Tarleton finishes 5th in the Junior National Strokeplay
Sturart Tarleton in the play-off round in the National Junior Strokeplay
Stuart Tarleton had the performance of his short but distinguished career so far, last weekend at the National Strokeplay. Stuart who plays off a 9 handicap was competing in the Junior grade and picked a great time to shoot one of the best rounds of his life. He opened with an incredible 49 and tagged on a 52 to it to share the lead in the All-Ireland after 36 holes. He shared this lead with 3 other competitors, namely Dean Gray, Aengus Coughlan and Kevin Doyle.
The play-off unfortunately didn’t go as well though for Stuart as the tricky first bunker caught his ball and he ended up making a double-bogie on it. Still unperturbed by it, Stuart battled on, encouraged by the large support from the Collinstown club members. Stuart eventually recorded a 56 final round to finish in fifth spot overall. Daniel Clinton (Cement) – a recent winner in Collinstown this year, was the overall winner on score of 13 under par. Westmeath’s other qualifier, Michael Donegan from Kilbeggan had a respectable 4 over par total.
Martin Carter competing in the Intermediate National Strokeplay
In the Intermediate Grade, our own Martin Carter put in a fine performance also. Martin Has been playing consistantly well all year and went into this championship in a particularily good vein of form. Martin opened up with a blemish free first 18 of 4 under par for a score of 50. Birdies on 2 and 3 in the second round gave him real hope of making the final 18 but an unfortunate bogie on the 6th stopped him in his tracks. The momentum had been broken and although Martin battled hard for the rest of the round, in the end he didn’t make the play-off, finishing with a 105 total.
In the end Declan McCarron from Tralee won with a score of 141 for the 54 holes. Conor Slevin from Kilbeggan finished a very impressive 7th on 145.
In the Senior Championship on the Sunday, Collinstown had 2 representatives, namely John Browne and John McDonald. John McDonald playing in his first Senior Championship, had an unfortunately start when he went into the bunker at the first and made a bogie. The round never really recovered from that early mishap and Dossie recorded a 59 for the first 18. Never one to give up though, he showed his true class in the second round by bringing in a brilliant 47 to finish with a 36 hole total of 106.
John Browne on the other hand made a very decent start to his round, making birdies on 2, 6 and 8 to go 3 under for 9. A super par on 10 when struggling from way out the back, kicked John on to further improve his round. A hat-trick of birdies on 12, 13 and 14 had the Collinstown contingent cheering for more. But an unfortunate bogie on 15 stopped John’s march. However John had a super chip-in on 17 and followed it with an excellent putt on 18 to record a very competitive 47 for the opening 18 holes. With the cut forecast at about 14 under, at least another 47 was required in the second round. Once again John found himself 2 under par after 6 but then the ball stopped going into the hole for him. Lip-outs on 8, 9, 11 and 13 cost him dear and then a bogie on 14 signeled then end of his play-off chances. John did birdie the final hole however to break 100 and finish the championship on a very credible score of 99.
Local hero Eddie Carey took the title after a 9 hole-playoff from John John Walsh from Cork. Both men finished their 54 holes in 30 under par. Niall Cuffe’s record remains intact for another year though.
John Browne tees-off in the Gents Senior National Strokeplay 2010
John McDonald putting for birdie at the National Strokeplay