Seapoint Golf Links

Thornton wins Irish PGA Championship

Simon Thornton raced to a 6 under par total for his opening nine holes in the  final round of the Irish PGA giving  him an unassailable lead in the race for the 101st PGA title.  While the putts didn’t drop as frequently on the back nine, and he had his only bogey on the 11 in 4 days of excellent golf, he maintained his advantage right to the end. His four rounds of  66 ,66, 71, 66 for a winning total of nineteen under par was ten shots better than last years winning score.

The other major highlight of Saturdays play was Gary Murphy’s new course record of 64 on his way to overall second place at 13 under par.

Des Smyth kept the flag flying for the locals and came joint third with Seamus McMonagle  on 12 under par.

Graham O’Callaghan finished the best of the home grown Seapoint team with a score of 8 over, followed by David Winters on 9 over and Enda Maguire 13 over.  The fact that three young Seapoint members had made the cut and completed at this level was a source of great pride to the club.

A  big thank you to all the volunteers, helpers and staff that made the four days go off very successfully and to the Green’s staff for presenting the course in such excellent condition for the competition.

 

Winner Simon Thornton receives the Irish PGA trophy from Capt John Garvey.

To view all the photographs from the four days Click here

Thornton leads PGA Championship with Smyth in hot pursuit

 

Simon Thornton followed an excellent opening 66 with another one to match and lead the PGA championship at Seapoint on twelve under par after day two.  Des Smyth continued his vein of good form which saw him win recently again on the Senior European tour  with rounds of 67 and 68 to be just three shots behind at 9 under and ensuring a long with Gary Murphy at two under, a big local interest in the final two rounds taking place on Saturday.  

 

Des Smyth after finishing with a 68 today.

 

Overall the scoring was several shots better than last year but even at that the cut came at 5 over par after the opening rounds. The weather forecast for Saturday is not as good as the first two days so the players will have to contend with that as well as a final day of thirty six holes which should sort the men from the boys.

The Seapoint players had a reasonable day with David Winters, Enda Maguire and Graham O’ Callaghan all making the cut but unfortunately David Carroll missed out.

 

David Carroll with caddy Capt. John Garvey survey the 3rd shot into 18

 

 

Leaderboard and selected scores after two Rounds

	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Total
Simon Thornton	66	66	-12
Des Smyth	67	68	-9
Seamus McMonagle	70	66	-8
Neil O’Brian	67	70	-7
David Higgins	69	69	-6
John Dwyer	68	71	-5
Brendan McGovern	71	68	-5
Gary Murphy	70	72	-2
Enda Maguire	74	73	+3
Graham O’Callaghan	70	79	+5

David Winters

 

Play starts with a two tee format at 7:30am on Saturday morning with the final round teeing off at 2:30pm.

Cormac Freeman wins Chairman’s prize

Cormac Freeman won the 2nd club Major of the year the Chairman’s prize with a score of 40 pts.  Conditions on the day were good and that was reflected in the excellent scoring. 

Thanks to Chairman Michael Doyle for hosting and sponsoring the competition.

Full Results

Winner: Cormac Freeman (13) 40 Pts.
Second: Ian Black (14) 39 Pts.
Gross:  Martin Ryan (9)
Third     Padraic Smith (11) 38 Pts.

Fourth Rita McGuinness (16) 38 Pts.
Fifth Larry Burtenshaw (16) 37 Pts.
Sixth Paddy Slattery (17) 37 Pts.

Gordon Burnell wins President’s Prize, Martina Nolan wins Lady’s President’s Prize.

The President’s prize is always the first of the club’s major competitions to be played coming as it normally does on the first Sunday of May.   Conditions this year were tough due to the high winds which certainly got up through the course of the day but that did not stop some great scores being posted. 

President Tom Upton and Lady President Breda McEvoy

pictured before the presentation

Martina Nolan took the Lady President’s prize with a score of 36 points while Gordon Burnell won the Men’s competition with a score of 39 points.  Afterwards both Presidents thanked the many helpers, volunteers, staff and family members for their support and efforts not just for the day’s competition but also through the course of the year.

