Last Sunday’s Adult County Strokeplay Championships in Castleisland were played in ideal conditions and Deerpark’s John McGrath certainly warmed to the occasion in retaining the Senior Mens title.
Only a week after winning his club’s Senior Scratch Cup he had six shots to spare over the 54-hole distance last Sunday with his combined total of 31 under par as he shot rounds of 12, 10 and nine under par respectively. Munster Matchplay Champion Jason Cregan was the closest to him in the end on 25 under par as Damien Fleming beat Jason O’Regan on Back 6 countback for third position after both players finished level on 22 under par.
Incredibly all the other three Mens grades had to go to nine hole playoffs to determine winners. Daniel Broderick Jnr from the host club made it a memorable day for his family in general in the first instance by winning the Intermediate Mens battle. It was only after a 63- hole affair between Tralee’s Mark Lucey and himself after both players finished level on 12 under par for 54 holes. Keith O’Brien (Tralee) claimed third in this grade with a score of 11
under par.
The Junior A and Junior B events were contested over 36 holes but both went to 45 holes to determine winners in the end. Mark O’Shea of Deerpark and Pa Byrne of Tralee battled it out for the A title a week after the same duo contested the Junior Scratch Cup in Tralee as both finished level on one under par after the two rounds. Mark succeeded in the playoff by a single stroke to give Deerpark their second title of the day. Bizarrely the Junior B scores were better than the Junior A as both Reece Sugrue (Tralee) and Paul Hayes (Listowel) shot rounds of three under par.
Reece would win the playoff as the Ladies prizes on the day went to Julianne Broderick following on from her brother Dan’s win with a score of 113 (five over par) to win the Gross as Tralee’s Charlotte Blake won the Nett prize on the day with a score of 85. This Sunday sees the Munster Strokeplay Qualifiers take place in Castleisland with players looking to join three of our four County Champions last Sunday in the finals in Ardnacrusha next month.
Meanwhile our U16 season gets going in Deerpark this Saturday with the staging of theCounty U16 Matchplay. Full details will be with clubs by the end of the week but a reminder that the event is dress code.
