All the news and happenings from the local golf clubs

With a score of 40 points seventeen handicapper Peter White was Portstewart’s Dinner Day Bowl winner for 2013. In the evening he, along with other stalwarts, was well entertained by Gene Fitzpatrick after a superb dinner in the Club restaurant and by Leo Diamond and John McGrath thereafter.

In the Saturday Sweep it was Paddy McLaughlin that cleaned up hitting 42 points off his mark of fifteen. Paddy scored 21 front nine points with nothing less than two points per hole. The inward nine was a similar picture with just one hole where a single point was scored. Even so, he was able to add another 21 for his total of 42 and stayed one point up on Dessie Ballentine on 41.

The five handicapper covered the front nine in two under par, birdying the long fourth and the par four fifth on his way, to get 23 points on the card at the turn. After a bogey start to the back nine Dessie slipped in a three for birdie at eleven and a four for another at thirteen.

Seventeen gave him nothing but he still got 18 points from the back nine to keep second spot on 41. David McKee took top spot in the Low Section with 40 points from his mark of seven. His birdie two at the third helped him to 20 points after nine and David matched this tally on the return leg, hitting another birdie, a four on the long fourteenth, on the way.

Brian McCafferty took the honours in the High Section with another 40 points. A five over par front nine gave him 21 out. The good form was there on the back straight as well with 19 coming from it.

Garry McGrotty got it round in 73 shots to claim the Best Gross prize. One of his two dropped shots on the front nine was reclaimed by a good birdy two at six to see Garry out in 37. Nine straight pars saw 36 scored for the back nine taking Garry to his 73 round.

Bushfoot Winter league

Seven handicap Martyn Freeman scored 41 points to top the Division One table of the Dunluce Golf sponsored Winter League at Bushfoot GC at the weekend. He recovered his composure well after a blank at the second hole by knocking in birdies at the par four fourth and the long sixth.

David Millar was hot on his heels on 41 as well but his blank at the tenth didn’t help in the countback. David logged birdies with a three at the ninth and a four at fifteen.

The overall leader this week was John Nicholl from the Second Division with 42 points. A couple of double bogies showed up on the opening nine and a nasty blank came at the tenth, apart from those John’s scoring was very consistent.

Willis Glass continued his fine form from last week by scoring 41 points. A few points were lost early in the opening nine but four pars to finish it set Willis up for a good score. As with the front nine he scored two closing pars to get him to 41 points and second spot in his division.

SECOND ROUND OF THE GLENS OF ANTRIM TROPHY

Five handicapper Trevor McKendry topped this week’s Glens of Antrim competition scoring 40 points to do so. He let a couple of shots drift away early on the front nine but hit three consecutive birdies at seven eight and nine to recover those.

His final birdie came with a three at fourteen. While Trevor played well I’m not sure that he did the right thing in pushing his wife Caroline into second place. She scored 39 from her mark of twenty, probably playing with Trevor, and who cooked the dinner later I wouldn’t like to bet on. Caroline’s card was liberally sprinkled with pars and with no disasters it is clear why her handicap has dropped from 24 a few months ago to seventeen after Sunday’s round

After a tie break with Kenny McKillop. Adrian Hutchinson took third place on 38 points. Adrian birdied the opening hole in three and also knocked in a two on the eleventh for good measure. An unfortunate blank at the sixth and a couple of double bogies did some damage on the opening nine otherwise we could be looking at a different leader board.

MONTHLY STABLEFORD WIN FOR BILLY

Eleven handicap Billy Tennant hit a winning 35 points on Saturday to top the table in the Royal Portrush Monthly Stableford. He took 19 points from the outward nine in testing conditions and followed this with 16 back, a double bogey six at twelve restricting his scoring.

