Short game

By SHAY KEENAN

Clubs reach Fourball finals

STACKSTOWN, Mannan Castle, Portumna and Cahir Park last week won the regional finals of the Miele Ireland Interclub Fourball.

On Wednesday in the Eastern final at Greenore, Stackstown beat Arklow in a battle that saw the final match go the full distance before Stackstown won 2½-1½. In the Northern final, Mannan Castle beat Ballybofey Stranorlar by a similar margin.

On Monday at Gort it was Portumna and Cahir Park who won the Western and Southern titles, beating Roscommon and Killarney respectively 3-1.

The national semi-finals and final take place at Mullingar on September 19th-20th.

Madden leads way as Cork take pitch and putt double

CORK added the National Inter County to their Munster Pitch and Putt title won last weekend in Lakeside with a decisive victory at Portmarnock over the weekend.

Leading old rivals Kerry by one shot after the first round, Cork went on to win by 11 shots, on a total of 26 under par, from Kerry, with Louth third.

Barry Madden led the way with a nine-under-par 45, Chris O’Sullivan shot 46, Brian Maloney 47, David Poynton 52 and Daragh O’Leary finished on level par.

Both the boys and girls titles were decided over extra holes. Claire Keatinge from Old County won a play-off to take the girls title, while Brian Maloney took the boys title with a final-hole victory.

Level with Claire Martin from Stackallen, Keatinge triumphed by the narrowest of margins over her rival, with Kate Whyte from Lucan in third place

The boys ended in a three-way play-off after Maloney from from Majestic, Dean Reid from CPM and Chris O’Sullivan from Pfizers finished tied on eight-under-par 46.

Maloney triumphed on the ninth hole when his par three was good enough to beat defending champion O’Sullivan, while Reid was third.

Maloney shot a three-under-par 24 in the play-off with O’Sullivan one back on 25 and Reid on level par.

Michael Howard from the Pfizers club won the 10-13 age group with a four-under-par 50.

Kilkenny Power to first Senior cup

FORMER Irish champion Eileen Rose Power was the hero for Kilkenny when she holed from four feet at the first extra hole to record Kilkenny’s first victory in the Irish Senior Cup at Mount Wolseley.

Tournament favourites Royal Portrush started brightly, with Helen Jones defeating Mary Leahy Browne, but current international Mary Dowling levelled the tie with her victory over Naoimh Quigg.

Royal Portrush went ahead once again when Maura Diamond edged out Anne Smee, but Kilkenny’s Orla Dunphy once again levelled the sides with a 2 and 1 win over Lucy Simpson.

The tie rested with the top pairing of Power and current international Charlene Reid. Reid squared the match when Power failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker on 17.

Both missed from eight feet on 18 to force extra holes, and when Reid’s approach came up short at the first extra hole, Power cooly slotted from four feet across the slope to clinch Kilkenny’s first Senior Cup title.

Earlier in the day, Royal Portrush defeated second seeds Co Louth 3½-1½, while Kilkenny eased past Laytown and Bettystown 4-1.

ELM Park will take a 6-3 lead to Donabate next week for the the second leg of the Metropolitan Cup.

Elm Park claim McGinley trophy

THE Elm Park pair of Michael Dunne and Richard O'Donnell won the McGinley Trophy, sponsored by Mercury Engineering, at Powerscourt GC last week with a 3 and 2 win over Sutton's David and Eugene O'Neill in the final.

In the semi-finals, the O’Neills had a one-hole win over Portmarnock’s George Nish and Leo Sex, while Dunne and O’Donnell beat Fergal Kennedy and Scott Diamond from The Island 4 and 3.

THE Don Patterson Open Juvenile competition held at Warrenpoint GC again proved a great success with some 140 taking part. The boys under-13 competition was won by Eoghan Collins (above, right) from Laytown and Bettystown with a score of 38 strokes. The girls under-13 competition was won by Rose McAuliffe from Rathfarnham.

The boys under-11 competition was won by local Michael McGurk with a gross 38. Eleanor Metcalfe, from Laytown and Bettystown, with 49 strokes, retained the girls title.

The boys under-nine competition, which was played over the opening six holes, was won by Peter Taylor from Tandragee with a score of 33 strokes, while Rebekah Moorhead, also from Tandragee, won the girls with 48 shots.

Tadhg Lynch from Newry Golf Academy, age five, won the Don Patterson Special Prize. Runner-up was Brendan Lawlor from Louth Village.

Geraghty goes low for Dublin title

CIAN GERAGHTY, a 16-year-old one handicapper from Carton House, produced one of the lowest 36-hole aggregates in the 17 years of the competition when he captured the Grange Dublin Boys championship, in association with Allianz Insurance.

Demonstrating his enormous potential, Geraghty scored gross rounds of 72 and 71 to win by four shots from Jake Whelan (7) from Newlands with 74, 73, while host-club member Robbie Pierse (5) was one shot back in third place, following rounds of 71 and 77.

A notable double was recorded by Carton House players when Geraghty’s title-winning effort was augmented by fellow club member and one-handicapper Conor Glynn, whose two-over-par 70 was the lowest gross round recorded in the 72-strong field, all under 16 years of age with a maximum handicap of 16.

The best nett was won by Slade Valley member Gary Clarkin off 11 with 135.

Lewis sets Skerries course record

A NINE-year record was broken last Sunday week in Skerries when Kingsley Lewis set a course record of 64 around the north county Dublin course on his way to winning the monthly medal.

Playing off a handicap of two, Lewis – who has been coached by Roger Yates in recent years – beat the old standard by two shots. The old record was held by Mick Aherne and was set in 2000 – a seven-under 66.

Lewis had nine birdies in his round as well as a superb eagle at the driveable par-four 11th hole, where he chipped in from just off the green. His birdies came at the second, sixth, seventh and ninth, then on the 10th, 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th coming home.

In fact, his round could have been a little better as he missed a tap-in par putt at the eighth.

Following his exploits and his course record – for which he lost 1.1 – he is now playing off 0.7.

The medal was also noteworthy for the hole-in-one by Peter Lamont at the 12th hole.