All the news and happenings from the local golf clubs

Davy Walls got his name on some silverware last Sunday when his 40 points in the Kevin Doherty Memorial event secured the win. He didn’t get off to the start he wanted, taking just three points from the open trio of holes but a recovery was mounted to pull seventeen from the nine.

His two at twelve gave him four points and this was made even sweeter as opponent for the day Paddy McAleese got a prize for ‘nearest the pin’ but missed the putt for his two. Davy, along with playing partner Patsy Trolan, then closed out the match on seventeen to get a 3 and 1 victory over Paddy and Malachy Duffy. In doing so Davy found himself with 23 points from the back nine which boosted his tally to 40, two clear of the field.

This was the Strand Society’s first ‘major’of the season and was enthusiastically supported not only by the members but the ladies and gents of Portstewart Golf Club. The visiting contingent from the Portpatrick Dunskey Club also joined in and their generosity helped to raise a substantial donation for Renal Research.

The donation was handed over by the sponsor for the day David Lamont of Capital Trust, Coleraine, to Gerry Totten of the Renal Research and Education Fund. Marty Logue, shortly to be a grateful recipient of the services of the local Renal Unit, thanked all concerned in the day’s efforts. He said in his speech that it was a very special day for him.

KERR SPRINTS TO WIN

Shane Kerr hit 41 points to win Portstewart GC’s Saturday Stableford at the weekend. The eleven handicapper was in very steady form as he covered the opening nine holes in four over par for 20 points.

This form was carried into the back nine as Shane’s great finish of six straight pars gave him another 21 to take top billing on 41, one clear of the field.

Ciaran Cooley was the man to run Shane close with 40 points from his mark of thirteen.

A blank at five and a couple of single point holes on the outward nine restricted Ciaran to 17 points at the turn. He was a different man on the back half however, finishing it in one over par, the only dropped shot coming with a four at fifteen, and gathered a great 23 point haul taking his card to 40 points.

Keith Browne was another 40 pointer and also had a blank on the way out, a seven at the seventh, but had 19 points bagged by halfway. Both par fives on the back nine gave up birdie fours to help Keith add 21 points, just short of a chance of second in the countback procedure. However it was enough to get to the top of the Low Section for Keith.

Best of the High Section went to Danny Haslam with yet another 40 points. He amthched his seventeen handicap for 18 points for the front nine even with a no score at the fourth. His bogey at ten gave Danny two points before another slip at eleven gave him none! After that he scored seven pars to boost his back nine total to 22 to secure his prize.

The shy and retiring Stephen Garrett secured another Best Gross prize for his round of 70. Playing with his brother Paul he defeated the Geoff and Keith Walls pairing who commented after that it was a very quiet round. Both par fives gave Stephen bogies to see him through the opening nine in two over par 38. The rest at the ninth helped him though as thirteen was eagled in three and fourteen was birdied in four. A rare birdy three at seventeen got Stephen back in four under par 32.

BUSHFOOT GC DUNLUCE GOLF WINTER LEAGUE

This popular event will be played out over the coming weeks and is again kindly sponsored by Dunluce Golf. In this, the first week’s competition it was Kenny McKillop that rose to the top with his return of 43 points.

Playing off seven, Kenny started with a bang, birdying the third and the ninth with threes and the seventh, with a two.

He dropped just one shot in the front nine, a five at the opening hole, to have 24 points on the card at the turn. That hot streak abated on the back nine, but only slightly, as Kenny knocked in his final birdie with a two on the short eleventh.

With three bogeys and five pars he was able to load in another 19 points for his winning total of 43.

That score was best of the day and topped Division One five points clear of runner up Lennie McIlroy on 38.

Lennie plays off twelve but didn’t get off to a great start, a seven at the opening hole, but recovered well to get 17 points logged by the halfway stage. He slipped in a nice two at eleven to help him to a three over par back nine which gave up 21 points for Lennie’s Division One runners up score of 38.

