It was a dramatic day at Mellow Pitch & Putt last Sunday, May 31, where the annual holding of The Galway Masters took place.
A 36 hole Scratch Cup format event, where the top twelve best players after 36 holes would then go on to play a final 18 hole playoff, players from all over Ireland turned out to play. Defending champion, Stephen Shoer, of Lakeside Pitch & Putt Club in Tipperary, was there to try and retain his title.
Shoer is currently ranked number seven in the Pitch & Putt Ireland National rankings and this brought the field just short of 100 players.
Nine of the 12 qualification places 18 hole playoff was taken up by Mellows players. Mellows member Dave O’Connell lead the way with a brilliant total score for 36 holes of 97 (11 under par ), followed by Athgarvan’s John Kelly with nine under par, and Mellows’ Frank Naughton, Kevin Walsh and Martin Molloy, all on seven under par going into the final 18 hole playoff.
Conditions for the playoff were tricky with a strong south westerly wind and sporadic rain throughout the round. Walsh started strongly with birdies on three of the first six holes propelling him to 10 under, three off the lead, while Mellows man James McLoughlin was starting to burn up the course from a starting point of six under to move to 11 under after 10 holes. O’Connell started his round well with four birdies in the first nine holes while his playing partner, John Kelly’s challenge started to fade.
It was clear at this stage that the main characters in this drama were all from the Galway Club. O’Connell pitched off the 11th hole straight into the bunker but dug it out to make a spectacular par, while Walshe’s hopes of taking a second Masters started to take a turn as the birdies began to dry up, but still it was starting to look like O’Connell may circum to fellow club mate McLoughlin who turned in a scintillating score of 47 (seven under par ), that added to his 36 hole total bringing him to a total of 13 under.
But O’Connell would not be denied, after a slight wobble mid round, Dave steadied the ship and started to get some momentum with birdies on hole 15 and 16, while Walsh turned in a wonderful score of six under to also finish on 13 under. The stage was now set for O’Connell to bring this title home to go along with his Scratch Cup victory over 10 years ago at this venue, as he rattled off a fabulous final round of 48 (six under par ), to give him a total of 17 under par, a comprehensive victory for the Mervue man.
Mellows players took eight out of the nine prizes on the day, a remarkable achievement for the club.
Chairman Frank Naughton said that the club were "really proud" of all their competitors, especially winner O'Connell.
"We have set out programmes of competitions over the past number of years and we’re beginning to see the fruits of that labour lately, competitive play is the most effective way of bringing players on to a higher standard," he added.
