GOLF | Clem continues his magnificent season at Dundalk Golf Club with Stableford win on Sunday
Toal returns to take Category Two prize
Clem Walshe, Dundalk Golf Club’s Golfer of the Year, continued his rich of form by winning Sunday’s 14 Hole Singles Stableford competition with an excellent nett score of 35 points.
It was enough to give him a one-point victory over fellow five handicapper Colin Roche and he also recorded the day’s best gross score of 31 in what was a fine round of four birdies, nine pars and one bogey from a very consistent player who had just 19 putts for the 14 holes.
Walshe opened up with two pars then birdied the third to go under par. He parred the next two before birdieing the par-five sixth to go two-under. Two more pars followed before another birdie at the par-three ninth saw him cover the front nine in three under gross.
After parring the 10th, Walshe dropped his only shot of the day at the index two par four 11th where he missed the green left and lipped out for par from eight feet. After parring the 12th he got that dropped shot back on the par-three 13th and then finished the 14 hole round on the 18th where he had a nice two-putt par for three under and a nett score of 35.
Leslie’s comeback
Roche took Category One from Kevin Redmond (11) who finished on 33 points while Leslie Toal (18) showed that form is temporary but class is permanent as he made a welcome return to the prizes after a long absence. Toal finished on 32 points but his 22 points over the last nine holes were enough to pip Tom Clarke on countback for the Category Two prize.
Ray Pepper (19), who took the Category Three prize, was another player who returned to winning form with his 33 points edging out the reliable Jimmy O’Connor (19) by a single point. Fionn Cunningham (18) with 30 points took the Juvenile Prize.
The GUI announced their national, provincial and regional coaching panels for 2020 last week with Walker Cup star Caolan Rafferty retaining his place in the national panel while Zak Alderdice and Joseph Laverty are on the Leinster U16 Regional Panel and Louis Goodman is on the U14 panel.
R&A Student Series
There were Top 20 finishes for Caolan Rafferty, Josh Mackin and Eoin Murphy in the third round of the R&A Student Series last week at the Centro National de Golf in Madrid. Making his first appearance in the Series, Rafferty shot a two-under-par 70 in the final round to finish third overall on two over after opening rounds of 75 and 73.
Mackin, who won the second round of the series in Carton House in September, had been lying third going into the final round after opening with a 76 and a 69 which was the joint best round of the week. However, he shot 80 in the final round and finished 11th overall.
Murphy shot round of 77, 75 and 75 to finish in 17th place overall which was two places better than his position in the second series. The leading players in the Series after the fourth event in Portugal will be invited to the Tour Series Final in Carnoustie and St Andrews next year.
