Congratulations to Brian Frawley, Ray Crotty, Collie Dunne and their entire Junior Cup squad on winning the Leinster South pennant for the Club this morning (29th July).
The match this morning was against Beech Park and was played in Wicklow Golf Club in sunny, but windy conditions.
First out this morning was Harry Kirk who had the very experienced David Byrne on his bag. Harry got off to a great start with a birdie on the opening par five to win the hole but looked like he might lose the second when he was forced to take a drop after his drive had found a drain up the left side of the fairway. He managed a great half on the hole in the end and also halved the next four holes before winning the tricky seventh. Eight went to Beech Park and it took an excellent sand save on the par three ninth for Harry to maintain his slender lead heading to the back nine. Harry took the tenth and thirteenth but lost fifteen to a par to hold a two hole lead with three to play. An excellent birdie on sixteen for Harry closed the match out and earned a point for Greystones.
Like Harry, Jack McGovern also started his match with an opening birdie to win the hole and also made a great half on the second after his drive had found the first fairway. With Ray Crotty carrying his bag, Jack won three and then made a brilliant up and down from the left of the fourth to win the hole when he looked like he might well lose it. His winning streak then continued with further wins on five and six. Seven and eight were halved and it looked good for another win on the par their ninth when Jack hit a lovely tee shot to the back of the green. The pin position on this hole was difficult today, to say the very least, cut as it was on the edge of a hill. Jack three putted to lose the hole but still had a comfortable lead heading for the tenth tee. Ten was halved but Jack got back to five ahead with another win on the eleventh. The next two holes were swapped and it was dormie for Jack. On fourteen, both were on in three but the Beech Park man was twenty five feet from the pin while Jack had hit a lovely approach to five feet. The match might have been extended after Beech Park held their long range putt but Jack had other ideas as he slotted home his five footer for the match and a 5&4 win.
Two nil to Greystones but this tie was far from over. The bottom three matches had been no better than all square all morning and more often than not, it was Beech Park that were up in them.
Our third player out was William O’Riordan who was not quite on top form today but was not going to give up easily. Will had Daniel O’Byrne on the bag. His opening drive was lucky to stay on the course after heading right on the strong wind and his second went straight right into heavy rough. He played a good recovery shot just short of the green and chipped to ten feet but his opponent’s birdie won the hole and a Beech Park par on the second had them two ahead. Three was halved before Will got a win on four which was negated by an immediate loss on the fifth, where the pin was in a really difficult position for any approach coming from the right hand side of the fairway. Wins for Will on six and seven had the match back to all square but that tricky pin position on nine also got him and he was one down standing on the tenth tee box. Ten and eleven were lost but a birdie on twelve clawed one back for Will. A half on thirteen was followed by another loss on fourteen, three down with four to play.
Our last player but one today was Chris Boylan who had Keith McDonnell caddying for him. Chris didn’t begin his round too well and was two down after the third hole but he scrambled away and won five and six to get back to friendly. Seven was lost but Chris held a good six footer on eight for another win and then hit a beautifully flighted seven iron to the back of the ninth while his opposite number was just short of the green. It’s hard to describe the pin position on the ninth – think the trickiest pin position you can imagine on the Greystones fifth – both Chris and his opponent made good fours for a half! Ten was halved but Chris missed the par three eleventh left and failed to get up and down to lose the hole and then, despite hitting the better drive on twelve he also lost that hole to go two down. Chris and Keith stayed calm however and a win on thirteen reduced the deficit to just one.
Last out this morning was Toby Murphy who had Collie Dunne on his bag. Toby’s opening drive found the second fairway, a reasonable miss today given the wind conditions (and the OB left off the tee !), his second shot however was also lost right but this time found the Irish Sea. His opponent made par and took the opening hole. Par was enough for a Beech Park win on two also but Toby steadied the ship with a half on three and then got a win on the fourth. Toby hit the best tee shot of the day on the fifth, down the left hand side leaving him a nice second shot. Golf can be a funny old game however as his opponent skulled his second only to see it run onto the green and then held a twenty footer for birdie to beat Toby’s par. Back to two down but Toby then won six and seven to get back to all square. Eight was halved but nine was once again a bad hole for Greystones. Another three putt cost Toby the hole and he turned one down. On eleven the Beech Park man’s tee shot was just short of the green while Toby hit a brilliant iron, over the pin and it spun back to eight feet. Once again however the golfing Gods were not smiling on Toby and his opponent held his putt while Toby’s slipped by the hole. Two down.
So two matches in the bag but Will was three down on the fifteenth, Chris was one down on the fourteenth and Toby was two down on the twelfth. We needed a little spark from somewhere if we were going to pull this out of the bag.
Any of these three would be well capable of igniting such a spark but it was Chris who, on the fourteenth green held a twenty footer for par. An enormous cheer went up from the Greystones supporters and it was clear that Chris had entered the zone. His opponent missed a twelve footer from just off the green for his par and Chris was back to all square. On fifteen, Chris drove first and found the light rough left off the tee while his opponent was in the fairway. Chris played first and pulled his iron shot. He just about stayed in bounds but was left with an absolutely awful lie half way down a bank with little or no green to work with. The door was open for Beech Park, his shot came up short of the green and rolled back to thirty yards but it was uphill and relatively straightforward. His pitch ran past the hole by six feet and it was now over to Chris. To be honest, Seve couldn’t have played the shot any better, Chris pitched the ball forward and it ran out to four feet. Beech Park missed their putt and Chris holed his – one up, and for the first time in the match. On sixteen both players hit decent drives, Chris up the left and the Beech Park man on the right with Beech Park away. This is a tricky par five but his lay up was good, leaving perhaps a hundred to the pin. Chris took a more aggressive line and, while he clipped a tree was still only left with forty yards to a back pin that was on the top level of a two level green. Beech park could only find the lower level in three while, for Chris, all those Thursday nights of wedge practice paid off as he hit his third to four feet. Greystones held, Beech Park missed – two up with two to play.
By this stage Will had lost the fifteenth and his match 4&3 and Beech Park were on the board. Toby had halved twelve and had scored a good win on thirteen to reduce the Beech Park lead to just one hole. Fourteen was halved in pars but fifteen went to a Beech Park birdie: two down with three holes left to play.
Back to Chris on the very difficult, par three seventeenth. This hole was playing into the teeth of the wind this afternoon. With water in front club selection was going to critical and Keith pulled a seven iron and handed it to Chris. Chris hit what would have be a brilliant shot even under normal circumstances, to six feet whereas Beech Park’s shot found the back of the green leaving a tough thirty foot downhill putt. The rest, as they say, is history, Beech Park’s putt ran eight feet past and they missed the one back, Chris rolled his to eight inches and it was shake hands time.
A brilliant five finishing holes from Chris sealed the tie for Greystones.
In his speech after the event, Brian paid tribute to the squad and to Ray and Collie for their hard work over the last eighteen months which got them the victory today. The team will next travel to Youghal, on July 27th, to play an All-Ireland quarter final against Monkstown.
Well done once again to all involved in the campaign.
