The schools Pitch and Putt season concluded today with some great action at Lakeside. A brief shower coincided with the shotgun start but the majority of the play took place in glorious autumnal sunshine. The 48 players on show lapped up the fantastic conditions and the perfectly conditioned Templemore course, producing some great shots and superb scoring.
The shotgun start ensured the majority of the drama would take place in the clubhouse on the conclusion of the thirty six holes. By that time, Davis College from Mallow had emerged the winners. Greg Barrett, Edward Walshe and Roy Whelan produced a fantastic team display that saw them head and shoulders above the other participants. Respective rounds of 100 (48, 52), 99 (51, 48) and 99 (48, 51) demonstrated the balance in the team and were enough for a twelve shot victory.
Cork rivals Coláiste an Chraoibhín from Fermoy finished in second place thanks to a pair of 100’s from Dale and Gavin Dawson and an excellent 110 from Cillian Lynch who was a late replacement for Chris Wheeler who unfortunately broke his hand this week. The 14 under par total for the Fermoy lads was enough to hold of Munster Champions, St. Brendan’s College, Killarney. They also carded a score of 310 but lost the tie breaker on back 18’s. St. Brendan’s were led by a fantastic performance from Jason O’Brien, who shot a best of the day 95 (46, 49). Creagh Courtney and Michael Cronin completed the scoring with scores of 106 and 109. Elsewhere, the local team from Our Lady’s Templemore were very unlucky to miss out on the prizes. Their score of 311 was enough to stand well clear of most of the teams on show but saw them miss out a podium position by a single shot
A special word of thanks is warranted for the teachers and parents who look after these teams, they deserve great credit for facilitating the players in their participation. Lakeside too excelled as a host venue once again. In making the competition so good, they too deserve great praise along with provincial venues Lucan and Riverdale and the qualifying venues used for the schools competition.
Photos of today’s winners are available on the PPUI Flickr Page. You can access the set by clicking HERE.