennan (12) won the gross with 81
Nicola O’Leary (29) won the front 9 with 32.5 while Muriel Kiely (30) was the winner of the back 9 with 34.
Other prize winners were Anne Gallagher (11) with 72 (committee prize), Kathleen O’Brien (34) with 72 (past captain), Ann Marie Donnellan (nearest the pin) and Mary Lyons (long drive).
In the lady captain’s 9 hole competition Martina Fox (19) was the winner with 18 points from Loretta Browne (18) with 12 points. The junior ladies 8 hole competition was won by Eabha Brennan (15) with 19 points
The Gypsy Girl boutique ladies competition was won by Margaret Clancy (15) with 40 points from Joan O’Malley (20) with 35 and Mary McCarthy (29) with 33 points while the 12 hole winner was Martina Fox with 24 points
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Woodstock Golf Club:
Last week’s open singles at Woodstock was won by Aidan Griffey(19) with 49 points from Eoghan McElhinney (29) with 45, Mike T Kelly (13) with 45 and Marion Mulvey Fahy (42) with 44. Jason Considine (2) won the gross with 28.
The weekend singles was won by Ronan O’Halloran(23) with 44 points from Ruairi Breen (18) with a similar score. Joe Colleran (27) was third with 42 points followed by Shane McCarthy (15) with 41 points with fifth spot filled by Gary Thompson (17) with 41 points. Colm Mullen (4) won the gross with 34 points,
There will be an open fourball this weekend with re-entry allowed
The Fred Daly Junior boys defeated Kilrush, winning 2 matches in Kilrush and 1 at home. They are awaiting the winners of Ennis v Lahinch in the next round.
Last week’s senior modified team scramble was won by Brian Logue, Declan Rigney and Matt Power with an impressive 53 points.
Ennis Golf Club:
The senior ladies outing at Ennis last week was won by Mary McMahon, Maeve O’Grady and Carmel Cummins with 49 3/4 with second spot going to Anne O’Loughlin, Eileen Daly and Kathleen Pyne with 50 1/4. In third spot with 52 1/3 were Mary Glynn, Phil Butler and Patricia Kerwin with fourth place filled by Carmel Verling, Bernie Brooke and Betty O’Riordan with 44 3/4.
There will be a ladies open day, sponsored by Haven Pharmacy Hollys on Thursday July 29 when the format will be teams of two.
The lady captain’s weekend will commence on Thursday July 22 with a mixed competition while the lady captain’s prize will be played for on Saturday July 24 from which the top 18 will qualify for a 9 hole stroke play off.
The junior girls team, managed by Jean Moloney and Claire Ruane, were victorious against Charleville last week.
Open week has been attracting big entries at Ennis during the past week and there has been some impressive scoring
In the Sutton’s Lighting mixed foursomes the winners were Roy Duggan (16) and Mary Sweeney (41) (Woodstock) with 41 points and they won from Michael Neylon (21) and Yvonne Keohane (18) who had a similar score. In third spot with 40 points were Ronan Herbert (5) and Carmel Verling (24) followed by John (20) and Therese Lillis (49) with 39 points
In the junior boys open Sean McNamara from Dromoland won with 43 points from Mark O’Connor with 42, Conor Clancy (Dromoland) with 42, Jack McAllister with 42 and Max Montwill (Woodstock) with 41. Jack Clohessy won the gross with 29 points.
The competition on day 2 was a team of three sponsored by the Munster Group and the winners were Peter Quinn (17), Michael Sullivan (14) and Don Ryan (16) with 87 points. They were followed by Conor Malone (8), Niall O’Connor (14) and Colin Higgins with 86 points. In third spot with 84 points were Richard O’Connell (14), Brendan Pyne (11) and Sean Daly Snr (14) followed by Michael Kearney (9), Steve Burns (14) and Fergus O’Brien (14) with 83points
Ronan O’Flaherty (8) won the men’s 9 hole competition with 20 points from Ger Donoghue (9) with a similar score.
The competition on day 3 was a men’s singles sponsored by the Old Ground Hotel and the winner here was Michael Cummins (20) with 45 points. He had four to spare over Donagh Stack (16) with Diarmuid O’Connor (7) from Dromoland next on 40 points followed by Gerry Daly (15) also with 40 points. Sean Myatt (scratch) won the gross with 38 points.
The O’Flaherty Electric team of four competition was won by John Lillis (17), Liam McCannon (15), David Pender (8) and Joe Carmody (14) with 93 points followed by Fintan McEvoy (20), Tom Fox (20) and Kieran Fox (3)and Padraig Cusack (14) with a similar score. In third spot on 92 points were Thomas Nelson (15), Patrick Madden (14), Tom Fox (14) (all Shannon) and Denis Rochford (9) (Ballyneety).
Competitions continue for the remainder of the week.
Dromoland Golf Club:
Eoghan Smith won the Friday open singles at Dromoland with 45 points from Frances Bergin with 40 points and Shane Browne with 38 points. Jason O’Leary won the gross with 34 points.
The weekend men’s singles was won by Thomas Halpin with 42 points from Kenneth Arthur with 41 and Niall Geraghty with a similar score. Killian Howard won the gross with 38 while Eoghan Smith won the category for handicaps 18 and over with 40 points. In the ladies medal 18 hole strokeplay the winner was Carola Wixted with 72 from Mairead Bergin with 73 and Ann Nix with 74. Leslie O’Flynn won the gross with 86
The men’s 9 hole competition was won by Con Ryan with 20 points from Con Woods on 19 points and Brendan Lennon with 19 points.
Katriona O’Neill won the ladies 19 hole competition with 22 points from Niamh McDermott with 21 and Ruth Casey with 20.
The boys July 6 outing resulted in victory for Darragh McNamara with 52 points of the white tees and Conor Clancy with 43 points.
The July 8 outing was won by Donnacda Mahon off the white tees with 40 points with Aaron Piccolo off the black tees with 41 points while the girls competition was won by Sive Timmons with 30 points
Kilkee Golf Club:
The Wednesday open singles at Kilkee was won by Donnacha McNamara (19) with 38 points from Con McGee (8) with 37 points with third spot filled by Dave Fitzpatrick (11) with 36 points.
Friday’s 9 hole singles was won by Tim Ahern (5) with 18 points from David O’Connell (7) with a similar score.
The Houlihan cup was played for on Sunday when Sean Minihan (16) won with 41 points. He won by a point from Brian Purcell (17) with 40 points while Ciaran Woods (13) won with 38 points.
The club’s 125th anniversary classic will take place on this Saturday and Sunday and teams, costing €120, can be booked by contacting 065-9056048
Doonbeg Golf Club:
The recent fourball competition at Doonbeg Links was won by Billy Farrell and Gerard Kelly with 43 points from Michael Bermingham and Diarmuid O’Donnell with a similar score. Padraig Conway and Timmy Killeen, also with 43 points
In last week’s singles competition Sean Molonery(21) was the winner with 43 points from Pierce Casey (29) with 42 points. In third spot with 39 points was Michael Lynch (26) followed by Diarmuid Griffin (15) with 37 points with fifth spot filled by Tiimmy Killeen (12) with 37 points.
