All the news and happenings from the local golf clubs

Local golfers are being called upon to sign up to the annual golf day in aid of local charity Action Cancer, organised by North Antrim businessman Patsy Trolan and his family.

Now in its ninth year, the Trolan golf classic will take place at Portstewart Golf Club on Thursday July 3 and the organising team hope to raise thousands of pounds for the Action Cancer Big Bus screening and health promotion unit, through sponsorship and donations.

The event is organised by Patsy and Mary Trolan, former owners of the SuperValu store in Ballymoney, along with other family members and with support from SuperValu. In the past eight years the golf day, along with fundraising at the Ballymoney store when it belonged to the Trolans, has raised over £167,000

SuperValu and its independent retailers are the main sponsors of the Big Bus and have raised more than £1million for the unit since it was launched in 2006. Every year the SuperValu Big Bus visits 200 communities providing breast screenings for more than 4,500 women and health checks and advice for over 2,600 people.

Patsy Trolan said; “We would love the Golf Classic to be a huge success again this year, but to do this we need as many local golfers to take part as possible. It promises to be a fun-filled event as usual, and golfers also get the satisfaction of knowing they are helping to raise much-needed funds for cancer detection and prevention. I’d like to thank Portstewart Golf Club and the golfers who have already signed up with us.”

For further information on the event, contact Mary Trolan on 07887 611859 or Patsy Trolan on 0777 5771796.

For further information on SuperValu visit www.supervalu.co.uk. And for Action Cancer visit www.actioncancer.org.

HIGH SCORING AT

CASTLEROCK

Gary Adamson came out tops in a day of high scores at Castlerock to win the Mary Peters Trust event with a points tally of 44.

The fifteen handicapper had two double bogeys in a front nine of otherwise good golf, those two holes ‘restricted’ to 19 points for the nine. Gary helped himself to a birdy three on ten and followed this up with another on thirteen. With only four shots dropped to par he had covered the back nine in two over par gross and added a great 23 points to the card for a total of 44.

Glen Watt ran Gary very close by hitting 43 points from his handicap of five. He started badly, no score at one, but birdied the two front nine par fives to get back on track.

He turned for home with 20 points scored but had to wait until the fifteenth to add to his birdie list with another four. Sixteen gave up a two and seventeen completed the trio with yet another four.

No dropped shots on the back nine meant Glen could take 23 to his card and clinch second place. The Low Section produced a card that could have been nines from two different golfers, Mark McKeown birdied the long third then blanked the fourth and double bogied the par four seventh to get only 16 points for the opening nine.

The six handicapper then found form with a vengeance, birdying two of the par fives and the par four thirteenth before ending his round with an eagle two on eighteen! Just one bogey in the last nine holes meant 25 points were carded and boosted Mark to 41 sealing his section win.

High Section topped was Peter Kennedy on nother 41 points. Peter covered the opening nine in four over, his handicap is fifteen, for 22 points. A six over par back nine produced another 19 to get him to his 41 total. Top of the Oldies for the second week was Jimmy Templeton with a tally of 38 points with the highlight of the round being his birdy three on thirteen.

David Turners gross points score of 34 points got him the Best Gross prize for the second week running. David birdied two and bogeyed nine for 18 points, level par 36 gross before playing the back nine in one over par 38 for another 16.

EAMON HIGH AT RATHMORE OPEN

Recent Past Captain of Rathmore GC Eamon Donnelly scored the better of a trio of 41 points to take the Ivan Murdock and Sons Open at Rathmore last week.

His four over par opening nine contained two birdie threes for 20 points. On the way back Eamon hit another birdy, a four on thirteen, but followed this with a double bogey.

In spite of that he pulled 21 points from the back nine to take the top spot on countback from Mark McClelland and Jonathan Cummings.

Mark hit a brace of birdies in each of the nines to help in the countback while Jonathan got a trio in his outward nine and one back. Paul Maxwell, from Narin & Portnoo, hit two twos late in the final nine to get to 40 points and take fourth spot in a tie break with Ballycastle’s Niall McGarry. Niall had three birdies in his round.

Ben Best took another gross prize for a round of level par 70. A very uncharacteristic triple bogey seven on the seventh meant a two over par 37 for the outward half as he had birdied three, four and nine.

Good form returned with an eagle three being registered on the tenth and Ben ran out the final eight in level par for 33 back and 70 overall.

VC SETS THE STANDARD

Rathmore GC’s Vice Captain Victor Bow is in a good run of form with a win and several top five placings recently so it was no surprise that he added another win on Sunday with his 40 points in the Molson Coors/Carling open topping the chart.

Two sixes and a no score in the first four holes did not bode well for Victor but started his repair to the card by slipping in a birdy three on the fifth hole and, after another flirtation trouble, hit his second birdie at nine with second three.

That was the par four birdies finished with so Victor the set about the par fives, reducing both to birdy fours. His only blip on his back nine was the no score at the death. However Victor had amassed 40 points to stay a point ahead of Roy Robinson

Roy hit 39 points to claim second place for himself. The fourteen handicapper covered the front nine in five over par for 20 points but then missed out on scoring at ten and eleven. His composure returned and the remaining seven holes were completed in one over par for another 19, securing his runner up spot.

Alan Haslam and Russell Dunlop produced matching 38 pointers with Alan getting the nod through countback. Alan had birdies in both nines but significantly he had a four over par back nine to help in the tie break.

Russell ahd a pair of birds in each nine but also carded a nasty seven on the thirteenth which didn’t help his cause.

Anthony McAuley knocked in a birdie on the second hole but had a ragged time to the turn before hitting good form for the back nine which he covered in one over par gross to get his 37 points and the fifth and final place.

The prize for the best gross was won by Ian Kettyl’e round of 71.Setting off with a birdy three Ian dropped shots on six and eight to be out in one over par36. His inward nine contained only pars to add 35 to the front nine 36 for his final 71 shots.

BALLYMENA’S MICHAEL WINS RATHMORE OPEN

Michael McGarry, a three handicapper from the Ballymena club, scored a great 42 points over the Valley Links at Rathmore GC to win the Oasis Retail Services Open on Sunday.

He opened his account with two birdie threes before settling for pars and one bogey to the turn for home. Michael opened his back nine account in similar fashion, with a birdy four. The final par five, the thirteenth, was reduced to three shots for Michael’s eagle, getting him to three under par, and he ran out the nine dropping just one shot for his 42 points. This was a round of 6, three under par and was matched only by the gross winner

Jonny Birch, a four handicapper from the home club took outright second place with a return of 39 points. He hit a birdie three on five but failed to register on six . The back nine was a lot better as Jonny birdied the par five tenth and eagled the thirteenth to cover the nine in two under par for 22 points taking him to 39 for the day.

Jonny Martin, another four handicapper, also hit 22 back to be the best of several 38 pointers for third place. He had three birdies and one bogey in a back nine of two under par. Philip McMullan took fourth place with his 38 points again with a good back nine of 20 points.

Three handicap Rory Houston took the fifth and final prize with a third 38. He opened both nines with birdies and added another on seventeen for good measure.

Ben Best’s round of 67 was a winner for him in the gross stakes with a hot front nine of four under par 31 forming the winning platform.

PORTER CARRIES OFF PRIZE

Smallcost Carpets sponsored Fridays Open at Rathmore GC and Andrew Porter took top spot scoring 43 points from his four handicap.

He birdied the fifth in three and hit eight pars in an outward nine that gave up 21 to the card.

His back nine had opening and closing birdies with another sandwiched between, along with his only bogey of the day, to add another 22 to get him to 43 overall.