Old County Pitch & Putt Club

The Club strokeplay took centre stage on Sunday with 5 more champions to be crowned in the final Tier 1 Championship of 2019. The weather was very hot for the players but any doubts whether this would impact on the scoring was quickly dispelled as we saw some  record breaking low scores by the players.

In the Ladies B section The event  was played over 18 holes  and  we had 7 ladies taking part. Well done to the ever young Phyllis, Angela,Alice, Kathleen, Vera, Jenn and Margaret for getting out there and playing. The runner up was our lady captain Kathleen Condron with a score of 67 and the winner by 4 shots with a 63 gross was Vera Moore. Congratulations Vera, our Ladies B Strokeplay champion 2019. Another fantastic result for Vera who has been so consistent and a regular winner on the circuit throughout the season. 

In the Ladies A. They were playing their championship over 36 holes and although Agnes Redmond was the holder, we once again anticipated a tight dual between Pauline Balfe & Vera Glennon for the top prize. It was tight after the first 18 holes  with Vera Glennon leading the way on 55  followed by Pauline Balfe but  Ann O’Shea  equallled Pauline score  of 57 to lie just two shots back.   In the 2nd  round   Dolores Mason added  an excellent  57  to her 1st round 60 for a total of 117, Ann O’Shea  could not repeat her 1st round score and added a 61 to finish on 118. The battle for first place was between Pauline Balfe and Vera Glennon and both matched it each other in the 2nd round  shooting a 56 which meant Pauline  could not overhaul Vera and had to settle for the  runner up spot  on 113 .  Vera though with a score of 111 recaptured the Strokeplay title and having won in last week's over 55 event and at the scratch cup. It capped a memorable ten days for her as she avenged her matchplay defeat earlier this month.

The Gents Junior event sadly saw just 5 men taking part. In the opening round we saw the return of an Old County favourite Brian Gorman (great to see him back playing) lead the way  with a 56  and it gave him a 4 shot lead over Kevin Keatinge ,our club celebrity  Patrick Charlie was well in the hunt after his score of  61  and Matt O’Donovan to was well placed  with 62 and Brian  Birrell although last of the 5 with a 63 was still within challenging distance and so it was to prove. In the 2nd round,  Kevin Keatinge and Patrick Charles added 63's to finish on 123 and 124, and our 1st round leader Brian Gorman had a 65 to finish on 121. However it was Brian Birrell a man who narrowly missed out on the Officers Prize earlier this month who produced an excellent 2nd round of 56 and he was to capture the title by 2 shots. Well done to Brian on his win and to the other Brian (Gorman) on an excellent return to our club majors.

The  Gents Inters was to be a 54 hole event and we expected a very tightly bundled leaderboard with so many of these players in fine form. Sixteen took part with the top 8 making the final 18 holes.  Four players hit the 100 mark with Tommy Lynam, David Redmond, Conor O'Shea and Lennon Blake but they were three adrift of the leader Brendan Fitzpatrick who shot a superb 97.  Dublin Strokeplay champion Rob Berney  and Stephen Keatinge both shot 102 to keep in touch.  with Gerry Clarges on 104 and our Officers champion  Tom Balfe on 105 and these were the players to make the play-off.  Sadly Brendan was unable to return and cement the strong position he had established but it meant a 4 way tie for the lead.  There was some excellent scoring in the final round with Gerry Clarges securing the final 18 prize with a 47. It was a real battle for the top spot with Conor O Shea shooting his 3rd round of 50 on the day to finish on 12 under par. Stephen Keatinge, finished superbly as he was  -4 playing the last hole  and -10 overall, he finished with a hole in one and that was enough to edge out Conor O'Shea for the runner up spot.  But the man of the moment,  less than 24 hour after he helped Dublin secure a dominant  Leinster Inter County title in Royal Meath Lennon Blake shoot a final round of 48 to finish on -14  to claim the Gents Intermediate Title for 2019. What a phenomenal weekend for an extraordinary talent. Well done Lennon.

