Campbell ‘putts’ his best foot forward

Patrick, playing off nineteen, has been in excellent form this season with a victory in the Margy Cup and a runner-up spot in the Glens of Antrim Cup already to his name.

Second place in the Brass Putter went to ten handicapper Paul Scott who was level par for the back nine holes to come in with a nett 65. Club Captain Edgar Dornan, playing off nine, rolled in birdies at the 8th and 10th holes on his way to a third place finish also with a nett 65.

Des Nevin had a hat-trick of birdies at the 11th, 12th and 13th holes in a one under par back nine to take fourth prize with Roland Kearns in fifth ahead of Des’s son Nigel on count-back after all three golfers returned nett scores of 66 on Saturday.

Francis McGinn had the best gross score of the day with a three under par 68 while Patrick Dallat completed a level par round of 71 which earned him the second gross prize.

Many thanks go to Damien McEvoy, Club Professional at Ballycastle for his sponsorship of this year’s Brass Putter competition.

The weather conditions were tough for Sunday’s golfers with a strong breeze making good scoring very difficult. Harry Sheehan, playing off five, birdied each of the first three holes and picked up another shot at the ninth on his way to victory with a total of 39 points.

An added bonus for Harry was that his birdie at the third turned out to be the only ‘two’ recorded on Sunday!

Second place in the stableford competition went to Hugh Sayers with 37 points, a score matched by Brendan Black in third and Peter Dowds in fourth place. Fifth prize on Sunday went to Damian McSorley with 36 points ahead of Paul Dillon on count-back.

Last Wednesday’s open stableford competition was won by John Morgan, playing off twenty-one with a magnificent score of 45 points. Harry Sheehan had to settle for runner-up on this occasion as he went round in level par for a total of 42 points. Third place went to Ivor Torrens with Patrick Dixon in fourth ahead of Colin Smyth and Gerry Norwood on count-back after all four golfers returned scores of 41 points.

Next weekend’s competitions at Ballycastle are the Peter Lamont Trophy on Saturday and the September Medal on Sunday. These are the final two events counting towards the Golfer of the Year and there is an exciting finish in prospect with Patrick Campbell collecting 20 points in the Brass Putter to move into a share of the lead alongside Owen Kennedy who eked out 10 points last Saturday to join Patrick on a total of 89 points. It is far from a two-horse race however, as there are a potential 40 points up for grabs next weekend, with fourteen members including Patrick Dallat jnr (78pts), Francis McGinn (77pts), James McNeill (69pts), Des Nevin (68pts) and Sean Dowds (67pts) still very much in the running.