A wet, wild and windy morning last Sunday greeted the 91 competitors that took to the challenge that is Lough Owel Pitch and Putt for the 2011 Westmeath County Strokeplay. The early risers were the Gents Junior division with a 9am tee-off time. The Gents Junior championship had a 3^rd round play-off for the first time this year and the 33 entrants all wanted one of those 10 play-off spots. The early leaders were the highly fancied Jonathon Daly from Rochfortbridge and Willie Prendergast from Custume. Ollie McNamee from the home club was also near the top of the leader board. The cut for the top 10 in the end was 122. So as the last round began it was still all to play for and indeed as it turned out, 54 holes could not produce a champion either. A 3 way tie between Willie, Ollie and Jonathon meant that all three had to face a further 9 holes to decide a champion. In the end a superb 2 under par for that 9 including a timely hole-in-one gave the 2011 Junior title to Willie Prendergast from Custume.

The Intermediates were next up and this was to prove to be a one-sided affair. A superb 103 from young Michael Malone from Rochfortbridge gave him a 6 stroke lead over the field going into the 3^rd round. The cut-off point for the top 10 Inters was 114 indicating the difficulty of the course on the day. In the end Michael was never going to be caught as he added a 52 final round to finish on a 155 total and an 11 shot victory. Former champion Davy Reddin from Custume took the runner-up spot.

was out of the blocks early with an excellent 49 in the opening round. This was matched by Kilbeggan's Alan McCormack and Collinstown's Peter Dolan. Ronan added a 50 second round to lead after 36 with 9 under par. Second place was held by Alan McCormack on 6 under and after that the field was nicely bunched. Gerry Coyne from Lough Owel and Collinstown's John Browne, Liam Buckley and Peter Dolan were all on 5 under. Then Stephen Bray was on 4 under with Martin Kenny and Paul Bray on 3 under par. The 10^th player to make the play-off was Collinstown's Rene Bloem on 106.

As the play-off progressed the story from the early starters was that Collinstown's Stephen Bray was making a charge. There wasn't much movement in the final group so when Stephen recorded an excellent 49 final round to finish on 9 under, he found himself tied for the lead with Ronan who had still 4 holes to play. Once again though, Ronan's champion pedigree came to the fore as he birdied the 15^th and 16^th. An uncharacteristic bogie on 17 left it a bit tense though, as his lead was reduced to 1 playing the difficult 18^th. Ronan hit the pitch of the day though under intense pressure to leave the ball a mere 5 feet from the hole. He had 2 putts to win his 3 in-a-row but one was all he needed as he rolled in the birdie that gave him a 2 shot win.

A special mention must go to the Lough Owel club and especially Davy Corcoran. The course was presented in a condition that was worthy to stage any championship and the players thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of this unique course. Davy also sponsored the event and in these days of recession, that gesture is extremely appreciated by the County Board. Well done Davy and all the Lough Owel members who helped out in the preparations for these championships.