All the news and happenings from the local golf clubs

ANNUAL DINNER AND PRIZEGIVING FOR LADIES
Thelma Smyth receiving the Maureen Henry Cup fo golfer of the year.Thelma Smyth receiving the Maureen Henry Cup fo golfer of the year.
Thelma Smyth receiving the Maureen Henry Cup fo golfer of the year.

Over 80 Lady members gathered at Portstewart golf club to enjoy the annual Christmas Dinner

Prior to the prize giving Lady Captain Mo Giffin presented charity cheques- Claire Johnson, chairperson and Susan Morgan, secretary received a cheques on behalf of the local branch of Cancer Focus NI whilst Ed Macauley and Ruth Kearney received a cheque on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Society.

Golfer of the year and and recipient of the Maureen Henry Cup was Thelma Smith who also won the ILGU silver medal and silver spoon. The prestigious Challenge Cup was won by Doreen Fleming with Lady Captain Mo Giffin runner up. Semi finalists were Maggie Penny and Pauline Agnew.

The Johnston Millennium Pairs Trophy was presented to the winners, Brenda Strain and Rosie King. Runners up were Agatha Mullan and Mary Glover whilst the semi-finalists were Hazel Browne and Shelia Aicken and Mo Giffin and Lynne Gibb. The winner of the SS Henry Memorial Salver was Julie McCartney with Brenda Strain second.

Laura McCaw,a juvenile member was presented with her ILGU Junior Club Medal. Hamper Winners on the Strand Course were Shelia Aicken with Lady Captain Mo Giffin runner up with Marion Hamilton winner on the Riverside Course.

Monthly Medal Prizes were won by Maggie Penny - September, Shelia Aiken - October and Julie Corbett - November. who also received the ILGU Bronze medal. Shelia Aciken won the monthly medal final.

The Strand winner of the Anne Marie Donnelly Memorial Trophy was Jane Glenn with Denise Harper Best Gross and Susan Kelly runner up. On the Riverside Course Noeleen McConnell was the winner with Loretta Blackwood in second place Finally the Irish Mail all Ireland Foursomes Trophy was presented to winners Brenda Strain and Pat Joyce with runners up Caroline McMullan and Julie Corbett.

Lady Captain Mo Giffin congratulated all the worthy winners and the evening drew to a close with an impromptu choir rendering a specially composed song celebrating the Lady Captain’s year.

BROWN TROUT WINTER LEAGUE

Week six of the nine week Star Fuels sponsored Winter League took place at the weekend.

High scoring with eleven players playing to or better than their handicap allowance! Leading with by far the best return in the league to date Trevor Cupples (18) demolished the rest of the field with an incredible score of 46 points!

Trevor got out of the starting blocks in double quick time with a two over par front nine racking up 25 points. He completed the second nine in five over par which included a birdie two at the 18th. for a further 21 to win by four clear shots ahead of three players each scoring 42 points.

After the enforcement of the tiebreak Alan Smyton (26) took second prize with nines of 18 and 24 to edge club Vice Captain Mark Dempsey (18) into third place with nines of 20 and 22. Just out of the prizes Denis James (24) opened with 22 adding 20 losing out on countback.

Three players shared the twos kitty: T. Cupples T. Boyd and J. Kelly. With the two best scores of the week Trevor’s 46 & Alan’s 42 coming from the same team Burnglow taking them off the bottom of the league table with six league points.

Teams Anthracite & Doubles both finished with 82 points and were separated by a better third card.

League leaders Doubles taking the five league points thanks to team captain Tom Boyd adding 40 to Denis James 42 and James Montgomery’s 35 edging out Anthracites team captain Sam Reids third card 34.

Anthracite’s best scores coming from Mark Dempsey 42 and Evan Wilson adding 40.

Team Paraffin scored 76 points by M. Laverty 39 and M. Kane 37. to claim three league points.

Team Phurnacite earned two league points with their total of 69 scored by team captain J. Kelly 36 and D. Wilson 33. Just a point back with 68 Captains Coal come home last with Club Captain Gary Hamilton best with 35.

With three weeks remaining team positions are as follows: Doubles 31 points Paraffin 27 Anthracite 23 Phurnacite 18 Burnglow 15 and Captains Coal 12.

george bags his turkey at ballycastle

George McVeigh playing off a handicap of fourteen shot a super 45 points to take the Section One prize on Saturday.

