Good weather again attracts out good numbers

The beautiful spring-like weather conditions saw a huge increase in playing numbers. The various competitions run by the branches and the four person team event drew very good numbers over the past week.The four person event has finished the qualifying rounds and the qualifiers will play off on Thursday next with a shotgun start at one o" clock or so.The qualifiers will all have been notified by now and of course you all know that the reward for the best return on Thursday will be a trip to Doonbeg links including an overnight stay. Best of luck to all.Winter LeagueThe Morgan Golf and Sports men"s winter league is progressing nicely with a few teams putting it up to the rest. The Eagles (John Keane, captain) and Michael Gaffney"s Broncos look comfortably there, with The Vikings (Joe Quinlan skippering) and Danny Grehan"s Bears right up at the top of the board also. The Redskins (Paddy Dunne) and David Tynan"s Jets are poised to contend over the next fortnight or so. There are a couple of other teams who think they are not out of it yet, but they must get out and return the scores. The closing date for qualifying is Sunday, March 15.Captains" Drive inon Sunday nextAll roads lead to the club on Sunday next for the annual Captains" drive in when Geraldine and Damien formally launch the golfing year in the club. We look forward to two straight and long drives from both and sincerely hope they enjoy their day. The drive in will be followed by members" four person team event over fifteen holes after which there will be goodies and entertainment. Please append your name to the entry sheet for the open draw at your convenience.Men"s seniors" golfAs expected, with the spring like weather there was a fine turn out of more than sixty senior gentlemen for the weekly event and the popular and very worthy winner was Father Seamus Giles with a fine thirty stableford points over the twelve holes.The winner had just two shots to spare from the runner up Murty P. Hanley, who pipped Tom Mulvee on the tie break rule. Brendan Timlin collected the super seniors" award with a respectable 25 points.Ladies BranchNow that golf is firmly back on the agenda there is a palpable buzz around the locker room again. Wednesday"s competition was a three-person rumble. This team format is always a bit of "craic" with team members spurring each other on to scoring heights. Carmel Maher, Phyllis Donnelly and Ber Chambers inspired each other to a heady 42 points winning by two shots in the process.Rosemary Whelehan, Tina Murphy and Bernie Mulroy amassed 40 points for second place and Kathleen McKeon, Maura O"Conor and Carmel Monaghan were third with 38 points.Monday"s outing produced three popular winners. Catherine McDonnell won category one with 36.5 nett. Jane Glover topped category two with 37 nett and our Hon. Treasurer Ann Tyrrell was the best in category three with 39 nett.In the Winter League Lady Vice Captain Brege McCarrick"s team play Dorothy O"Keeffe"s team and Lady Captain Geraldine Bell"s team plays Ann Grehan"s team.A few tasty matches are in prospect here and we await the results with anticipation.