The other 4 events were very good but the senior one proved to be very special. One week on for getting a record number of home players through to the final round in the scratch cup and achieving the top 3, we expected this one could see some exceptional scoring and we were not too be dissappointed.  We had ten taking part and just seven played the final round. Stephen Power has been enjoying an excellent year with some fine wins and he put down the marker early with a 94. In normal circumstances this would be a very good score and close to the top of the leaderboard, but this weekend was not normal and players were going lower and lower. Karl Murphy despite an extraordinary piece of bad luck on the 35th that saw him hit the flag and go out of bounds still managed a superb 91 following on nicely from his scratch cup success last Sunday. the other duo who performed so well at the "Christy Broe" Scratch Cup Gary McGreal also shot a 91 and George McGreal with 2 score of 45 was to finish on 90. Great scoring but these were still some way off the lead !!  Tom O'Reilly is normally the main man around old County he would have been dissappointed not to challenge strongly at the DCB and CB scratch cup and when he shot 48 we thought maybe Tom would fall short again. Tom though brushed it off to shoot a course record 39 !! to finish on -21 (87) yet Tom was still not the leader, that honour fell to mr consistency Kevin Bermingham. Kevin was quite simply superb as he shot 43 and 42, 24 birdies and 11 threes and just one bogey. Kevin who had played so well at the 2 recent scratch cups but just kept struggling on some of the back nine, finally found his range on these holes and he finally got the scores his play deserved. 

Onto the final 18 and first out was Kevin Corcoran with a marker.  Kevin went around in a solid 49 to add to his 8 under par of the morning and finish on 13 under par for the championship and 7^th position. Next out was Gary McGreal and Stephen Power.  Stephen added a 48 to his morning score to finish on 20 under par for the championship and 6^th spot.  Gary McGreal in excellent form the last few weeks shoots 8 under par for a total of 25 under par and 3^rd spot. His 8 under par was enough to win the final 18 prize, well done Gary.  The 2^nd last group was Karl and George.  George shooting a 50 gross to finish on 22 under par and 5^th spot. Karl with a final 18 of 47 and a total of 24 under par would claim 4^th spot. The final 2ball saw Kevin Bermingham and Tom O’ Reilly out together. The duo had played together the previous Sunday in the final round of the CB scratch cup and Kevin had finished ahead of Tom.  Whether this was to prove significant this Sunday we will not know, but Kevin showed no chinks in his armour and was rock solid despite the strong challenge posed by Tom and despite an excellent round of 48 by Tom. Kevin was to better it with a 47 and produce a jaw dropping score of -30 for 54 holes. It was quite simply sensational.  It was a clear statement to the other seniors that he has the game to trouble and beat the best in the club in the big championships.  A great defense by Tom and on most days Tom's score of -27 would be more than enough to win the strokeplay but Sunday was no ordinary day and Kevin is no ordinary player. A hugely popular and deserving winner who should finish the season very strongly on the back of a such a dominant win. Well done Kevin.

Thanks to all who came out and played in our 4th Major of 2019 and special recognition to all our winners below. 

Club Strokeplay Results 2019

Gents Senior winner: Kevin Bermingham 132 (-30)

Gents Senior Runner up: Tom O'Reilly 135 (-27)

Gents Senior final 18 winner: Gar McGreal 46 

Gents Inter Winner: Lennon Blake  148 (-14)

Gents Inter Runner Up: Stephen Keatinge 150 (-12) o.b.9

Gents Inter Final 18 Winner:  Gerry Clarges 47 

Gents Junior Winner: Brian Birrell 119

Gents Junior Runner up: Brian Gorman 121

Ladies A Winner: Vera Glennon 111

Ladies A Runner up: Pauline Balfe 113

Ladies B Winner: Vera Moore 63

Ladies B Runner up: Kathleen Condron 67