Congratulations to Peter Anderson, Karl Holmes and their Under 15’s team who had an early start when they faced Elm Park at eight o’clock this morning in the quarter finals of the Leinster Under 15 Interclub competition.
This competition is handicapped and our team had to give 26 shots in total this morning to a young Elm Park team but on the upside we had three matches at home.
Our away pair of Dylan Holmes & Jack McGovern were up against two excellent players in Elm Park and both found themselves down early doors. Jack was two down through two holes while Dylan was three down after six. Jack held on, halving every hole from the third to the tenth but some very solid golf from his opponent coupled with the six shots Jack had to give proved too much and Jack lost his match 5&4.
At one stage Dylan must have though he was playing Jordan Spieth. His opponent had just ten puts on the front nine holes. Some fine golf from Dylan kept him in touch and he turned just one down but was facing an uphill battle having to give shots on the way in.
Meanwhile, at home we had William O’Riordan, Jamie Anderson and Marc Lawless representing the club. William and Jamie were each giving 7 shots while Marc was giving just one and it was Marc who got out of the blocks fastest and a string of wins on six, seven and eight had him two up after the front nine. From there holes were swapped but good wins on the fifteenth and sixteenth for Marc closed the match – a great 4&2 win.
Jamie started great and was two up after two but his opponent wasn’t going to roll over and, at the turn Jamie was just one hole to the good. A loss on ten had the match back to all square.
William and his opponent traded holes on the front nine with William turning one down but a great win on the tenth while giving a shot got the match back to all square.
Things started to come clearer around the 12th hole for both Dylan and Jamie. A loss for Dylan took him to two down and with more shots to give, while a win for Jamie took him to one up. Jamie followed with another great win on twelve ( giving a shot ) to move to two up and looking like he might be gaining some control of the match. Unfortunately for Dylan a loss on the fourteenth left him with an uphill battle. Halves on fifteen and sixteen were enough for Elm Park to seal their second point and move to a 2 – 1 lead in the tie.
Jamie, playing some really solid golf won the thirteenth and halved fourteen before holing a great par save put on the fifteenth to win the hole and go dormie 3 up. It was important to try to close the match before the seventeenth when he would be giving a shot. The pin on sixteen was the back right and Jamie’s tee shot was straight over the pin but unfortunately rolled off the back of the green leaving him a very difficult up & down. His opponent found the bunker on the right. Neither were able to get up & down and the hole was halved in fours. A second win for Greystones and the tie was now 2 – 2.
All eyes turned to William who was on the seventeenth tee box . He hit a great drive to beside the fairway bunker, he was lucky not to go into the bunker but unlucky to end up with the ball above his feet for his second shot. His Elm Park opponent hit a poor tee shot and followed this up with a poor second . William’s experience came to bear and he hit a lovely second shot to the left hand side of the green leaving himself a tricky 40 foot putt. In the end William’s lag to three feet was enough to win the hole and his match and seal the tie for Greystones.
Next up is a semi final match against either Esker Hills or Casltecomer.
Congratulations to all involved.
At this stage it all looked decidedly tight, the away matches looked to be in difficulty,