Click here to see the photos of the presentation (and a little of the golf)

Men’s Results
WINNER Gordon Burnell   (39)pts
Second Seamus Kelly (38)pts   
Gross Alex Dignam (32)pts
Third Neil Floody (35)pts
Cat1 David Geoghegan (35)pts
Cat 2 Mark Hatch (34)pts
Cat3 John J McGrane (34)pts

President Tom with Men’s winner Geordon Burnell and Lady President Breda presenting Martina Nolan with her prize.

Congratulations again to the Winners Gordon Burnell and Martina Nolan and to President Tom and Lady President Breda for a great day all round. The day was also marked by Seamus Kelly having a hole in one on the 17th, an expensive day to have that honour on !

John Breen wins Spring League with a strong final two weeks performance

John  Breen won the Spring league with a strong final two weeks performance with the 44 points in week six proving to be the decisive move.  The competition was well supported and results very close with only 5 points separating the the next five places.  Final League table was as follows

 

	Spring League 2011
	Kindly Sponsored By: Raymond Lambe
Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
Breen John	27	38			36	44	37		182
McCabe Michael	37		37	35	36	34			179
Lynch Stephen	32		38	32	37	39			178
Jordan Peter		36	36	36		38	32		178
Smith Frank		37		31	33	40	34		175
Connell David		32	33	39	31	40			175
Kierans S Noel		35	37	33	34	35			174
Taaffe Andy	38	37		32		35	31		173
Flynn Thomas	36		33	32	37		35		173
Trodden Conor	33	34			32	37	35		171
McCullough Tony		34	31	35		36	35		171
McKenna Tony		30		37	33	37	33		170
Kelly Seamus		33	36	30	36		35		170
Boylan Sean	30		39		32	34	34		169
Ryan John	31	38	33	29			36		167
Brennan Paul			40	33	37	27	29		166
Kierans Michael	37	33	34	31			31		166
Connell Sean	35	33	34	31		33			166
Salmon Michael	31	32	30	37			36		166
Reilly Frank		30	35	34		34	32		165
Hazell Ray			31	33	30	33	38		165
Hanan David		37		31	31	35	31		165
McCashin Paul			30	30	37	33	34		164
Brady Michael	32	33		34		34	30		163
Winters Martin		31	29	40	28	35			163
Tiernan Tony		34	27	32	35		35		163
McCormack Sean			38	27	35	34	28		162
Fealy Colm	28	36		33		31	33		161
Reilly Gerard	32	29		30	34	36			161
Walsh Donal		29		40	26	28	37		160
Maguire Maurice		22	30	46	30		32		160
Branigan Philip	29		31	31	38	31			160
Jerry Rock		37	38	30		24	30		159
Rooney Liam	21	22	37	36			42		158
Branigan Trevor	31		32	31	31		33		158
Tuite Gerry			19	28	37	35	36		155
McEvoy Michael	43	29	25		26		32		155
McEvoy Francis	32	35		16	38		34		155
Upton Tom	33			31	29	29		29	151
O'Reilly Martin	33		28	30	32		28		151
Savage Raymond	0	33	28		28	32	28		149
Baker Ken	33	29	21		30	31			144
Crilly Noel			26	34	23	31	29		143
Mooney John	27		25	30		28	32		142
Moore Peter	29			37	42	30			138
Faulkner Oliver	0	0		34	33	35	34		136
Dignam Alex				35	32	33	33		133
McMorrow James	33	32	34			34			133
Victory Gerry	0	30			36	33	33		132
Berrill Gerry	29	34	33	36					132
Curran Frank	37	38	29	27					131
Reilly Tony	0	34		36	29		31		130
Keen Robbie	30		0	34	32	34			130
Hanan Jackie	23	25	27	28	25				128
Grennan Shane	32	32		28	36				128
McMahon Patrick	30	36	30			31			127
McCann John	29	28	4			33	33		127
Bannon J Gerald	0	32	28		36		29		125
Duff Tony	0	29		35	31	28			123
Culligan Noel	0		30	24	30		36		120
Kelly Michael	24			32	30		33		119
Glover Anthony	35				26	30	26		117
Seery Bernard	27	28	35	26					116
Fottrell Andy	28	37		25	26				116
Rooney Mark		21		23	20	17	31		112
Finnegan Emmet				28	21	28	33		110
McKenna Joe	23	34	24		26				107
Butterworth Gary	31	24		27			24		106
Black Ian				36		32	38		106
Callery Tony	26		21	28			30		105
McDonnell John	29			35			37		101
McCann Robert	18	28			28	27			101
Kerr Colm	0	36	33	32					101
Gallagher Noel	38			32		31			101
