It was a busy weekend last week on the Pitch & Putt front with three different events of Kerry interest taking place.
Pride of place went to the Kerry U16 Gold team who won another Munster U16 Inter-County, the sixth in straight succession at the event which took place at Majestic Pitch & Putt Club in Mallow last Saturday. Both team captain Ajay Barrett and Brian McCarthy won their third provincial inter-county medal as a result as Brian found himself in a playoff then with his Deerpark club-mate Ben Kelliher for the Boys 14-15 Strokeplay title which he was defending.
Kerry held a nine shot lead after the Singles with Ajay, Brian, Ben and the other team member Jayden Chute combining for a seven under par Singles total. In the Scotch Foursomes Kerry extended their winning margin to 12 shots with scores of eight under par (Ajay and Jayden) along with five under par for Brian and Ben brining their final total to 20 under par in the finish ahead of Tipperary’s Gold team.
The Kerry Green team of Daniel Leahy, Tommy Daly, Fionn McMonagle and Aodhan O’Halloran shot a combined total of 25 over par, eight off the bronze medal won by Cork Red. We thank Sewell’s Pharmacy again for their kind sponsorship of both teams again the year along with the White team of Thomas Keane, Tommy Murrray, Mason Sheehy Elston and Diarmuid Lyons. The Individual titles saw both Brian and Ben go back out for a nine-hole playoff which Brian won from Ben to retain the honour and mean he has achieved a county and provincial double in 2024.
Fionn McMonagle of Deerpark won the U13 title meanwhile with a total of two over par as his club-mate Aodhan O’Halloran finished third in this section as well. Closer to home the Paul O’Sullivan Memorial Scratch Cup took place in Castleisland as a score of 22 under par for his 36 holes from Fergal Roche of Tralee really caught the eye. As it was a graded competition he had to stay in the Intermediate grade which he won with a 54-hole score of 20 under par as he as he had three shots to spare over his nearest challenge Dennis Porter from the host club on 17 under par.
Keith O’Brien would win the Final 18 prize in this section with six under par as overall honours went to Kieran Earls of Bruff with a 54-hole score of 25 under par. That was just one ahead of Shane Brennan in second 24 under par as Damien Fleming won the Last 18 prize with nine under par. The Junior A and Junior B honours went to Tralee brothers Noel and Gerry Lee, Noel winning the Junior A with seven under par, four ahead of Reece Sugrue in second with the Last 18 prize here going to Paul Hayes from Listowel. The two Ladies prizes saw Valerie O’Leary win the Gross with two over par as a score of 95 Nett was enough for Tralee’s Catriona O’Connor to win the other prize.
Our sincere thanks to all who took part as well as the long list of sponsors who donated raffle prizes for the day itself. Sunday saw the National Strokeplay Qualifiers take place in Deerpark and we will look more into that event next week as part of our preview for the finals in Dublin courses Glenville and RGSC on the weekend of August 11th.
