All the news and happenings from the local golf clubs

Robert Aiken and Ian Dowds that is. They scored 29 points in very testing conditions over the 14 hole winter layout of the Dunluce Links to win by three points.

A steady front nine produced18 points which was enhanced by their birdy four at ten. Even with a double bogey six on the sixteenth eleven points were gathered from the final five holes to see them on to 29 points and victory.

Runners up were John Allen and Derek Sinnamon on 27. The ninth and tenth were unkind to the pair as they got nothing from them at all.

This restricted the points tally to 16 for the opening nine and 9 for the final five. Pat Mullan and LRP Agnew scored 19 out but also missed out at ten.

A few shots were lost after that as they could only add 6 from the final holes to end with 25 points.

STAN IS NOT SHORT ON

BONANZA DAY

Rathmore’s Administrator Stan Short came out of his office on Sunday and produced a great round of golf to win the top slot on their Bonanza Day.

He scored 37 points, playing off eight, in testing conditions to win by two points over the rest.

A double bogey six at the seventh was sandwiched between bogeys on the second and eighth but these were the only shots dropped by Stan and meant he was on 18 points at the turn.

The back nine went in much the same fashion but without the double bogey meaning another 19 points were scored and the total went to 37.

Russell Dunlop hit the best of the three 35s to get second spot. The two handicapper had just one birdy on his way out, a four on the fourth, and had a mediocre 16 points for the nine holes.

That situation was remedied by Russell with a birdy four at ten followed by threes on the twelfth and sixteenth to allow him to enter 19 more points for his 35 total. Chris Bradley was one point light on the inward nine and was eased into third place because of this.

His 17 points out contained a good birdie four on the long fourth but no more birdies were forthcoming after that. David Cameron took fourth place with another 35 pointer.

The five handicapper birdied the second and eagled the tenth to claim his prize.

Willie Davidson added a hole in one to his golfing credentials by aceing the third hole. He was a welcome sight in the Clubhouse later!

JOHN TO THE FORE AT THE MANOR

The weekend competition at the Kilrea Manor Golf Club was won by John Keane with a points score of 40.

Jeff Marks with 39 was runner up. Captain Stephen Wylie also had 39 but lost out to Jeff on the count back. Twos were recorded by Stephen Margey and Dominic O’Neill at the 8th and 17th holes respectively.

The weekend competition on November 9th and 10th was won by Philip Kerr with 41 points. Runner up was Eugene McCart on 40. Two twos were posted by Mark Eagleson at the 4th and the 10 holes, and Dessie Gray got one at the 10th as well.

Christmas vouchers await the winners of the weekend competitions at present.

On the weekend of the 17th November the winner of the Christmas voucher was Martin McGrath with 42 points. the runner up was Sean Smyth with 41. Chris Darragh also scored 41 points

On November 24th the winner was Stephen Mooney with 40 points, Eddie O’Kane also posted 40, but lost out on the count back. However not to be outdone, one week later, on the weekend of the 1st December, Eddie made sure of a Christmas voucher by topping the list with 41 points, with the runner up being Martin Donnelly on 38 .

Incidentally there were four other members with 38 points , namely Tony McLernon, Sean Smyth, Stephen Margey, and Martin McCann, in that order.

The Winter League competition has completed five rounds with just two more to go , and the leading pair at this stage are John Keane and Tony McLernon with a grand total of 346 points. The nearest challengers are Seamus Hasson and Chris Darragh with 340, and Stephen Wylie and Dessie Gray with 332, so there is all to play for!

The weekend competition for a Xmas Voucher played for on December 7th and 8th saw some high scoring and a hole in one.

Eugene McCart won the voucher with a vey impressive round of 47 points.

There was a tie for second place. between Stephen Mooney and Martin McGrath with 43 points each, with Stephen winning on the count back.

Altogether six players broke 40 or better. Three twos were recorded , Charlie Hasson and Stephen Wylie at the 1st, and Eddie O’Kane at the fourth . But the best was yet to come , for not only did Captain Stephen Wylie record a two at the first hole, he went one better the second time round by getting a hole in one at the same hole, the 10th.

Many congratulations Stephen, and one wonders how many have achieved this feat during their year as captain of their club.

This was his first and what a time to do so. Fantastic.

Just to Finnish on , the Kilrea Manor Golf Club Captain Stephen Whylie and the committee would like to thank everyone for there help this year and wish everyone , club members and friends a happy Christmas and happy New Year.

WIN FOR CLUB PRESIDENT

The nine week Star Fuels Sponsored Winter League was completed surprisingly without a break at the weekend.

Recently elected Club President Michael Kane (18) ran out a comfortable winner with a good score of 43 points. Mickey opened with 19 points despite a blank at the fifth. and with the help of a birdie at the 12th. managed 24 points second time round!

Four points adrift two members ended up with 39 points each, after the tiebreak Donal Mulholland (3) took second prize with nines of 17 and 22.

Donal was in sparkling form over the back nine which included a blank at the 13th . and a bogey at the last, sort of spoiling his run of birdies at holes 10 12 14 16 and 17!

Denis James (22) scored nines of 21 and 18 to claim the third prize on offer. Ronnie Milliken claimed the twos kitty with the only two!

In the team event with team Doubles already having clinched the title after week eight it was a very closely contested run in for runner-up place with team Anthracite holding a three point advantage over team Paraffin.

Despite being the top scoring team with M. Kane’s 43 and team captain R. Milliken adding 38 earning them six points team Paraffin failed by ½ a point with their final tally of 37 points.

Doubles picked up five league points for a commanding total of 46 points.

With the lowest turnout of the league proving vital to team Anthracite as they along with team Phurnacite had only two players each participating with scores of 36 and 32 earning 3.5 points each thus giving team Anthracite a total of 37.5 points to earn runner -up by the smallest possible margin from team Paraffin with 37.

Team Phurnacite ended up fourth with 30.5 Team Burnglow fifth with 20 and team Captains Coal sixth with 18. In the individual event with the best seven cards counting out of nine it all boiled down to the last week with a photo finish resulting in the top four places separated by only four points.

With the top four all averaging 38 points plus. Winner with a total of 271 points Tom Boyd, Runner/up Robert Orr 270 points. Third place Sam Reid 269 points. Fourth Ronnie Milliken 268 points and fifth Jimmy Kelly 258 points.

A separate side event with two different holes nominated before play (once played were no longer considered again) each week with the Mastercard winner with 40 points Ronnie Milliken. Johnnie Kearns and Sam Reid were joint runners/up with 38 points each.

The Captain and members wish to express thanks to Star Fuels for their continued support in again sponsoring the Winter League.

GMAC LIKE ‘OLD SCHOOL’ VIBE IN CLOTHES

Graeme McDowell has admitted he likes an old school vibe in his golf clothes.

And McDowell wanted to keep that when he started to design his clothing line.

He was approached by Kartel, a Dublin, Ireland-based company, in 2011 after not being associated with a clothing brand for most of his career. .

When McDowell sat down with Kartel, he was blown away with what the team proposed.

“They went into my name and my whole genealogy of the McDowells, traced all this stuff back to stuff I didn’t even know,” said McDowell.

“It was pretty amazing. They really created quite an authentic brand.

“They put quite a lot of substance behind what we do, a lot of the material we use, the colors we use.

“A lot of our logos and mottos and stuff are all based on my family’s genealogy, which is pretty cool.

“It’s classical, well put-together materials, simple, understated, but really good cuts.”

Kartel went as far as picking out certain colors that should be in the clothing line, which is called G-Mac by Kartel, from his family crest.

The color, purple, has become one of the line’s signature colors.