Gerard’s winning finale to summer season at Raceview

At the final count, the winner was Gerard McCann with a score of nett 62.

Gerard, playing off a handicap of 18, scored five pars, three bogeys and a birdie at the ninth to be out in two over gross.

The homeward nine was much different as his lone par came on the final hole, with the preceding holes accounting for 10 shots of his handicap allowance.

Those eight holes resulted in six single bogeys, double bogeys on the 11th and 14th but his nett six under par was two shots better that Arthur Stewart.

Twelve handicapper Arthur’s front nine was made up of five pars and bogeys at the first, fourth, fifth and ninth, while the back nine saw dropped shots at 11, 12, 15 and 16 but he ended up one shot ahead of Eugene M Reid, Jonathan Law and Raymond Scullion, who had to be separated by their scores over the back nine.

Reid (14) played the outward nine with seven single bogeys, a double bogey at the par three second and a par at the seventh.

The inward nine resulted in four bogeys, double bogeys at 10 and 15, pars at 13 and 14 and he completed his round with a valuable birdie on the final hole, resulting in a nett 65 and on a better second nine from Law.

Jonathan (6) was two over after nine having scored five pars, bogeys on the first, fifth and ninth, plus a helpful birdie on the eighth.

The second nine produced six pars, a dropped shot apiece on the 11th and 16th but he retrieved one of those with a birdie on the 18th, with his back nine pushing Scullion into fifth place.

Raymond had four bogeys plus a birdie on the third in his opening five holes and he reached the turn with four straight pars.

The 16-handicapper played the first seven holes of the homeward stretch in five over but, alas, the final two holes were costly as he shed five shots which saw him drop from being a potential winner of the competition.

Sean McElroy (14) claimed the final nett prize with a score of 66 after having been through the front nine in two over.

That contained five pars, bogeys at the fourth, sixth and eighth, one of which was wiped out by a birdie at the ninth.

The back nine didn’t reach that high standard as he scored six bogeys, double bogeys at 13 and 17 and his lone par came at the final hole.

The best gross prize went to the returning Dermot McElroy (-4) who has been away from the club for a period of time while playing in some of Ireland’s top scratch competitions.

In his absence, John Robinson had dominated the gross section in recent club competitions but he had to give way to plus four handicapper McElroy who, having been three under after nine, then promptly shed those three shots.

Dermot’s card was made up of five birdies - all on the front nine - eight pars plus five bogeys for a level par round of 68 shots.

OPEN STABLEFORD

The open stableford on September 26 saw Michael Casson, of Galgorm Castle, come up trumps with a winning score of 35 stableford points.

Michael, a former member at Raceview, used his knowledge of the course to good effect as he played the first nine to his handicap, despite a double bogey on the par five
 ninth.

The second nine contained six bogeys plus a non-event on the par three 14th but he still managed to play the nine in one over his allowance for 17 more points.