Hinds secures impressive double at City of Derry

A level par round of 71 was good enough to give him victory by one shot from Saturday’s Stephen McKeegan (5) finished in third place with a well compiled 38 points, a significant help in his quest to win the City of Derry Building Society Order of Merit, a competition that is entering a very exciting period and will probably go right to the wire before the winner is eventually decided.

Shane Kelly (20) was best of the day in The Danske Bank sponsored Open at Prehen on Saturday with a well compiled 40 points that left him one clear of the chasing pack.

Three players returned 39 points with Tony Murray (24) clinching second place courtesy of the tie break going in his favour, a remarkable achievement considering his run of one point over four holes in the middle of his round.

Paul McLaughlin (7) finished in third place just ahead of fourth placed Les Dickson (9) thanks to his better last six holes.

Colin Jeffrey (6) took the fifth and final net prize with his 38 points on a tie break. Cormac McGeady (3) from Foyle who is a regular visitor to Prehen had a fine 37 points for the visitor’s prize.

Ernie Heywood (0) was best of the low men with 35 gross points.

In the Junior section of the competition the scoring was white hot, the first two in that category having no less than 91 stableford points between them. Andrew Dickson (14) scored an incredible 47 points to finish three clear of the runner up Jordan Dunn (12).

Tremendous performance by both lads and certainly great encouragement for the future of Junior golf at Prehen. Andrew incidentally is the son of Les Dickson who finished in fourth place in the main competition.

Prehen Members are reminded once again that the President’s (John Hasson) Scramble takes place tomorrow (Wednesday) at 5.30pm.

On Thursday the club are hosting a special Fleadh Ceoil Thursday Open with a warm welcome for visitors assured and then on Saturday John Hasson has his President’s Day.

Further details are available on the club’s website at www.cityofderrygolfclub.com.

Eighty one year old Wilf Abel (26) once again proved more than a match for his much younger opponents by taking first place in the weekly Thursday Open at Prehen. He scored 19 points on the front nine and he followed that up with a very impressive 24 points (despite even blanking one hole) on the back nine gave him victory but only after surviving a tie break with the runner up Kyle Wray (27).

Liam Flanagan (22) has been knocking on the door for a prize recently and finally secured a place on the podium with his 40 points for third place. Kealan Quigg (+1) had 40 points for another facile gross prize win that included no less than 3 three putt greens leaving plenty of room for improvement.

Best of the visitors was Gerard Harvey (14) from Greencastle with 38 points and Stuart Walker (34) won the Junior prize with 45 points and will be playing off a much lower handicap as a reward for his great score.

Lady Captain R McAnulla held her Captain’s Charity Open in aid of MS last Tuesday at Prehen, with G Laird (16) with 38 points claiming first place at a break of tie finish.

Second was N Quigg (3) who also scored 38 points and M Gillespie (35) with 37 points was third. The gross winner was V Houston who scored 29 points.

G Crossan (13) with 19 points won the front nine and P Rutherford (21) with 20 points was best on the back nine and North West member A McCloskey (15) with 36 points won the visitor’s prize.

Meanwhile City of Derry junior members will play tomorrow for Mr John Hasson’s Presidents Prize. Tee off times are from 11am to 12noon.