Pete Purcell wins Captain"s prize

The eagerly awaited Captain"s (Mr Damien Daly) Prize final took place on Friday evening last in terrific weather conditions.The protagonists Colm Murphy and Pete Purcell, having come through a gruelling matchplay series, culminating with very good wins in the semi finals over Derek Plunkett and Gerry Eyres on the Tuesday evening, proved very worthy finalists.From the first tee shots of the match at two o"clock exactly, the game held the interest of the large galleries right through the first round and with only a handful of holes halved in the round Pete turn at tea time with a one hole advantage having birdied the eighteenth.As the second round got under way with ever increasing galleries, both players showed their human side with untypical misses, particularly Colm, whom the rub of the green seemed to dessert. Peter went on an unbelievable run of pars from the third to the eighth in the very windy conditions to increase his lead to five. From here Colm started his fight back, with a near "gimme" birdie at the ninth, and but for a couple of putts shaving the cup and a trio of drives getting bad deflections off trees, the issue could have been very close at the end. However, matters concluded at the 32nd hole as the winner continued his relentless good play, where Colm was the first to congratulate him at the end of a very sporting contest. Congrats to both on the standard of play and sportsmanship displayed. The evening concluded in the best tradition of Captain"s day in the club.Full Results: Winner - Pete Purcell (12); runner up- Colm Murphy (19); beaten semi finalists - Derek Plunkett (12) and Gerry Eyres (15). The qualifying day results were as follows - Best Nett: - Aidan Mulligan (26) 69; second: - Sean Nulty (13) 70; third: - John Dromey (6) 70; best gross: - Ted Eighan (4) 76; fourth nett: -Jack Cooney (16) 71; seniors: - John Hand (16) 74.Open week kicks off with some fabulous weatherOpen week 2009 got off to the best possible start on Saturday last with continental weather for the Rotary fourball. The time sheets, as expected were full for some time and in the unexpected weather there were some very good scores returned. The first prizes went to in form father and son pairing of Pat and Patrick Curran with a good forty seven stableford better ball points on the break of a tie from Pat Mc Kenna and Enda Breslin. Third prize went to the Brendan Timlin Tom Mulvee combination with forty six from fourth: Dick Whelehan and Patsy Fagan. Fourth place went to the ladies" pairing of Marjorie Donoghue and Attracta Lennox who returned forty six points also. Score board man Oisin at the final.The PW Shaw long time sponsored Intermediate scratch cup kicked off the Sunday of the week with some very keen competition from the large field. First Prize went to local man and club team player Kevin Mulvee with a fine eighty two shots, playing off the "blues". Kevin got the top award from another Mullingar stalwart Tim O"Sullivan on the break of a very close tie. Third place went to Delvin Castle member Enda Lambden with a very respectable 83 gross. The prizes for the two nines were won by Mullingar"s Kenneth Berry and County Meath"s Ciaran Blaney, both with thirty eights. The popular winner of the nett prize on the day was birthday boy Paul McGann, who broke off from his 21st celebrations to attend the prize giving.Intermediate Scratch Cup full results:Winner: K. Mulvee (10), Mullingar) 82; second: T.O"Sullivan (11 do.) 82; third: E. Lambden (12) Delvin Castle 83; first nine: K. Berry (15, Mullingar), 38; second nine: C. Blaney (12, Co. Meath) 38; Best Nett: Paul Mc Gann jnr. (18, Mullingar) 70 nett.Open week continues until Sunday next and with the promise of fine weather we look forward to an enjoyable week. Tomorrow, Wednesday sees the Cassidy men"s singles, while the attraction on Thursday is the Bank of Ireland Men"s fourball better ball. The popular event on Friday is the Bloomfield House Hotel three person mixed team event. Saturday"s competition is the popular Gerry Wallace men"s fourball, while the week concludes with the Sanrose thirty six hole junior scratch trophy. Time sheets are fairly full, but, if anxious to get on at the quieter times of the day i.e. early morning, where there may be vacancies, contact the club