The highlight of George’s round was a chip in eagle at the par4 16th.

Edgar Dornan (10) fired in four birdies on his way to 43 points and a second place finish. Shey Paul Duffin (12) pipped Dennis Allen (12) to third place courtesy of his superior back nine holes after both men finished with 42 points.

Kevin Blaney (20) took the Section Two spoils with 42 points, the twenty handicapper shot a very consistent 21 points on both nines to take home his first turkey this winter. Donal Gillan (17) was the runner up with 41 points, having racked up 24 points in a superb front nine holes. John McSparran (16) filled the places with 40 points, having a better back nine holes than Gareth Beckett, Terence Bakewell and John Dowds.

Sunday brought dull but benign conditions to play golf in and Allan Mc Cook took full advantage.

The fourteen handicapper made three birdies on his way to shooting 42 points and taking home the Section One turkey.

Mark McPoland (9) and Harry Sheehan (7) both had 41 points to take second and third place respectively, both men had late eagles in their rounds to help fend off David Getty and Patrick Dallat, the pair also had 41 points but weaker last nines.

Section Two saw three players return scores of 41 points but it was Michael Dallat Snr (18) who amassed the most points on the back stretch to claim the top spot, pushing form player Colin Millar (16) and Mark Herald (18) down to second and third spots respectively.

There were plenty of birdies and eagles made during Week 8 of this year’s Turkey season but shot of the weekend belongs to ‘wee’ Sean McCullough.

Sean achieved the feat of having his second hole in one in seven weeks!

Sean has reliably informed us that he ‘choked down’ on his trusty three wood at the 17th hole, and the drinks were on him! Congratulations Sean, a truly amazing effort.

BIG SCORE FOR VETERAN

GEOFFREY

Geoffrey Magee, recently elevated to “veteran” status hit a remarkable 46 points over the Valley links at Rathmore on Sunday to win the second turkey of his season.

The seventeen handicapper had 27 points bagged after nine courtesy of back to back birdy threes at eight and nine. A wee wobble was evident on the back nine with double bogeys at twelve and thirteen but 19 points still came from the inward leg for his great 46 total.

David Cameron edged out the in form Uel Loughrey for second spot with both tying on 43 points. Threes at five and eight were David’s only departure from par on a front nine that gave up 23 points. The back nine was something similar for the five handicapper with a birdie three at sixteen balancing out his bogey five at fourteen for another 20. Uel matched those nines, the front nine the same way, two birdies and seven pars, but hit two bogeys coming back which were evened up with an eagle two on the par four sixteenth.

The final bird was grabbed by James McBride with his score of 41 points. A blank to start the day held James to 17 points out before he steadied the ship and scored a steady 24 points for the last nine.

CASTLEROCK TURKEY

RESULTS

Gary  McCracken hit 35 points off his twelve handicap to to bag his top turkey at Castlerock on Saturday. Four three pointers in the opening seven holes, including a birdie four at the fifth, saw 17 points entered on the card. Over the final eight of the fifteen holes in play Gary bettered his handicap again to log another 18 for his winning 35 points.

The best of three 33 pointers was from Allister Somers, playing off eight. He covered the front seven in three over par for fifteen points before turning his mind to the back eight where eighteen points was the result. That good back eight gave him the nod over Jimmy Smith (10) and Ivan Tennant (13) with the other 33s. Jimmy birdied the sixth in three but lost out to a blank at sixteen. Ivan’s six to finish didn’t help his chances in the tie break. Reg Dallas edged out Michael Rawson for fifth place with 32 points from his mark of eight. Reggie’s birdy four at eleven got him to 18 points.  Michael got a birdie two on the Summit so that would ease the pain a little.

The Turkey Competition on went to Andrew Guthrie (7) for his 36 points. The par five sixth fell to a birdie and the next fell to a three to boost the front seven tally to 18. Seventeen turned up another birdie, a four, to see another 18 logged for 36. Stephen McIlmoyle’s 34 was good enough for second spot. He had a sound 16 points on the card for the front seven but was going very well coming back. The eleventh was birdied in four and the thirteenth in three before his only slip, a six at the long 17th.