McIvor Pat.			30		33	8	29		100
Murphy Desmond				31	31	37			99
Reilly Malachy Snr.			31	34		33			98
Meehan David			35		26		37		98
Winters Colm	0	35		29			32		96
Keen Breen	27				33	36			96
Moore Noel	21	29				27	18		95
Cullen Jim				31	32		30		93
Whyte Declan			40	27			26		93
Munster Liam	27		28		33				88
McEvoy Noel	0	27			32		28		87
Matthews Mike	29		37				20		86
Carr Stephen			34	24		27			85
Connolly John	0	26			26		25		77
Rickard Andrew	0	0		37		39			76
Connolly Eugene	0	28			24		24		76
Lynn Conor	0	37					37		74
Fallon Seamus				28	25	21			74
Kierans Morgan	0	35		37					72
Kelly Noel	0	34	38	0					72
Slattery Paddy	27	22				23			72
Branigan Chris				38		33			71
Foley John	0	28			42				70
Campbell Johnny				33			37		70
Hall Derek	0	38			31				69
McDonnell Martin	33						36		69
Levins Oliver	36						33		69
Farrelly Derek	0	32					37		69
Branigan Chris	35		34						69
McDonnell Richard	33						35		68
O'Neill Mark	32	35							67
Dunne John	31			36					67
Hatch Mark					32		34		66
Kelly Peter				31			34		65
Cooney Pat	35			30					65
Scorr Gary			29				36		65
Martin Barry			38	26					64
Conlon Aidan	30			34					64
Bird Joe	0	30		33					63
Dunne Louis			30	32					62
Mohan Joseph	0	30		31					61
Maher Michael	0	29		0			32		61
Hernon Domhnaill			34		27				61
Burns Vincent				35	26				61
Walsh David	28						31		59
Ennis Michael	28	31							59
McParland Fergal				28			31		59
Lenehan David	0	31		26					57
Rath Patrick	27						30		57
McConnon Michael					24	32			56
Leonard Sean	0	25					31		56
Geoghegan David				34			22		56
Kirwan David	27		28						55
Wall Tom	32							23	55
Moore Peter Jr				20		34			54
O'Hanrahan Sean				22			30		52
Feeney Noel	8		14		30				52
Gibson Craig	0	0	18	33					51
Sullivan Ken			22		29				51
McDonnell Andrew	0		25		26				51
Lowry John			19	31					50
McElvaney Enda	24				25				49
Stamer Fritz	0	23	24						47
Stanley Heuston			15			30			45
Smith Eugene							45		45
Burnell Gordon					43				43
McDermott Matt				40					40
Johnston Martin	0	39							39
Cosgrove Andy	37								37
Cummins Paul					37				37
Clarke Maurice	36								36
Bannon Noel	36								36
Kelly Oliver	35								35
Mc Ardle David							34		34
Roden Kevin							34		34
Lawless Mark J					34				34
Duffy Paul				34					34
Daly Sean				33					33
Reynolds Dan				33					33
McQuillan John					33				33
McCahey Robin					33				33
Byrne Matthew	33								33
Brodigan Desmond			33						33
Butterly Michael			32						32
Tracey Wayne			32						32
McCormack John				32					32
Keilthy John				32					32
Higgins William							32		32
Frank Winters					32				32
Dunne Gerard	32								32
Campbell Patrick	32								32
Hoey Ciaran	NR					31			31
Moore Donncha				31					31
McCullough Kevin							31		31
Lambe Michael			31						31
Floody Neil	0	31							31
Brodigan Charles			30						30
Richardson Philip	30								30
McBrearty Conal	0	30							30
Hugh Maher					30				30
Bohill Daren	30			NR					30
Reynolds Ben				29					29
Johnson Johnny				29					29
Allen Charlie	29								29
McGuinness Peter							28		28
Kierans Noel				28					28
Joe Walsh							28		28
Gallagher Charlie				28					28
Curtin David	27	0							27
Martin Cahal				27					27
Keating Gary							27		27
Campbell PJ			27						27
Kirwan Desmond					26				26
McGrane John J				26					26
Gallagher Charlie	26								26
Duffy Des					26				26
Doherty Mike	25								25
Fay Frank	25								25
Johnston Thomas	0	25							25
Healy Mark	0	25							25
McDonnell Ben				24					24
Finegan Emmet	0		24						24
McGuinness Brian	0	22							22
Judge David	21								21
Smith Charlie			20						20
Levins Denis					11				11
Holcroft Ronan				7					7
Caffrey Richard				0					0
Short Dermot				0					0
Joyce Anthony									0

