Tullamore Golf Club

Congratulations Shane - Heartiest congratulations to Shane Lowry on his fantastic performance in winning the Irish Open at Baltray from everyone in Tullamore Golf Club. This record breaking performance will live long in the memory of all golf enthusiasts throughout the land who had the pleasure to be either there or to watch it on TV. It must rank as one of the greatest feats by an Irish sportsperson ever. When one looks at the calibre of the golfers that Shane left in his wake, or the list of previous winners of this tournament, it is truly an unbelievable achievement. It must be said that everyone in the club marvelled at such grit, composure and determination over those final nine holes down the stretch - a stretch that on many a Sunday afternoon has caused heartache and disappointment for so many other great golfers. To win on your very first Tour event is exceptional, to do it as an amateur is just sensational. Shane deserves all the praise that has been bestowed on him for such a truly amazing achievement, so once again many congratulations. Competitions Stuart Grehan (5) continues to impress with his performances in Tullamore. He picked up three prizes at the last presentation and he continued with his winning ways last Sunday in the Ravenhill Couriers sponsored singles when he brought in a fantastic score of 42 pts off a five handicap. In second place was Phonsie Daly (10) with 38 pts and third was Noel Cleary (13) 37 pts. The Gross went to Eoin Flanagan (5) with 28 pts. Open Week Open week commences this Friday and hopefully there will be an improvement in the weather. Judging by the time sheets there is great interest in all the competitions and there are still some places available whether you want to play in a Singles, a fourball or a team event. On Friday 22nd there is a Singles, on Saturday 23rd the Tullamore Hardware sponsored fourball takes place and on Sunday Tim O"Sullivan Plant Hire sponsors the singles competition. Monday sees the singles sponsored by club professional Donagh McArdle taking place. Donagh can take some credit and pride from the superb achievement of Shane Lowry at the weekend as he was on Donagh"s GUI coaching panel not so many years ago. On Tuesday the team event sponsored by Walsh Brothers Plumbing & Heating Superstore is on and Wednesday sees the Lambe Oil Ltd singles taking place. Galvin for Men sponsor the singles on Friday and on Saturday there is a mixed fourball sponsored by Expert Electrical. Inter Club Competitions Tullamore"s hopes of making it to the All-Ireland finals in the Pierce Purcell next September were dashed in wet and windy Highfield last Saturday when their aggregate total for the four counting cards of 361, which originally was three shots outside the mark but, by late Saturday night, was only one off the mark, when the leading team disqualified itself over a wrong handicap. There were three teams on 361 and agonisingly for Tullamore they were the best of these, so they lost out by the one shot. The Michael Moore team defeated Abbeyleix on Saturday 16th with Tom Feery winning on the 16th and Ger Flanagan giving full value to the spectators at the home venue by going to the 18th to win. In Abbeyleix, Tullamore recorded two good wins with John Dunne winning on the 20th and Noel Lonergan winning on the 18th. Pat Heffernan and Michael Kearns were the other members of the team. The Junior Cup team set out in quest of a place in the finals when they go to Co Longford this Saturday to play in the regional qualifier. Match Play There were a few surprises in the matches just completed in the Byrne Casey and Associates Foursomes match-play. Tom Scott and David Loughlin defeated Joe Feely and John O"Rourke; Ollie Hughes and Willy Egan outplayed if not out-talked Gerry Loughlin and Larry Larkin. Paul Condron and Dominic Kelly got Deckie Harvey and Damien Beatty at a good time and won as Deckie is suffering from blisters on his hands and feet. Garry Hughes had not hit a ball in months but he teamed up with father Dave to defeat Pat Keegan and Liam Hoctor. The golf that Dom Daly and Brian Burke played in ousting Philip McCarthy and Joe Egan would have done justice to a Barton Cup pairing as they were only two over par when the match ended.