All the news and happenings from the local golf clubs

Roger Nixon won pride of place at Royal Portrush GC on Saturday by winning the Dinner Day Cup with 36 points.

He pulled 19 points from the front nine hole in spite of a ‘no score’ at the ninth. A good start to the back nine helped his cause as a bit of tiredness seemed the creep in with no returns from fourteen and eighteen.

Roger battled to get 17 points from the inward nine and finished with 36 to his credit. This score kept him two in front of the chasing field.

This was led by Jim Carrigy with 34 points from his mark of seven. His birdie three on the fifth was only to balance out the blank on the previous hole but still restricted Jim to just 16 out. Ten gave up a birdy four and.

With no more blank holes, Jim was able to pull 18 from the inward nine to get second spot with 34 points. Richard McLaughlin came top of the ‘anno domini’ with 31 points to his credit. The eighth gave him his only birdie of the round for 18 points out but a couple of no scores coming back meant just 13 further points for the nine handicapper.

In the Sweep it was John Finnegan jnr on top with 36 points scored. Jack O’Connor hit another 36 for second place on countback and Sid Henry took third with 34 points.

CASTLEROCK ROUND UP

Last Saturday G McMullan hit 41 points to pip namesake R McMullan to the top in the Club Stableford at Castlerock GC.

The scoring was very close with B Lowry in the Low Section, L Young in the High Section and T Cunningham in the Seniors all hitting 40 points each to win their respective category. W Hewitson won the Best Gross.

In the Ladies second Christmas Cheer event H Mullan scored 34 points to top the chart from K Mark on countback. M McCabe was also the victim of the countback as she was eased into third place with another 34 point return. Just a point shy of that trio came N Howard on 33 points in fourth spot.

CHAMPION WINS AGAIN

Portstewart’s Club Champion Adam Brown showed his winning form again by winning the Saturday Stableford with a score of 38 points.

Now playing off two, Adam opened his account with a birdie three at the first and went on to birdie the long par four fifth as well. A shot slipped away with his four on the short sixth but was redressed by an eagle three at seven.

Adam finished the first nine in one under par 35 for 20 points and although he started the back nine poorly, by his standards, with a pair of bogeys, he did hit two more birdies too, a four on the par four fourteenth and a three on sixteen to help him get back in one over par 37 for 18 points.

All that gave Adam a winning round of level par 72 and 38 points.

The nearest score to this came from Paul Garrett who carded 37 points from his six handicap. Four of those six were lost on the opening nine holes and Paul had 17 points in return.

Just one point was won on the tenth but fourteen gave up a birdy four and at the death Paul nabbed an eighteenth hole birdie three to get back in one over par 37 for a round of five over 77 which translates to 37 Stableford points and second place.

Ian Elliot suffered in the countback to that back nine and was pushed into the Section A top spot for his 37 point return. Ian played the front nine to his handicap of ten with the help of a birdie four on the long seventh went one better on the back nine to record 19 points.

This was also achieved with the help of a fifteenth hole birdie three. In Section B it was Stuart Clanaghan who came up trumps with 36 points to his credit. He blanked two and four but still put 17 points on the card by the ninth and kept that form going for seven holes into the back nine until another blank struck on seventeen. One point from the eighteenth gave Stuart 19 back for his section topping 36.

Stephen Garrett couldn’t let brother Paul get a prize without getting in on the act too, taking another Best Gross with his round of four over par 76.

Over the first nine holes he seemed a wee bit rusty, getting to the turn in 41 shots, but whatever happened in the hut he came out fighting. The tenth was birdied in three, the twelfth in two and the eighteenth in three to see Stephen back in one under par 35 for a four over total of 76.

TOMMY ALLEN TOPS

ALLIANCE

Castlerock member Tommy Allen came out tops from over 100 golfers at the first of this season’s Alliance meeting at Royal Portrush GC with a score of 40 points from his handicap of seven.