The 2011 Solheim Cup Killeen Castle, September 23rd to 25th.

The 2011 Solheim Cup is being played in Killeen Castle from the 23rd to 25th September.

We have been invited by Alison Nicholas, European Team Captain to support her team. This is going to be truly magnificent event and a great opportunity for Ireland.

A season ticket at €125 which allows your entry on all 6 days of the event - 3 practice days and 3 days of matches also includes:

• One complementary green fee to play Killeen Castle at any time in 2011/12. A season ticket to the AIB Ladies Open in Killeen Castle in August.

Note your season ticket is transferable.  Your ticket much be purchased before the end of May 2011 to avail of the above.

A PING Pavilion Ticket is also available at €250.

Alison Nicholas will be conducting a Golf Clinic in Dundalk Golf Club on Monday 9th May at 10.00 a.m. All Louth Clubs are invited to attend and meet Alison.

More information on all of the above is available from your Club Ambassador, Elizabeth Murphy (Mobile 087-2208905, 041-9822536 or E-Mail elizabetha.murphy@hotmail.com).

Paddy Slattery retains lead in golfer of the year after three rounds.

While it is early days yet Paddy Slattery retained the lead in the Golfer of the Year table after three events. Followed closed by Derek Farrelly, James McMorrow and David Leahy. The early rounds have showed a broad spread of players scoring points with only a handful scoring in more than one round so all to play for  as the season continues.

 

Spring League competition heats up entering the last weeks

Michael McCabe took a narrow two point lead at the top of the leaderboard  over previous leader Peter Jordan last week end in the Spring League.  With 5 weeks completed and only the best five cards to count now it really gets interesting.  Focus switches for the leaders to try and improve on their worst counting score to date.

 

Inter club season just around the corner.

Golf is normally a very individual game, a contest between the player and par with only the satisfaction of  beating your handicap, winning the weekend bet or occasionally winning the competition to add to the pleasure of being out on the links. However, the inter-club competitions are an opportunity to experience golf in a whole different way.  Much like the professionals who attest that there is nothing quite like playing in the Ryder Cup, for club golfers the honour and of course the pressure of representing your club in one of the different inter club competitions is the closest you will get to the equivalent experience .

Neither  is it just for the low handicap golfer as there are competitions to suit all handicap levels.

At this stage of the year the team managers for the various competitions have been selected and are building their panels but for those who are not familiar here is a quick reminder of the different competitions. 

Barton Cup.  Team manager David Meehan. This a foursomes competition the combined handicap of the two players must be 14 or above. Our first match this year will be against the winners of Baltray and Ardee and will be played by April 17th.

