Lakewood Week 7 of the Christmas Competitions held a lot of promises most from Met Eireann predicting rain but apart from a few short showers on Saturday it was warm, sunny, and idyllic in Lakewood. The biggest crowd so far this year turned out on Sunday morning all intent on getting their hands on a voucher as this was the last weekend of the voucher competition. Some excellent pairings but the mix saw handicaps reduced due to the number of plus handicaps at this stage. Lots of stories about missed putts, the pin keeping out the chips, the sun in the eye when pitching but there are always some that will do the business no matter how good or bad the standard of play is. Some great pitching, it’s a toss up at this stage between Valerie and Darren O’Leary who can put the ball in orbit, Valerie’s nearly had a birdie on Sunday morning while the ball was in full flight but the bird in question pulled up his joystick and flew out of the danger zone. Betty White was giving out to herself for missing the seventh but made up for it and with Valerie O’Leary took home second nett. Pat Moore started well on Sunday morning with a hole in one on the first but by the sixth it was back to par eventually finishing three under with Noel Mac and totally frustrated. However, he was back with Darren O’Leary on Sunday afternoon, and they took the gross with a magnificent 10 under. Darren was on fire and the putter was like magic in his hands, but Pat Moore did enough to keep P J Curtin on the back burner as Darren was the Anchor. Gentleman John was there or thereabouts but on this occasion was not on the podium. Tim Linehan also got a hole in one on the second, but it wasn’t enough. PJ was very lucky to draw Mary O’Donovan on Sunday morning as she was determined to bag a voucher and did so with a nett of 41.5 taking the overall nett for the weekend. While Catherine O’Keeffe got an opportunity to socialise hubby Pat was concentrating on his play. Overall people seemed to enjoy the morning fourball as there was a nice buzz on the course. Next weekend is Bottle weekend, and all the handicaps will be restored so let the games begin. Presentation of Vouchers after the Sunday Fourball in the Bar on the 12th, Covid Guidelines in place and all are asked to abide by them. Membership for 2022 in now available.
