First out this afternoon was our Barton Shield team managed by Tom Byrne who faced Woodenbridge G.C. This cumulative, foursomes competition is played off scratch so top quality golf is to be expected and we weren’t disappointed in this regard today, even in pretty awful conditions. Our away pairing of Daniel O’Byrne and Niall Gaffney were three up through 16 while our home pair of Shane O’Connor and Adam Packman were two up with one to play so the match was won by Greystones, 5 holes up with 3 to play. A great win. Woodenbridge were looked after today by an ex Greystones institution, Craig Lewis.
Via Maume’s Women’s Senior Foursomes team also faced Woodenbridge. Via had one match at home and two away. Jenny Moore & Marguerite Hamill came up against a really strong Woodenbridge pair in the second away match and unfortunately lost 7&5. The home pairing of Mary Lockhart & Aishling Marmion got off to a good start and had a 3 hole lead after 11 but their match was called in after our first pair in Woodenbridge, Hayleigh Mulcahy & Mary Hutch, who had played solidly came up just short, loosing their match by 2&1.
Third out today was our Irish Mixed team managed by Rod O’Shea and Lady Vice Captain, Amanda. With three matches at home and two away and a strong team, expectations were understandably high, a quality Woodbrook team had other ideas however. Our first pair out, Sean McParland & Regina Barry found themselves 5 down after 13 holes and did well to keep the match alive till the 16th where they lost 3&2. Second out on the course at home were Diarmaid MacGabhann & Polly O’Reilly who were always in control of their match eventually winning out 4&3. Our third home match featured Alan Keane & Lisa Croke who came up against dogged opposition and the loss by a 6&5 scoreline didn’t accurately reflect the standard of golf played by our pair. So at 2:1 down from our home matches all eyes turned to Woodbrook where Harry Kirk & Ger O’Shea were having a ding dong battle all afternoon but were called in before having to go the the nineteenth hole when our final pairing of Ray McDonnell & Orla Delany lost 4&2. Hard luck to all involved.
Our forth match today involved Alan Byrne’s Jimmy Bruen team who lined out against Delgany in the second round of the competition. Two home and three away matches meant a good performance from the whole team would be vital. Our first pair out at home Derek O’Regan & Brian Murray were two down through 6 and remained down till the 13th when they got the match back to all square. A win on the 14th followed by a loss on the 15th had them back to flat but a win on 16 followed by a hard won half on 17 gave them a one hole lead going down the 18th which they duly won to add a point to the Greystones board. This wasn’t the first point for the home side however as a brilliant performance by Ray Crotty & Kieran Dowdall had already secured a win by 8&6. In Delgany the matches were much tighter. Collie Dunne & Tom Sheehy, who had secured the winning point for the team in the first round of the competition, lost 2&1 and it fell to Mark Byrne & Craig Hazelton to secure the third point and win the tie with a 3&2 match win. Our third away pair of Ian Mullally & Ed Davis had just won on 17 when the match was called. A great team performance all round.
Last but most definitely not least were our Fred Daly team who faced Dun Laoghaire in the second round. To put this match up into context, this is and under 18 competition which is played off scratch. Our team consisted of 4 of our current under 15 team, Dylan Holmes, Jamie Anderson, Jack McGovern and William O’Riordan with the addition of a veteran campaigner at this stage, George O’Brien. Our handicaps ranged from 3.3 to 7.4. Quite impressive till you realise that their opposition ( and one of the favorites to capture the title outright this year ) had handicaps of +1, 0, 1.8, 1.8 and 2.2. On paper a 5 nil loss with early showers for all might have been expected.
What we witnessed instead was one of the best performances seen for a long time by a Greystones Junior team. We had three matches at home and two in Dunlaoghaire. Dylan Holmes traveled from Cork this morning to be here to play and led the team in position one off 3.3 handicap index. Dylan was up against a +1 handicapper but was only 1 down through 9 holes. A blitz from his opponent had Dylan 3 down through 13 however a birdie on 14 and a good half on the 15th brought the match back to 2 down with three to play. Birdies from Dylan on 16 and 17 had Dun laoghaire dormie 1 up standing on the 18th tee box. Both players hit good drives however Dylan’s ran into the semi rough on the left hand side of the fairway and his second shot found the bunker short of the green while his opponent found the green. Faced with one of the toughest shots in golf, the fifty yard bunker shot Dylan reached the putting surface only to see his par saving putt slip by the hole. A par by the Dun Laoghaire golfer secured their first point a little later than was expected perhaps. Jamie Anderson, our second man out playing off 5.0, faced a scratch golfer. Jamie got off to a good start and was a couple of holes up at the turn and maintained this lead till the 14th which his opponent won. Another Dunlaoghaire win on the 17th brought the match to all square and after a half on 18 the pair headed to the 19th hole. Behind Jamie, George ( playing off 5.8 and playing a 1.8 handicapper ) didn’t get off to a good start, finding himself 4 down after 6 holes. Giving up in not in George’s character however and by the 12th he had brought the match back to 2 down. Wins on 15 & 17 had George teeing it up on 18 holding a one hole lead. The two players hit fairway splitting drives to leave a flick in for both. Dunlaoghaire played first to perhaps 15 feet but then George hit a pure shot to 4 feet which he duly holed to win the match. Meanwhile Jamie was on the 19th green for a 5 footer for the match which hit the hole but didn’t drop. On the 20th Dunlaoghaire pulled their tee shot left but got extremely lucky to find the ball in a bare spot and have a clear shot to the green. The hole was halved in par and we moved to the 21st. Both players found the greenside bunker and while Jamie hit the better bunker shot to 5 feet as we all know there in no easy putt on the 3rd and neither player managed to make par. On the 22nd hole both players went left off the tee but again Dunlaoghire got the rub of the green and had a clear shot to the green while Jamie was behind trees and had to lay up. In the end, despite a chip shot that skimmed the hole from Jamie, a par for Dunlaoghaire won the match. Meanwhile in Dun Laoghaire where the weather was considerably worse than at home Jack McGovern and William O’Riordan were doing the club proud. Jack off 7.1 was playing against a 1.8 handicapper and William off 7.4 was playing the Dunlaoghaire high man who was off 2.2. Both Jack and William played some unbelievable golf. Jack was gone up the 19th and was in prime position when unfortunately William, who had wins on 14 & 15 to bring the match to all square lost the 18th to secure the tie for Dun Laoghaire. The club should be immensely proud of this team performance.