Pierce Purcell Team Manager David Connell.  This is a foursomes competition. The combined handicap of the two players must be 27 or higher and the lowest individual handicap permitted is 12.  The format for this competition is that the initial rounds are played on weekend.  The Saturday sees a stroke play round where all fourteen North Leinster clubs put out 5 Pairs.  The best four cards from these five will count towards the teams combined score.  The four best scores then qualify for the 2nd day with is matchplay semi final and final.  Seapoint  has a good record of qualifying for the matchplay stages over the years but we have yet to win out the regional round. Seapoint hosted the regional rounds for this three years ago and you can check out the photographs from that day here. This years initial rounds will be held on the weekend of 14th of May in Laytown and Bettystown.

Jimmy Bruen Team manager Johnny McQuillan and Pat Branigan  This is also a foursomes competition but the combined handicap of the two players must be 17 or higher and the lowest individual handicap permitted is six.  The format here is the same as Pierce Purcell with a qualifying stroke competition and matchplay semi-finals and final on the same weekend.  Seapoint last won the regional qualifier in 2007 and this year we are hosting the Regional finals so expectations to qualify for the matchplay section is high.

Provincial Towns Cup – Team manager Pat Cooney. This is a singles matchplay competition with nine players on each team.  Matches are played on a home and away basis.  The home team having five matches on their course and the away team having four matches on their course. In the final it is nine home and nine away matches.  Seapoint famously got to the final of this competition in 2004 when we were beaten in the final by a very strong Wexford team.  Even though Seapoint trailed 7-2 from the away leg there was still some hope and optimism for the return home match at Seapoint. Unfortunately the deficit proved too much to over come but it was a tremendous day in the club with a large following out on the links supporting our players.

JB Carr Trophy -  Team manager Noel Moore.  Seapoint are relatively new participants in the JB Carr trophy. This is the Senior’s competition with team members needing to be over 55 to play in the competition. 

Newsam Cup - Team Manager Andy Maguire.  The two pendants hanging in the Clubhouse are of course from the Newsam cup so it is our most successful competition.  It is foursomes matchplay competition for players of a handicap of 17 and above.  The competition is ran by Royal Tara golf club and the final takes place there every year.   The followers of this competition have probably witnessed every thing possible on a golf course from a shot perspective.  The last victory in this competition was no different with Phillip Kirk holing a 25 foot putt on the 18th green to take the last match to sudden death extra holes after he and Ben McDonnell had taken a somewhat adventurous and meandering route down that final hole.  Two holes later Seapoint had claimed victory with two putts from eight feet to seal the match.  

Irish Mixed Foursomes  Team Managers Jim Nolan and Paula Reynolds. This is one of the two mixed competitions that Seapoint take part in.  It is a foursomes matchplay competition for the lower handicap ranges.

Junior Cup Team manager Derek Farrelly.  This is an individual matchplay competition for handicaps five and above.  It tends to be one of the most competitive of all competitions.  Over the years Seapoint have had varied success with some exciting matches particularly when played on some of the local courses.   See the competition photographs from the Laytown and Bettytown in 2005 here.

Senior Cup and Barton shield are the competitions for low to scratch handicap players.  Seapoint are not in these competitions this year.

So there is a competition for you no matter what your handicap is and there really is nothing like playing for a team as well as the honour and glory of your club.  Many team managers are recruiting players and running trials etc. at the moment.  All members are invited to try out for any of the teams where there where they have the correct handicap. Handicaps are normally taken as the lowest handicap that you played off in the previous playing year.  Joining up sheets are in the Locker room so go a sign up.  If you don’t fancy playing then keep an eye out on when the matches are coming up and come and support your team.

Newsam cup winning team from 2004 at Royal Tara before setting out for play.

Captain's drive In

Congratulations to Captain John Garvey and Lady Captain Karen McCahey on a successful Captains Drive-in on Saturday 6th March.