Darren drives off with Rover Cup at Lisburn

The course was playing with a bit more difficulty than usual due to slick greens and several challenging pin positions and only eleven 11 players from a field of over two hundred managed to better the standard scratch score.

Top scorers were Darren Welsh (13) and Colin Reid (9) who both carded 40 points. Colin put in an outstanding level par performance over the front nine, scoring 22 points but Darren played very steady golf scoring 20 points on each nine. Darren was declared the winner after a nine hole count-back. The high point of Darren’s round was a birdie 3 at the Stroke Index 1 - 11th hole, giving him a four point boost and the advantage over Colin.

A solid performance by Linton Kennedy (12) with 39 points gave him 3rd place. Best gross was awarded to Paul Watters (6) who scored two birdies in the front nine and took only 76 strokes to complete the course for 32 gross points.

Wednesday’s competition on September 3 was won by Andy Gibb (16) with 42 points, David Galway (26) took second place with 40 points and Peter MacDonnell (10) came third with 39 points on countback. Wednesday also saw the Club Past Captains compete for the Ellis Williams Trophy. The winner this year was the popular Fergal McDonnell who was Captain in 2000 and also held the position of Club President 2010-2011. This was a second win for Fergal, having previously won in 2008.

At the beginning of September the most consistent players during the season will be battling for the Mooney Cup, the Wednesday Cup and the Eddie Press Memorial Trophy.

In the Mooney Cup, Gary Campbell (9) and Richard McDermott (5) are tied on 285 for the best 4 rounds from the 5 played to date and would appear to be the favourites at present. However, Trevor Murphy (5) is not far behind on 287 and a net 71 in the final round could well give him the trophy. Trevor Doak (17), Ben McCambley (13) & Andrew Campbell (8) are also in the running and don’t discount Martin Blakely (14) who could also win the trophy with a nett 70 in his final round.

The final round is scheduled the last weekend in September.

Gary Campbell is also in the running for the Wednesday Cup. This competition is based on stableford points scoring. The winner is likely to need 4 rounds averaging 37 points to take the trophy. At present Tom Beattie (17) looks a clear favourite with two scores of 38 already in the bag. His nearest challengers are Michael Rooney (18) and Colin Reid (9) either of whom could win with 35 points in the final round. The final round is scheduled for the last Wednesday in September.

The Eddie Press Memorial Trophy was newly introduced last year to be awarded to the most consistent golfer in club qualifying competitions throughout the season. Competitors must be over 18 years of age and have played in at least 20 of the competitions. The winner is the person who has the best playing record in relation to his handicap over the whole season and is measured by the best percentage number of rounds played at not more than 2 strokes over the SSS of the course (ie not more than a nett 74 or not less than 34 stableford points on the par 72 course).

The trophy is likely to be won by a low handicap golfer and the first winner in 2013 was Alastair Symington who reached the target in 14 out of his 20 qualifying rounds achieving a 70% record. On September 1, with less than a month to go, Alastair’s brother Ryan (-1) the lowest handicapped golfer is tied Norman McNellis (3). Both are on 68%. Richard McDermott (5), is in a group along with David McCallister (6), David Bolas (6) and Michael Leathem (4) who are all title challengers. However a number of other golfers could come into the reckoning with a good finish to the season. At the time of going to press, with only 5 possible qualifying competitions still to play, no one with less than 15 qualifying competitions played to date will be eligible for the trophy.