All the news and happenings from the local golf clubs

CARAVAN CUP GOES TO GARY

Silverware has been won by thirteen handicapper Gary Stewart at Castlerock GC.

His 42 points took the Caravan Cup in the final Open Week event. Gary was one under par gross for the first five holes with a birdy three logged at the second. This meant he had 15 points from five holes! The he met the ‘Burn’ No score! This did little put Gary off and he parred the next three to get to the turn with 23 points on the card.

Coming back Gary had no further blanks nor birdies just a nice well paced scoring rate. While not as prolific as the front nine he still added 19 to the card, including a two at sixteen, to get to 42 points, one in front of James Martin on 41. James used his 21 shots well to take second spot on countback with a fine back nine of 23 points. The High section was taken by another of the 41 pointers, Leslie McIntyre, playing off 22. While his no score at the long Railway hole proved expensive, he did get a prize.

As did Andrew Glass who won the Low Section with yet another 41 points. The twelve handicapper had gained 20 points at the halfway stage and hit his first birdy with a three at the tenth for four points. A good par four to end got him to 21 back and 41 overall. Top Senior man was Harold Rodden with 40 points.

The Best Gross was taken by David Turner who gathered 38 points without the aid of handicap shots. His birdy four at the long Railway got him to the turn in one under par 35. Three further birdies flocked to David’s card, thirteen, sixteen and seventeen, to give him 36, one under par again, and a round of 71

Sunday 21st July Open Mixed Greensomes

1st Pair Chris Ramsey (16) & Elaine Taylor (14) 43

2nd Pair Chris Reid (8) & Valerie Reid (20) 41

3rd Pair John Creaney (10) & Linda Creaney (28) 41

Monday 22nd July Men’s Open Stableford

1st Robin Coleman (21) 42

2nd Odhran Mullan (9) 41

3rd Peter Henderson (9) 40

Gross David Turner (0) 35

Visitor M Thompson (7) 34

Tuesday 23rd July 4 Person Team Scramble

1st Team S.Millar (14) D. Dickson (14) S McCarron (10) J. Dickson (7) 55.5

2nd Team J. Birch (4) T. Campbell (9) C. Campbell (10) D. Brown (11) 57.6

3rd Team G. Gaile (5) J. Toner (4) M. O’Donovan (2) J. Templeton (19) 58.0

Wednesday 24th July Seniors Open Stableford

1st TJ Campbell (9) 42

2nd M. Clarke (11) 41 (Masserene)

3rd A. Patterson (16) 41

Gross K. Lapsley (6) 37 (Dunfanaghy)

Visitor T. McNeill (10) 38 (Moyola)

Wednesday 24th July Open Boys Stableford

1st Macauley Killen (16) 42 (Newtownstewart GC)

2nd Connor McCracken (22) 42

3rd Luke Thompson (7) 40

4th Richard Lyttle (5) 40 (Banbridge GC)

Gross Ross Nelson (6) 39 (Belvoir Park GC)

Visitor Aaron Marshall (13) 39 (Lisburn GC)

Saturday 27th July Men’s 2 Ball Betterball

1st E. O’Connor (11) & M. O’Connor (6) 46

2nd C. Holmes (13) & J. McCloskey (15) 44

3rd M. O’Donovan (2) & G. Gaile (5) 44

Visitor E. Boyce (7) (Shandon) & C. Scott (20) (Mahee Island) 39

BLAIR TAKES CUP

On Sunday Blair Cameron took the McClelland Cup at Rathmore with 42 points. His front nine of three over par gave him 21 points and even with blanking the fifteenth on the way back he added another 21 for his winning 42.

Colm Friel was three points back on 39 for runners up spot. His birdie three at nine got him to a modest 16 out but he hit top gear early in the back nine, scoring birdie fours at ten and thirteen and signing for a great 23 points back. Jimmy Magill was just a point adrift of this on 38 for third. The first gave Jimmy nothing but he did nab two twos, six and fifteen, plus a birdie three at fourteen to earn a prize. Ian Kettyle went round in level par 70 to take the Best Gross.

