'A Bell' rings at Portstewart

Allen (13) gathered 20 points for his outward nine with a double bogey 5 at the par three third balanced by a birdie four at seven. A good steady back nine performance added 22 points to give him his total of 42.

While Neil Smyth’s 40 point score was not enough to win, it was still a very good round from the fourteen handicapper and kept him two clear in runners up spot. The front nine netted a relatively modest 18 points, a blank at the difficult fifth was the cause of this, but a strong return leg, where the two par fives were reduced to a brace of fours, gave him 22 points and his total of 40.

The low section topper, Martin O’Kane, used his six handicap well to amass 38 points. A birdie four at the par five seventh followed by a three at the par four eighth boosted Martin to 20 points out. Martin started the back nine with six straight pars but the three tough finishing holes yielded only bogies and 18 points.

The high section winners spot went to Alan Boyle for his 38 points. Alan picked up a birdie three at the fourth to set up a return of 23 points for the outward nine. This seemed to have a negative effect on the 23 handicapper as a series of double bogies led to a blank at sixteen. Another double bogey at eighteen restricted him to 15 back and a total of 38 points.

Six handicap Mark Donaghy had double bogey at the index 1 fifth but balanced this up with a birdie four at the par five seventh to finish the front nine five over par.

A three at the difficult par four seventeenth was sandwiched between bogies at eleven and eighteen for a one over par back nine, and a gross winning score of 78.