Division Two topper, and second overall was Willis Glass on 39 points. After a poor first, which pulled a seven from Willis, a few double bogies crept in as well to restrict Willis to 18 points. He was much tidier coming back with just the single double bogey and a few bogeys to contend with to get 21 more points on the board.

His 39 points return was best in Div Two and one in front of Derick Murphy on 38. Derick had bother with the opening hole on both attempts, no points from either, but apart from those blips he scored well with a fair number of pars to get 18 from the front nine and 20 from the back to secure his second spot in the Second Division.

RUMBLE AT THE ROCK

On Saturday Castlerock Golf Club played a Rumble match. This popular format gets everyone in the fourball involved and produces some great entertainment. The table toppers were E. McGuinness (8) with A. Stewart (12), R. Ferguson (16) and I. Bennett (14) and they scored 89 points.

This was matched by I. Moore (15), S. Porter (20), J. Douglas (13) and T. Gordon but countback pushed I Moore’s team into second spot. Third, just a point back on 88 came the quartet of R. Nevin (19), R. Dallas (8), J. Allen (7) and E. McGowan (16).

TOP RATHMORE TURKEY FOR CHRIS

With a score of 46 you would expect to get the top bird and Chris Bradley did. He finished four points clear and got his choice of the four birds on offer at Rathmore GC.

The seventeen handicapper birdied the par four second and the long fourth and although he dropped a few shots late in the nine he had 24 points bagged at the turn for home. Chris couldn’t muster any more birdies but he didn’t need to as he rattled off five pars and four bogeys to weigh in another 22 points for his 46 total.

Gary Cardwell double bogeyed the second but that was his lowest point as he followed this up with a birdie two at six to get back on course. His three at the par four ninth meant he had carded 21 points out.

Gary played steadily if not spectacularly from there until he came to the fifteenth where another two was nabbed. He must have had the taste for twos as at eighteen another was slipped in!

Another 21 points scored to match the front nine for the second festive bird. Two players were locked on 42 each and the resulting tiebreak was won by Davy Hewitt. The sixteen handicapper blanked the first but put up a great fightback to get 20 points out of the next eight holes.

His back nine story was almost identical as the eleventh gave him nothing but the other eight gave up another 20.

Ronnie McCarroll matched Davy to 20 points for each nine but even with a birdie three at seventeen he lost out on countback over the final six holes. He still gets the final bird of the day though.

JOHN TAKES RPGC

DINNER DAY CUP

With 37 points scored off his five handicap John Bamber continued his recent good form on the course to win the Dinner Day Cup on the Dunluce Links.

Two early bogeys were balanced up with birdies on the par four fifth and the long ninth to get 21 points on the card. Birdies were in short supply for John on the way back and a nasty ‘no score’ at the last restricted his back nine tally to sixteen.

His 37 overall was one in front of runner up Ian Patterson on 36. The six handicapper Had to wait until the ninth for his first birdie and it helped him to get sixteen points for the nine.

The par five tenth gave up a four to Ian and the thirteenth another for a three as he signed up for 20 points back to seal his second place.

In the Sweep Dr Geoff Todd hit 41 points to win the plaudits while Matt McAlister took second with 37. Kieran Crowley’s 36 points was good enough for third spot.

Clarke finishes tied

second in China

Darren Clarke secured his best result of the 2013 season by finishing tied second in the Nanshan China Masters.

The former Open Champion signed for a final round 72 that saw him end the tournament one shot behind the winner, Charl Schwartzel.

Trailing Clarke and Liang Wenchong overnight, Schwartzel birdied the 15th and 16th to draw level with the Dungannon man, who had missed a three footer on the 13th before failing to get up and down for par from thick fringe grass at the 17th.

“I’m obviously disappointed with the day - it was another one of those days on the greens again where I couldn’t buy a putt from anywhere,” said Clarke, who has not won since winning The Open in 2011.

He still had a share of the lead on the 17th until finding the thick fringe of a greenside bunker.