BIG POINTS HAUL FOR PAUL

Paul Molloy hit a terrific 46 points round Bushfoot GC at the weekend and now has the McFaull Cup on his golfing CV. The sixteen handicapper was out in one over par, including a birdie three at eight, to card 22 points. Better was to come as the second time round saw him drop just three to par and card another 24 for good measure! 46 in all and this took him four in front of second placed Mervyn T Greer on 42.

Mervyn had two good nines of 20 out and 22 back off his seven handicap but 46 wasn’t being talked to!

Keri Kidd was the gross prize winner with his 69. One over par 36 after nine Keri shaved three off this on his way back taking 33 for it.

CHRIS TAKES HONOURS

The weekend competition at the Kilrea Manor Golf Club was won by Chris Forde with a points count of 44.

Runner up was Eugene McCart with 42 points. Nicholas Martin also had 42, but lost out on the count back.

The only other member to break into the 40s was Captain Stephen Wylie with 41 points.

The Cellar’s Cup Competition at the Kilrea Manor Golf Club attracted a good entry. It was won by Jeffrey Marks with a gross score of 71, net 56.

The runner up was Eddie O’Kane , one stroke behind with a gross 69 net 57. Tony McLernon lost out for the runner up prize on the countback with a gross 67 net 57. recording the lowest gross.

The front 9 was won by Chris Hasson, and the back 9 by Martin Donnelly. There were two twos posted, one by Chris Darragh at the eighth, and one by Padraig Quinn at the 10th.

MARK TAKES THE CREAM

The weekend fare at the club was for the Aghadowey Creamery Shield with high scoring the order of the day.

Club vice Captain Mark Dempsey, playing off 20 for the last time, ran out a comfortable winner with a total of 44 points despite failing to add to his score at the seventh hole.

The highlight of Mark’s round was a birdie at hole 10 he showed great consistency with six pars and ten bogeys. After opening with 21 points Mark added 23 to win by two points from his granda Ronnie Milliken (6) with a total of 42 points.

Ronnie stormed round the first nine in two under par giving him 23 points before adding a two over par second nine for 19 totalling 42 points.

A further point adrift Robert Orr (12) took the third prize on offer after opening with a birdie at the opening hole Robert completed the first nine in two over par giving him a return of 22 points. He added another birdie at the difficult seventh ending up with 19 points in the homeward nine finishing off with single pointers at holes 17 and 18

The twos kitty was claimed by Donal Mulholland David Wilson and Ronnie Milliken.

DREW ON TOP

Drew Cochrane,playing off 25, destroyed the field to win the Kilmandil Cup with 44 points at Gracehill.

After an unbelievable front 9, which Drew played in 9 under his handicap, it was just a matter of hanging on, which he duly did, adding a further 17pts to his excellent front 9 of 27 points.

Alistair Bustard, playing off 9, was second with 41 points.

Following a steady front nine of three over, Alistair began the back nine with a little blip, but he recovered well playing the last eight holes in two under par.

Kenny Dunlop playing off 19 was third with 40 points. Steven Bell won the gross with a 76.

Monthly Medal - In division 1 Steven Bell playing off three won the Monthly Medal with an excellent nett 69. After a commanding performance of two under par for the front nine, Steven had the odd bogey on the inward half but his fine golf far outweighed the occasional dropped shot.

Jimmy McClenaghan playing off 10 had to settle for second place with a nett 70, while Ian Morrison was third with a nett 73. In division 2 Mickey Connor came out on top with a nett 73. This much improving 23 handicapper had a couple of shots to spare over runner-up John Brennan, while Bert Chambers was third with a nett 76.

MARK AND BRENDAN WIN

It was Shangarry weekend at Ballycastle with the Shangarry Plate on Saturday and the Shangarry Cup, the Club Championship, on Sunday with the competitions kindly sponsored by Seamus Killough and Brian McKay.

The Shangarry Cup on Sunday provided to be a real nail-biting affair with it all coming down to the last few holes of the second round. The second round proved tough with heavy showers making the conditions very tricky but in the end it was Mark McCormick who emerged victorious as Club Champion for 2013.

In Saturday’s Shangarry Plate it was the ever consistent Brendan Black (10) who lifted the trophy with an excellent 44 points just ahead of Simon Lynn (6) in 2nd place on 43 points. Patrick Dallat Snr continued his form from the previous weekend recorded 42 points to win Section One. Paul McCloskey (15) won Section Two with 41 points.