Westmeath County Board

Westmeath Classic

Westmeath Classic.

The annual Jack McCormack memorial Westmeath Classic took place in Kilbeggan on Sunday. After been cancelled earlier in the year due to bad weather, a large crowd of 96 turned up to play in one of the last open competitions of the year. The course was in excellent condition and a lot of credit has to go to the Kilbeggan club for this. In the ladies grade two competition the winner was Ann Clarke from the home club. Ann had very consistent rounds of 61 and 62 for a total of 123. Ann has played very steady pitch and putt all year and this capped off an excellent season for her. In the ladies grade one section Kathleen Carton led much of the day with rounds of 54 and 57 for 111 but this was only bettered by current ladies world champion Chrissie Byrne from St. Bridget’s with a score of 98 which included a stunning 46. Dave Donoghue from Kilbeggan started near the end of the day and played excellent pitch and putt with a 51 and 50 for a 7 under par total of 101 to win the gents junior grade. Well done Dave. The gents intermediate had 30 entries and the scoring was of a very high standard. With a lot of players breaking par Tom Arthur of Rochfortbridge was leading for a long time until Niall Corcoran from Lough Owel produced an outstanding score of 13 under par 95 that was made up of rounds of 49 and 46. The 2013 season has seen Niall progress as a player and he is now on the verge of the senior grade and with this sort of scoring, is good news for the county. The senior grade was always going to be a close affair, especially over the 36 hole format.  Martin Kenny (Custume) was the first man out on the course and had brilliant rounds of 47 and 45 to set an early score for the rest of the field to chase. After a number of hours play, it looked as if the score would not be touched until Ian Dillon from St. Bridget’s had rounds of 47 and a ten under par 44 to beat Martin by one shot and win the 2013 classic after winning it previously in 2009. Third place went to Alan Hanlon (Collinstown) with an excellent total of 15 under. Westmeath county board would like to thank the McCormack family for sponsoring the prizes and the Kilbeggan club members for helping to run the competition on the day. A big thanks also to all the players who entered to make this competition a great success.