Devine display wraps up Ballycastle competition

Dennis, playing off eighteen, made his move on the back nine holes, which he covered in 39 shots to leave him one stroke clear of Peter Donnelly in second place.

Peter, playing off eight, had an excellent one under par back nine to help him finish ahead of Liam McGonigle, off fifteen, on count-back.

Two more fifteen handicappers, Liam McLaughlin and Vincent Dowds, finished fourth and fifth respectively after they both returned nett scores of 66.

Francis McGinn had the best gross score on Saturday with a one under par 70.

Patrick Dallat jnr took the second gross prize ahead of Rory Gallagher on count-back after both golfers carded two over par 73’s in the Peter Lamont Trophy.

Sunday’s September Medal was the final white marker stroke competition of the year and Niall Shivers, playing off twenty, saved the best ‘til last as he recorded a breathtaking nett 60, the lowest score of the season, to win by a mammoth six shots!

Second place on Sunday went to Sean McCormick, playing off eleven, who also managed to hit the jackpot at the 13th, making a remarkable hole-in-one at ‘Vincey’s Pitch’!

Paul Taggart, playing off ten, was third in the Medal with a nett 66, Gabriel McCollum was fourth on nett 67 and Rory Gallagher, with a magnificent eagle three at the final hole, finished in fifth place, also with a nett 67. Patrick Dallat jnr had the best gross score on Sunday with a level par round of 71.There was a McGarry one-two in the Midweek Open competition last week with Brendan finishing first with 44 points, one ahead of Conor in second place.

Patrick Dixon won third prize with 42points and Gerry Norwood finished fourth on a total of 40 points.

Patrick Dallat jnr clinched his second Golfer of the Year title at Ballycastle in the space of three years thankst his brilliant level par round in the final event on Sunday.

This score gave the two handicapper a nett 69 and the vital 15 points he needed to move to the top of the leaderboard.

Patrick Campbell and Owen Kennedy, the joint leaders going into the final weekend, will be disappointed not to have added to their totals in the last two events and they finished in a tie for second place, four points behind the winner.

Francis McGinn made a valiant effort over the weekend, collecting eight points on Saturday and three on Sunday but it wasn’t quite enough for this year’s Club Champion and he finished in fourth place, five points off the lead.

There was some consolation for Francis in the Winchester Challenge Bowl, awarded for the best gross scores in sixteen events throughout the season, as he romped to a most comprehensive of victories in this year’s competition.

Francis amassed 286 points out of a maximum available of 320 and he figured in the top three in no fewer than thirteen of the sixteen events in what has been a remarkably consistent season for the one handicapper.

Owen Kennedy finished a somewhat distant runner-up to Francis in the Winchester Bowl this year with Patrick Dallat jnr moving ahead of his brother Michael in the final couple of weeks to take third place overall.

The Casement Cup autumn match-play competition has now reached the semi-final stages at the club with Gerry Norwood taking on Liam McGarry in the top half of the draw and Patrick Dixon playing Angus Iliff in the other semi-final.

Next Saturday’s competition will be a Fourball Betterball and on Sunday, a Gents Stableford will take place. There are now just three weekends remaining before handicaps are frozen at Ballycastle with the Turkey, Ringer and Veteran competitions due to commence in the first weekend of October.