This proved to be a point up on Pat Mullan who scored 34 for the Silver Medal slot. Pat had an up and down opening nine with two blanks, five and six, and an eagle three at nine amounting to 15 points. That eagle spurred Pat on as he birdied ten then dropped only two shots to the end, adding 19 to the card for his 34 total. Bronze Medal winner was Marshall Moore with another 34 points. Playing off 21 Marshall, as with Pat, had two blanks in a front nine that still produced 18 points. Twelve also delivered nothing to Marshall but he played well enough otherwise to gather in 16 to get his medal position sealed.

Richard McClements was the man for the best gross title, hitting a 78. The four handicapper covered each nine in three over par. Eamon McCotter played steadily to score 31 points and took the Stableford Final as a result.

STRONG FINISH GETS ADRIAN HIS TURKEY

Three turkeys were up for grabs at Rathmore on Sunday and Adrian Proctor got first pick with his 40 points haul.

His six at the second for a double bogey restricted the scoring to 18 out but better was to come. Adrian’s birdie putt dropped in on the thirteenth and dropped only three shots on the nine to pull 22 from it taking his tally to 40.

That strong finish was decisive in the tie break with Michael Gaston who matched the 40 total. Michael, playing off eight, scored two twenties with a birdie showing up at the long thirteenth.

Two points back on 38 came Jordon Dunlop for the third and final bird. A blank at the fifth meant just 18 points for the thirteen handicapper but things looked up over the last nine holes with 20 points being plucked from them.

BENN TOPS AT THE ROCK

Six handicapper Benn Napier covered the Mussenden Course at Castlerock Golf Club in a gross one under par 72 to win the Saturday Stableford.

Benn topped and tailed the opening nine holes with a birdie three at the first and a two at nine. With no dropped shots in between this gave him 23 points at the turn for home. His first bogey of the day turned up with his six on the long eleventh but Benn birdied twelve to get that one back before slipping to a bogey five on Swallow Hill.

The short sixteenth gave Benn his second two but a bogey at seventeen evened that up. A good par to end the round and Benn could add 20 points to the opening 23 to get his top billing, clear by three points.

Runner up was Darren Mornin, also a six handicapper, with 40 points. Darren also started the day with a birdie three to state his intentions but hole six did him no favours as he took nothing from it. In spite of that slip Darren had 18 points scored after nine and his good form continued into the return nine.

His three at Spion Kop gave him a four pointer. Another pair of birdies, a two at sixteen and a four at seventeen boosted his chances but eighteen was lurking and disappointingly for Darren, was blanked to leave him with 22 points from the back nine and 40 overall.

Yet another six man took the honours in the Low Section with Stephen Hunt hitting 39. He was scoring quite well for the opening six before he hit a three hole roller coaster, a birdie three on seven, a blank on eight and another birdie on the short ninth. All this gave him 19 points out.

Stephen didn’t manage another birdie but dropped very few shots on the back nine, just two, to gather a further 20 for his prizewinning 39. This was also the total that won the High Section for Gary Adamson, an eighteen handicapper.

His scoring on the front half was curtailed a little by his no score on the second but he mustered 18 by the turn to stay in contention. Another blank at eleven hindered him again but Gary regrouped to drop only one shot over the final seven holes, helped by his birdie four at fifteen, and gain 21 points in the process.

Best Gross went to Michael O’Donovan for his round of 71, two under par. His opening bogey five was the only shot dropped during his round and with birdies dropping at three, five and seven he was out in 35. Michael took four on the long eleventh for his final birdie of the day and parred his way in to finish the back nine in one under 36.Tom Cunningham hit 34 points from his eleven handicap to come out as best of the oldies.

HIGH SCORING IN WINTER LEAGUE

The first week of the Star Fuels sponsored winter league got underway last week with high scoring the order of the day!

The ever steady Ronnie Milliken (6) was declared the winner after the enforcement of the tiebreak. Opening with a level par first nine for 21 points Ronnie completed the second nine in one over par adding 20. Highlight of his round was a birdie at the sixth.hole. and 15 pars! Taking runner-up prize Sam Reid (12) got off to a flying start with a one over par front nine giving him 23 points and with the help of a birdie at the 12th added 18 also scoring 41.