Early start brings winning card for Kathleen

Nelson trophy.

Kathleen is one of the early morning golfers and encouraged by her playing partners, Jennifer Magowan and Geraldine Hickland, she put together a very steady card to record a magnificent score of 40 pts. Kathleen will be delighted to not only have won the competition but to have two shots cut off her handicap.

The gross prize went to the consistent Niamh Ward with a score of 30 gross pts.

Niamh had three birdies in her round but unfortunately also had two doubles, one on seventeen, which left a bad taste in her mouth but all the signs are there that Niamh is going to come up with a low round soon.

The sections were different this week as it was a qualifying event for an ILGU competition so the section 1 winner was Cara Murphy with 34 pts. Cara is certainly

playing her way into a bit of form and had a very tidy four over par on the back nine.

Cara just beat Sian Mulholland, on the back nine, despite a lovely run of one over par on the last five holes for Sian, but she will be regretting the double she took at the

short tenth which will have cost her a prize.

Section 2 went to Christine Hagan with 36 pts. Christine has been very steady this year and it is surely only a matter of time before she comes in with a big score and the

resulting handicap reduction. Christine gave up a lot of her time off last week to go for practice rounds to Galgorm and Warrenpoint so winning her section is just reward.

Betty McKavanagh and Maeve Cummins just missed out in this section by one point.

The club has been waiting on Betty to continue the run of McKavanagh’s in the winners circle and she very nearly made it this week.

Section 3 was won by Amanda Lyness with 40 pts. Amanda was one of the winners in the weekend’s matches and it has obviously spurred her on to play well.

Amanda lost out on first place on the back nine and a closer look at her card shows that she seemed to run out of steam on the last half dozen holes so maybe the

excitement from the weekend caught up with her. Another score worthy of note is one of the winner’s from Sunday’s open, Eileen McCann, who had 38 pts, so while not in

the prizes, it is great to see Eileen playing well after her injury during the winter.

Last Friday the Ladies contested their April Medal competition and there is something about the monthly medals that seems to bring out the low scoring in the

ladies section. Last month it took a 64 to win the A section and this month Maeve Cummins went one better and finished with a net 63. Maeve, and the rest of the

ladies, will be delighted to know that she has lost three shots off her handicap and is down to fifteen.

The only fly in the ointment could be in the Cummins’ household where there is a very real danger that mum, Fiona, could be relegated to having the highest handicap in the house before too long. Well done to Maeve, a great score.

Lady Vice Captain, Pam Graham, is proving to be a bit of an expert at monthly medals and made it two from two by winning the B section with a net 72. Pam wasn’t looking forward to braving the cold and wet this morning, but once she got going she obviously found it not too bad, as she completed a very steady card.

Lady’s Secretary, Clare McGourty, was beaten in this section, on the better back nine, but Clare is playing lovely golf and her turn will surely come before too long.