Mannan Golf Notes: Rose O'Reilly successful in first strokeplay event of the season

Plenty of golfers braved the elements on a tough Saturday of play. And lucky enough the course held up very well, considering the amount of rainfall.

Darren Campbell took the honours with a brilliant score of 41pts, with a great 22pts back nine. Runner up was Tom Lynch, with an also great score of 40pts.

Saturday Open Single 22nd April 2023: 1st - Darren Campbell (PH.14) 41pts, 2nd - Tom Lynch (PH.26) 40pts.

Sunday April 23rd saw our first medal competition of the year take place. With a strong field teeing it up, it was Lenny McKitterick who finished first with a super score of nett 65.

Lenny took advantage of Mannan’s superb practice area during the week, and it showed in his score on Sunday afternoon. Paul Rooney finished second and James Hand third, both doing very little wrong on their way to shooting a great score of nett 67. Gross prize went to Mark Lambe.

April Monthly Medal Stroke 23rd April 2023: 1st Lenny McKitterick (PH.19) - 65 nett, 2nd Paul Rooney (PH.21) - 67 nett, 3rd James Hand (PH.18) - 67nett.  Gross: Mark Lambe (PH.+1) – 70.

MANNAN CASTLE SENIORS

In Tuesday's weekly Mannan Castle Seniors 9-hole competition, a number of new faces made an appearance in the winner’s enclosure.

The overall winner was Kieran Crozier who thanks to two excellent pars in his last four holes managed to hold off the challenge of Tom Lynch on countback.

Tom however had the consolation of winning category 2 with a very worthy 19 points, which included three pars. Tom is a recent addition to the seniors and has made an early impact.

In category 1, an old hand in the seniors, Finbar Boylan, was the winner despite a slow start to his round, having only two points after two holes. He was victorious on countback over Denis Murphy whose double bogey on the penultimate hole proved costly.

Result Tuesday 25th April (9-Hole Competition): Overall: Kieran Crozier (6) 19pts c/b. Category 1: Finbar Boylan (8) 17pts c/b, Category 2: Tom Lynch (11) 19pts.

MANNAN CASTLE LADIES

This week’s ladies’ competition was the first stroke play competition of the year. The scores were a little mediocre, but many would be fairly rusty on the fairways at the moment as it’s been a slow start to the season. Especially with all the rain we had in March.

The winners probably didn’t expect their score to be in the top two. With 70 nett, Rose O’Reilly beat Ann Shekleton on the breakdown.

Rose O’Reilly rarely makes mistakes on the course; she’s a solid golfer and yesterday’s round was just that. Her front nine was for the most part bogey free golf.

Surprisingly Rose didn’t play the par three’s very well, but three beautiful pars on 11th, 13th and 14th secured her win, just pipping her playing partner Ann on the countback. Ann’s round started with a birdie on the first, which is even more special when you’re playing handicap is 36.

Ann Shekleton joined us last year, returning to golf after taking a break for a few years. If you’ve met her on the course, you’d notice she’s always smiling and has a skip in her step. It’s safe to say she was grinning from ear to ear after this event. And rightly so.

Women’s 18 Hole Stroke Competition (Sponsored by McAllister Home & Garden): 1st Rose O’Reilly (24) 70nett c/b, 2nd Ann Shekleton (36) 70nett.

A shout out to this week's sponsor McAllister Home & Garden, who have generously sponsored our ladies club again this year. We ask members to support the shops and businesses that support us.