Pitch & Putt IrelandMunster Strokeplay Review
Jason O’Connor looks back on a weekend in Ardnacrusha where the host club tasted two Mens successes but Tipperary claimed four titles including a clean sweep of the Womens competitions.
After both Men ended a long, long wait in Tipperary for National Senior Mens Individual titles last year both Riverdale’s Stephen Shoer and Stephen O’Reilly of Hillview found themselves battling it out for a maiden provincial success last Sunday as only one shot separated the pair at the end of 54 holes of play.
A great 10 under par start in his First Round may have given O’Reilly the lead after the first 36 holes on 18 under par but Shoer was well placed behind him on 16 under to make a charge in the final 18 holes. The first nine holes of that playoff would be where the initiative switched to Shoer as he improved his score to 20 under par while O’Reilly could only go one better to 19 under. It meant Shoer needed only match O’Reilly’s improvement in the last nine holes to secure victory and he did so with three consecutive eight under par rounds giving him a 24 under par winning total as O’Reilly finished on -23.
Behind them Deerpark’s Damien Fleming nearly forced himself into the reckoning with a nine under par final round as he finished on 22 under par in claiming third ahead of both John Cahill (-20) and Thomas Hanley (-19) behind him. Both Shoer and Fleming (first and second respectively in last year’s National Senior Mens Strokeplay) are now First and Second in the National Mens Rankings as Shoer joins a unique group of players to hold provincial and national titles at the one time. Saturday’s Intermediate event meanwhile saw a lockout of the top three positions by the host club.
The battle for the title itself was a Flynn affair as 2019 National Intermediate Strokeplay winner Brian O’Flynn won again at Intermediate level with a strong seven shot victory in the end over Kevin Flynn. Kevin had enjoyed a 36 hole of two shots over Brian on 10 under but fell back in the playoff to eight under overall as Brian eased his way to a winning total of 15 under par for his 36 holes. Third place went to countback to decide the prize as Emmet Fitzgerald’s last 18 of three under par brought him into a tie on seven under par with Alan Keating of St Annes and Michael Kirby of Larkspur Park.
With Keating shooting one under for his playoff round and Kirby not advancing from his 36-hole score in shooting level par Fitzgerald claimed the prize to ensure the Ardnacrusha 1-2-3 here. Junior A nearly had the host club occupy all three spots in the podium as well but there was an even bigger winning margin for the winner here than in the Intermediate grade. Kieran Bermingham pretty much left the field in his wake after the first 36 holes with a five under par total as he was nine clear of his nearest challenger in Riverdale’s Gerard Tuite on four over par.
Although Kieran fell back to two under par after the playoff he lost no ground in the final result as club-mate Eugene McNamara finished second on seven over par meaning the difference (nine shots) between Kieran was the same both at the 36 and 54 hole stages. Eddie Delaney of Bishopstown prevented the second home podium by finishing on eight over par, two ahead of Brendan Moloney who ended up on +10. The 36-hole Junior B event had a clear winner too as Tralee’s Reece Sugrue had a second 18 of two under par in finishing on three over for the tournament and winning by five shots from Cunnigar’s Patrick Walsh and Crosshaven’s William Condon on eight over. Patrick with a better second 18 of three over as opposed to four over claimed the runners-up spot.
The Ladies competitions on Saturday saw no player shoot under par on the tricky Clare track. Breda White came the closest in winning the Senior Ladies event with a solid level par total that had round of one over and one under par. It left her seven clear of Sarah O’Neill of Collins in second as Margaret Hennessy from Riverdale would finish in third. The closest Ladies event on Saturday afternoon would be the Intermediate grade as only two shots was the difference in the final outcome.
Liz Forde of Riverdale had rounds of 60 and 59 to finish on +11 as 18-hole leader Frances Ryan finished in second on +13 after rounds of 59 and 62 respectively. Three players found themselves competing for third as Paula Nolan of Rocklodge edged out Fermoy’s Ailish Sexton and Lakeside’s Bridget Shelley by a single stroke. Paula had rounds of 61 and 62 to finish on +15 for the bronze medal as it was Hillview’s Lorraine Creed who completed the Tipp clean sweep in the Ladies. Only a week after her win in the National 055’s in St Stephens, Creed won at Junior provincial level with a score of +18.
Her win was largely due to a strong start of 60 and she had a second round of 66 with Tralee’s Catriona O’Connor her nearest challenger in finishing on +23. Similarly, for Catriona her opening round of 63 was enough to hold off the challenge of St Annes’ Gillian Morrissey for second after Morrissey closed with a 65 for her eventual score of +24.
Eileen Hanley from the Ranges was a further shot behind on +25 in the final standings, a closing 71 proving to be the undoing of her chances of a prize after being second following the first 18 holes on 62.
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