Duddy doesit at Prehen

Scoring was hot with break of ties needed to sort out eight of the ten prizes on offer.

Top of the pile was Martin Duddy (15) with 34 points. Martin’s game was the epitome of steadiness as he surged out in 21 points and cruised back adding a further 13 points on the closing five holes for his 34 point total to run out a winner by a single point.

Vincent Boyle (17), John Rosborough (9), John Flynn (11) and Maurice Quigg (14) all carded 33 points and needed back nine tie breakers to place them second to fifth respectively.

The pick of the bunch on the outward nine was the 22 points of Flynn while Rosborough learned from his mistakes of last week and took great care in returning his scorecard to maximise his Golfer of the Year points.

The late flower of the group was Maurice Quigg whose 18 points for the opening holes was modest in current scoring standards but his 14 point return was a late blossom worth waiting for.

Four players also carded 32 point totals to take the spots six through nine in the competition. Jeremy Thatcher (12) beat the rest of the cast on a back nine tie break, Graham Hepburn (4) continued his rise to top spot in Golfer of the Year, Brian McClelland (10) was his steady competitive self and Vincent Morrison (12) continued his recent fine form. Peter Cassidy (11) found that his 31 point total was enough to take the tenth prize on offer.

In the race to be Golfer of the Year Sean Coyle found his game was out of tune in the eighth outing and slumped disasterously from first to a lowly sixth place.

As predicted last week the trio of the experienced and hungry for glory Graham Hepburn, the young buck seeking to make a name for himself James Desmond and the old head on older shoulders Eamon McCourt all consolidated their positions and relegated Coyle to the lower bands!

But there is a long time to go in this race and plenty of time to recover from bad mistakes.

This race to 2012 is open, intense and sure to thrill in the coming months.

While Saturday’s Confined Stableford at Prehen attracted a large entry given the glorious golfing conditions.

By the end of the day it was the hardy Jim McCann (10) who triumphed in the contest but he required a back nine break of tie to seal the prize. On the outward nine McCann tamed his renowned hook to card a steady 22 points but, just a couple of groups behind him Tony Murray (17) was blasting his way to a front nine tally of no less than 24 points.

At this point Murray looked to be bringing home the bacon while McCann looked certain to be missing the door to success once again. But the back nine proved tough for Murray as the pressure mounted.

With the competition virtually sown up he inexplicably drove his ball out of bounds on the last hole and consequently lost the BOT finished second.

Meanwhile McCann comfortably made par on the last, carded the best nine holes of the contenders and lifted first prize with 33 points.

Paul Gillespie (11) carded 32 points to lift third place on break of tie from Dennis O’Connell(18) who finished on the same score.

John Chambers had reason to celebrate on Saturday when he holed out his tee shot on the notoriously difficult Par 3, Billy’s. In the Chambers Concrete Winter League it looks virtually certain that Team B – ably led by Graham Hepburn – are uncatchable.

At this stage it seems set in stone that they will triumph but even a sixty point lead can vanish if complacency set in and three others teams are set to pounce on the slightest error by the leaders!

Meanwhile James Desmond (15) came out on top once again in the weekly Thursday Society competition, his second win in four outings.

On the most inclement of days when only 26 hardy souls ventured out, his superbly compiled 34 points gave him a two shot winning margin over second placed George Curry (9) with Ricky Porter (12) a further shot behind taking the third and final spot.