All the news and happenings from the local golf clubs

The weekend club competition at Brown Trout was hosted by Club President Joe Logue.

Two players had returns of 39 points. After the enforcement of the tiebreaker James Montgomery (18) was declared the winner with nines of 20 and 19, despite failing to add to his score at the second and the eighth. James recorded 20 front nine points with a birdie three at the sixth. yielding four points, He played steady over the back nine scoring at every hole for 19.

Just pipped on countback, seven handicapper Tom Boyd opened with 21 points thanks to birdies at the third and eighth. failing to score at the 12th - the hole he birdied first time round - proved costly as he ended up with a further 18.

In third place Johnnie Kearns (9) won the third prize on offer with 38 points scoring at every hole. After opening with a level par front nine where birdies at holes 5 and 9 offset dropped shots at 6 and 7.giving him 22 points. Johnnie covered the second nine in seven over with a birdie at the difficult 16th. but also scored five single pointers for 16 points.Twos were scored by A. Smyton J. Kearns W. Pyper and T. McGowan.

The previous weekend a party of 16 travelled to Slieve Russell Golf Resort for their Annual Trip and enjoyed the good hospitality and immaculate golf course. Arriving on the Friday the players played a two man Scramble over the par three course off quarter of combined handicap.

The winners were M. O’Dowd (18) and D. Mulholland (2) they went round in two under each nine 25’s for 50 less 5 for a winning total of 45. W. Pyper (13) and D. Wilson (21) were second with nines of 28 and 27 for 55 a net 46.5 in third place M. Dempsey (18) and R. Orr (12) returned 29 and 27 56 net 48.5.

In the main event Donal Mulholland (2) ran out a comfortable winner scoring 37 & 31 for an aggregate 68. Mark Dempsey (18) took the runner up prize with rounds of 31 each for 62. Robert Orr (12) finished third with 30 points each round for a total of 60 points.

Michael Kane (18) had rounds of 22 and 35 to finish fourth with 57 points and a point adrift with 56 Ryan Smyth (16) finished fifth.

The clear winners in the team event with the top two Donal and Mark joined by Ryan with best two cards out of three counting each day score 130 points.

Runners up were R. Orr M. Kane and S. Mulholland with 122. The team of T. Boyd C. Dempsey and D. James were third with 110 points.

The “Star Fuels” kindly sponsored Winter League will commence the second week in October with six four man teams entered with best two cards from each team counting each week.

This will take place over nine weeks. Members are requested to support their team by turning out on a regular basis, no fair weather golfers!

TEAM SCRAMBLE AT

BALLYCASTLE

Saturday’s competition at Ballycastle was a 3 or 4 ball team scramble and 27 teams took to the fairways with the team of Frank Hasson, Finn McGarry, David Morgan and Leo Morgan emerging victorious, recording seven birdies and an eagle on their way to a 62 which reduced to 56 once the handicap reduction was applied.

In second place the low handicap team of Patrick Dallat, Peter Dallat, Michael Dallat and Vincent Miskelly had nine birdies and 2 eagles in their round of 58 which netted to 56.8.

In third place Colm Hendrie teamed up with father and son combination, Francis and Francis Og McGinn plus William Rooney jnr to record a gross 60 which reduced to 57 when their one tenth handicaps were applied.

Sunday was the last qualifying Stableford competition of the season as handicaps are now frozen for the winter. Jonathan McBride (17) took first place overall on 43 points and will play off 15 as a result of his success. Jonathan Blair (9) will be cursing his failure to score at the 18th although he did have the consolation of taking the Section 1 prize on 42 points.

In Division 2, Paul McKillen (14) had a better back nine than Eddie McMullan and Kevin Traynor all of whom had 39 points. The evergreen John Morgan (23) took the Division 3 honours with 38 points while John Callan (5) lifted the gross with a 73.

Next weekend sees the start of the turkey competitions and the Ringers. Full details are available on the website. Members and visitors are also reminded that there is an Open Stableford every Wednesday.

TOP TURKEY FOR ANDREW

A very close contest at Rathmore on Sunday saw fourteen Andrew Stewart top the chart with the better of the three 40 pointers on countback.

