Short Game

Island's Hatton burns it up at Moyvalley in Alliance finale -THE Leinster Alliance held their final outing of 2009 at the wonderful new course at Moyvalley in Co Kildare on Sunday.

And on a perfect day for golf, scoring was, not surprisingly, of a very high standard, with a good attendance producing some excellent scores.

However, one round stood out from the rest as the best score of the day was a fantastic level par round from Robert Hatton, playing off six, from The Island, who brought home 42 points to win the nett category.

With such a good score it was no wonder that Hatton was a clear winner of the outing and he had three points to spare over second placed Peter Nolan, playing off five, from Bray, with the best of the 39 points, while third place was claimed by Blainroe’s Al Smith (6), also with 39.

The gross prize was won by scratch golfer Peter Kirby from Bray with 35 points, who was one clear of Slade Valley’s five handicapper Gary Donnelly.

The outing was shocked, however, to hear of the sudden passing of one of their more popular members, Alan Power from Castle GC and the Leinster Alliance. Members wish to pass on their condolences to his family.

The Alliance takes a break now and will resume on Saturday, January 30th with a visit to Portmarnock Links, the timesheet for which will open in early January.

East adds Mid title to European

GALE force winds failed to stop Stephen East of Moortown, Leeds, from adding the Irish Mid-Amateur title to his European title at the European Club recently.

East scored 81 to win by two strokes from his clubmate Nigel Sweet, who was also runner-up to him in the European Championship.

Rosslare six-handicapperTony Hynes won the nett prize with an excellent 78 in the almost impossible conditions.

81– S East (scr, Moortown).

83– N Sweet (+2, Moortown); L Canning (4, Woodenbridge); R Williams (3, Woodlands).

84– T Hynes (6, Rosslare).

85– N Kilgallon (3, The European Club); A Derby (3, Sutton).

86– P O'Brien (4 Donabate).

Meadow retains Golfweek crown

STEPHANIE Meadowmade history over the weekend when she successfully defended her title at the Golfweek Junior Invitational as Mike Millerwon the Boys' Division by five shots at Reunion Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Meadow, 17, carded the only sub-par round, 71, on Saturday, that included three birdies and two bogeys, and took a three-shot lead into the final round.

Meadow started the final round with eight pars and a bogey at the 18th (her ninth), before carding her lone birdie at the par-four fourth. She closed with three bogeys in the last four holes for a three-over-par 75 for 146 and a three-shot winning margin.

Meadow has committed to play for Alabama next year, and has set her sights on a third victory in a row at next year’s Golfweek Junior Invitational.

Amy Ruengmateekhunmade a big move up the leaderboard in the final round, carding an even-par 72 to claim second place. Ruengmateekhun cancelled out four bogeys with four birdies, and a double bogey with an eagle at the 475-yard par-five 15th for five-over 149 for the tournament.

Linda Luo(74) and Yueer Cindy Feng(77) tied for third at seven-over-par 151.

Gallagher brings home top hamper

THE Irish Association of Golf Club Secretaries held their annual hampers competition at the Druids Glen Resort last Monday and taking home the spoils was Muskerry's Hugo Gallagher.

The 15-handicapper returned a fine score of 39 points.

Gallagher had two points to spare over Newlands' Gabriel Nolan(7), while Ronan Smythof Kilcoole playing off 18, was third on 36 points, just edging out Dermot Clancy(12) of Slade Valley on a countback.

Kanturk's Tony McAuliffe(7) was fifth on 35 points.

THERE was a unique double success recently for Dun Laoghaire golf club when they won the Bloom Cup Inter-Club fourball competition. In the final, played over two legs, Dun Laoghaire’s men narrowly defeated Hermitage 3-2 at home in a titanic struggle, having tied a tense away leg which concluded with an exciting final match finishing in semi darkness.

The win for the men followed an earlier success for the Dun Laoghaire Ladies team, captained by Nora Conway, who overcame Ballinascorney in the final winning by 3½ to 2½.

The ladies had already accounted for Rathfarnham, Foxrock and Edmonstown on their way to the final of the event which features 16 of the neighbouring South county clubs in a fourball format.

Stewart Jnr takes first college event

AARON Stewart, 20-year-old son of the late US Open champion Payne Stewart, has won his first US college golf tournament, just a few days after the 10th anniversary of his father’s death in a plane crash.

A student at Southern Methodist University, Dallas in Texas – as was his father – put together rounds of 70, 72 and 74 for a level par aggregate of 216 and a two-stroke victory in the UTPA Classic at Los Lagos Golf Club, Edinburg, Texas.

Aaron, now 6ft 1n and a second-year student at SMU, was 10 years old when his father died in a plane crash near Aberdeen, South Dakota, which killed the pilot and all four passengers.

GONZAGA, Belvedere, Blackrock and St Peter’s, Wexford, have qualified for the Irish Schools Matchplay, Leinster semi-finals: Gonzaga College beat St Michael’s College 3½-1½; Belvedere beat Portmarnock CS 3½-1½, while St Peter’s College bt St Mary’s Academy 4-1.

Turner makes second USPGA qualifier

NIALL Turner of Team Ireland Golf, qualified for the second stage of the USPGA Tour School qualifying when finishing 11th in last week's first qualifying tournament in San Juan Oaks GC, California.

Turner, from Muskerry, shot rounds of 71, 75, 67 and 69 for 282 to qualify for stage two at the Craig Ranch GC in Texas next week.

The event was won by Canada'sStuart Anderson , who shot 71, 70, 67 and 67 for 275.

PATRICIAN Academy Mallow beat Christian Brothers School, Charleville, to win the Munster Schools Pennant and qualify for the national finals at Killarney (Mahony’s Point) Golf Club in April 2010.

Conor Dowling led the way with a 73, withKevin Dowling adding a 77 andPaul McCarthy a 79 for a total of 229 and an 11-shots win over CBS Charleville.

Brian O'Shea was best with a 78,John O'Keeffe shot 82 andNiall McEvoy 80.