The conditions were less than favourable for visitors as local knowledge reigned supreme in Portmarnock on Saturday. The strong winds and squally showers made for high scoring as many of the visiting players struggled to adapt to the conditions. The course was in superb condition as were the greens thanks to the ongoing hard work of Darren Wells and his team, but for many getting on the greens and staying on them was proving a little tricky. The home players though showed just how to play in the wind, with former Dublin Board officer Mary Lynch & her husband Austin among the early setters with +7. They added +6 in the 2nd round and that looked like it would be more than good enough to win the overall championship. However they had not counted for the efforts of the senior clubmates Tom Ryan and Jonathan Gash. The popular duo made a mockery of the testing conditions with some stunning pitch & putt and fantastic putting. The duo eventually finished on +14 to pip Mary & Austin for the top prize.
Tom & Jonathan score of +12 for the gross was in a different league to all of the other pairings, with the next best overall gross of +3 posted by Old County’s Tom and Liam O’Reilly.
Portmarnock also added the top ladies prize to complete a hat-trick of success. Lucan too were among the winners with Paul Dillon & Jay Condron score of +10 enough to win the best Gents Nett and Terry O’Shaughnessy and Fiona Langan taking the best Mixed prize.
All in all a great day of pitch n’putt that really got the players thinking and improvisation was the order of day. Congratulations to Portmarnock on an excellent staging of the championship, the course was set up superbly. The next stop on the Dublin Calendar is a return to the seaside venue at the end of May where Portmarnock’s finest Geraldine Ward will be defending her title.
Today belonged to Tom & Jonathan a thoroughly incredible effort in the toughest of conditions. Well done to them and all the winners.
Dublin Scotch Foursomes V-Par Champions: Tom Ryan & Jonathan Gash