He scored well on the outward nine, even with a blank dropping in at seven, to have 18 points won at the turn but boosted that well over the next nine. After six holes he had used just four of his seven shots for the nine. He pulled one back with his two at fifteen and parred the rest for another 22 points to get a single point countback nod.

Joe Hunter took runners up spot as a result of that. His 19 out came from steady scoring but the 21 back had a birdie four at ten a bogey five at sixteen and a nasty six arriving on the sixteenth.

Good scoring but just one short. The third bird went to Ronnie McCarroll with the last of the 40s. Two nines of 20 each including a good three at the second secured the bird for Ronnie. The final turkey went to Cyril Langford on 39 points. After an 18 point front nine Cyril added a two at fifteen to boost the tally by 21 for his 39 points.

Meanwhile, good weather coupled with good spirits saw a closely fought battle for the Town Shield between Royal Portrush and Rathmore golf clubs. Rathmore’s Philip Tweedie and Rory Houston had five birdies in the last five holes with the final one winning their match.

Rodney Magee and Richard Millar won the 17th then birdied the last to win the Shield for Rathmore. Rodney’s Brother Geoff hasn’t graced these pages for a while but he made it eventually, by getting beaten six and four! It also proved to be a first for Monty Montgomery, Rathmore Captain as it was his first tem victory in his Captaincy!

The Shield was presented at dinner in Royal Portrush later to round off a superb day’s entertainment.

GERRY GETS CUP WIN

A single point was the margin of Gerry Hassan’s win in the JT Reade Cup at Portstewart Golf Club on Saturday. He scored 40 points from his handicap of thirteen.

His opening nine holes gave up 19 points with just one single pointer, a six at the long par four fifth. The inward nine had its ups and downs with the emphasis on the ups! Gerry blanked the tenth but birdied the eleventh for four points then added in six straight pars before dropping a shot at eighteen for two points. Those 21 points took him to the title winning 40 and was one clear of Ciaran Cahoon on the best of several 39ers.

Ciaran followed the ‘up and down’ pattern of Gerry’s by blanking the opening hole then knocking in a couple of birdies, a four at seven and a three at nine. He took 17 points from the front nine. Both par fives on the back nine gave Ciaran birdie fours but 17 saw another blank appear to end the challenge for top spot. 22 points from the return nine saw the tie break come into play and pushed Moore McAuley into third overall and top of the Low Section.

He too blanked the first and followed that with a birdy. The eighth gave him a three to get 17 points on the card at the turn. Moore’s first bogey on the inward nine came at the fourteenth and was redeemed by his birdie two at fifteen. Eight points were taken from the final three holes to add 22 for his 39 overall. John Campbell topped the High Section with the final 39. He was unfortunate to score his 22 points on the front nine.

Stephen Garrett lifted another Best Gross with a round of 70. His one over par opening nine had a two at the third and a bogey six at the long fourth but the back nine, after a wee visit to the ninth hut, was more lively. A three and a two at eleven and twelve got him to one under par and the fourteenth gave up a birdie four to consolidate his score at two under. Four pars to end the round at 70 and the gross was grabbed.

BREWSTER ON TOP

Richard Brewster returned a net 64 at Bushfoot GC on Saturday to win the Dinner Day Cup by three shots. The fourteen handicapper birdied the par four third and picked up another shot with a birdie two at seven to be out in five over par.

His back nine was better even though just a single birdy was bagged, a three at the last,, as Richard dropped just four shots to par. Back in 38, round in 78, this nets down to 64 and victory for Richard.

Two handicapper Owen Crooks played the course in level par 70 to win the Best Gross and get runner up spot in Division One. He bogeyed the opening hole and the fifth on the way out but slipped in a birdy at the short seventh to be one over at the turn. Owen’s five at ten was the last shot he would lose and he picked up two more birds with his four at the par five fifteenth and a wee two at sixteen. Home in 70 shots netting to a 68.

Top slot of Division Two went to Mervyn Gibson for his net 67. The seventeen handicapper had two double bogies and a triple but was steady enough apart from those blips, particularly on the back nine.