Portstewart’s Geoff Brown, another seven handicapper took second place on 38 with C Reid two back on 36 and John Hanson in fourth with another 36.

At the AGM after the days golf Eamon McCotter was elected as Captain of the Alliance for the 2014/15 season. Eamon really enjoys his golf at Portrush and Portstewart and is looking forward to his Alliance stewardship.

The next outing will be at Castlerock GC on 30th October.

BUSHFOOT CAPTAIN TOPS AGAIN

In this, the second week of the MoreSports.com League, Derick Murphy, Bushfoot GC’s Captain, showed why he was elevated to this position by topping the scoring charts for the second week running.

He scored 42 points off his reducing handicap of sixteen to win by three clear points. The 19 points he scored for the opening nine came via a six over par total and included a birdie three on the par four eighth and a double bogey on nine.

Derick went four better on the inward nine dropping just four shots to par and adding in a second birdie three on seventeen for 23 points taking his total to 42 for his Division One win.

Garry McCullagh took runners up spot with his points total of 39 from his handicap of fifteen. He had a very similar front nine to the Captain’s, taking 20 points from it and birdying the eighth too.

The double bogey ailment appeared coming home on the tenth and fourteenth to limit the back nine tally to 19 for second place. In Division Two it was Robert Peacock hitting 38 points from his mark of 23 who came off best. A no score on the short second restricted his opening nine score to 19 and although there was no repeat of the “no score” on the back nine a few double bogeys meant another 19 for his 38 score.

Thomas Watt pulled 35 points to take second place in Div Two.

PHILIP’S A DOUBLE WINNER

The Strand Society at Portstewart had an unusual occurrence last Sunday. First of all Philip Caskey won, unusual enough some might say, but he won both first and second prizes!

In the fourball better ball competition a group of three can have a “double up” player and Philip doubled with Keith Browne to win with a better ball score of 47 points, 46 were scored by Philip! He had also doubled with Barry Duffy and got second place with his 46 again! A great return for Philip and he left two well pleased, if underused, partners.

Rees Family on song

Saturday past saw the final competition of the summer season at Kilrea GC. Not for the first time this year Russell Rees led the field after the scores were totalled.

Russell (7) started with a low key F9 of 17pts, helped largely by a birdie on the sixth. However he went into overdrive on the way home, a birdie at the difficult 10th hole and six straight pars over the last six holes helped him to 21pts and a winning total of 38pts.

He was pushed all the way by Brian McGill (8), making a visit to the winners podium. Brian started brightly with 20 points on the F9, helped along with a birdie on the 9th. A birdie 2 on the 16th was the highlight on a B9 of 18pts, which saw Brian just lose out on the countback.

Third spot went to young gun Liam Shaw (11) whi finished one shot back on 37pts.

The previous weekend saw the rescheduled Fairhill Cups and yet again the Rees clan were to the fore. This time young Clark Rees bookended a fine season with a facile victory. Playing off 14 Clark shot an excellent nett 61 (7 under) to finish a country mile ahead of the pack.

In second spot was Gary Crockett (15) who finished with a nett 66. The undoubted highlight was a hole in one at the second giving Gary access to the exclusive hole in one club! This was the fifth hole in one this year by members!

In third spot, and also claiming the Gross prize on offer was Russell Rees.

Despite the end of the summer competitions the competitive action continues with the Winter League, kindly sponsored this year by KRD Credit Union Ltd. Week 1 runs from Sunday 19th - Saturday 25th October so its not too late to enter. Entry is £20, with the best six cards to count over eight weeks. The top 16 players will all win a turkey.

This Saturday night, October 25th sees the big Night At The Races. The Council would like to thank all the sponsors and people who bought horses.

The President, Captains Council and members of Kilrea Golf Club would like to extend their deepest sympathy to esteemed member and Past Lady Captain Sharon Bradley, and family on the tragic death of their son Ryan.