IN THE SWING WITH IVAN McDONALD

A stunning 43 points from eight handicap Mark O’Connor took the honours at Castlerock GC at the weekend. He blanked the par five fifth but his birdie two at nine got him to 19 points at the turn. His scoring was such that, on the return nine, even two one pointers couldn’t prevent him scoring 24 points! Eleven and twelve fell to birdies, the fifteenth gave up an eagle three and the seventeenth added another birdy. Two under for the nine and 24 points scored left Mark three up on the rest, the best of which was Victor Eakin, playing off 20, on 40 points. He had logged 21 out and followed this up with another steady 19 for his 40 total.

Low Section topper was David McMullan with 39 points off nine handicap. Birdies at tow and seven levelling up his blank at five got David to 20 out. David bettered his handicap on the way back without scoring any further birdies and carded another 19. Aidan Thompson hit forty points off eighteen for his win in the High section. Aidan birdied the “Burn” and added a two at the ninth to grab 22 points out. A handicap matching 18 followed coming back to secure his prize. John Connor’s 38 points got him his prize as best scoring “oldie”.

David Turner’s 34 ‘scratch’ points won him the best gross for the day. He was one over par for the opening nine and did the same for the closing nine signing for a 75.

Andrew hooks Fisherman’s Cup

Andrew Horne scored 41 points off his fifteen handicap to get silverware on Saturday at Portstewart GC. His start was not good, no points from the opening hole, but the recovery was special as he dropped just four shots to the turn to score 19 points. The back nine was even better as Andrew played it in three over par for another 22. That strong back nine proved invaluable as Andrew tied with Club Captain Malcolm Glover on 41.

The Captain had 18 back so he was edged into runners up spot. His 23 points out represents a front nine of four over par but a blank at eleven, coupled with a single pointer at the short fifteenth, pegged him back a little and eighteen back was the result. Jim Lenfesty took the top spot in the Low Section with 37 points. He had seventeen points from the outward nine but boosted this by 20 coming back. In the high Section it was John Rowan taking a bow on 39. His very steady scoring was interrupted twice by blanks, at eight and seventeen.

Ansley Stewart took another Best Gross for his score of 73. A birdie four at the long seventh was followed by an eagle two at the par four ninth! Ansley was out in two over par and came back in one over with his birdie three at sixteen being counterbalanced by bogies at thirteen and seventeen.

147 SNOOKER CLUB OPEN STABLEFORD

Chris Millen topped this day’s play at Bushfoot GC with a score of 44 points from his five handicap. It’s not often a low handicap player can get to these lofty heights in a stableford event and this one is even more surprising as Chris only scored at seventeen holes! He blanked the first but dropped just a single shot for the other eight on a front nine that gave up 20 points. Ten and twelve took shots off him but he dismissed this as he then birdied fourteen and sixteen to get back in level par for another 24 points. Robert Peacock was closest to Chris on 41 off 26. Two steady nines of 21 and 20 got Robert one in front of Nigel Shannon on 40. Keith McCrum from the Lisburn club claimed the Visitor’s prize with his 39 points and Alan Stevens from Spa GC took the honours in the Best Gross for his round of one under par.

JNG AGENCIES OPEN STROKE

Eighteen handicapper Peter Carson hit a gross eighty at Bushfoot which nets down to a great 62 and won him the JNG Open Stroke event. Jim Lane was one back on 63 off fifteen and JohnCreighton took third on 64 from his mark of fourteen. Trevor McKendry took the gross prize with a 71 while Robert Murphy from Portstewart GC got he Visitor’s Prize for his net 68 off eight.

JULIE WINS LADIES OPEN

Julie Wilson, playing off seventeen, scored 43 points to win the Ladies Open Stableford by a massive five points from Helen Downey on 38. Beverly Watton, Margaret Rogan and Diane Stuart (Castlerock) took the next slots and Alice Trufelli won the gross with 29 points.

TWO MAN SCRAMBLE

This event was won by Damian Clyde and David Gilliland, with a 4.5 handicap, on a score of 57.5 They hit two eagles and four birdies in winning. Trevor McKendry teamed up with Owen Crooks to score a net 59 off two for second place and had nine birds on their card. David Jennings and Derek McFaull took third place.

Chris finds the formula

Chris Bradley found the ideal build up to winning a cup at Rathmore, a week’s golfing in Spain followed by three hours listening to Bruce Springsteen! All of that meant 40 points for Chris at Rathmore’s McIntyre Cup and he won it by a single point. He even blanked six and eleven in doing this. Apart from the blank at six Chris scored very well on the way out, birdying the par four ninth to get 22 points on the card. No more birdies on the return leg but steady scoring added 18 for his 40 points and kept Chris on e in front of Davis McKay.

David had 20 points from the front nine to build on and he did so with a birdie four at ten. A few shots slipped away after this an 19 points was added but this was one short of victory but good enough to get second spot from the tie break with Mal Irwin and Bradley Hunter who matched David’s 39. Stephen Dunlop hit 38 for fifth place.

Ben Best was the Gross Winner with a level par round of 70. One and six were birdied on the way out and thirteen, sixteen and eighteen on the way in.

Victory Cup win for Michael

The Victory Cup is Royal Portrush event staged over the Dunluce and Valley links. Michael Ferris took the trophy this year with a net 141 for the day. The five handicapper covered the Valley Links in 72, two over par, and then scored a gross 79 over the Dunluce links. Jamie Richardson was just one shot back over the 36 holes. His level par round on the Valley included three consecutive birdies and an eagle three. He added just one shot over par on the Dunluce section with a 73 for 142. Best Gross for the Dunluce Course was won by Simon Lyttle with his 76 while the best nett for it went to Andrew Mulholland for his 72 nett. Johnathen Hamilton took the honours at the Valley for his nett 66.

Ballycastle Open Week draws to a close

The fine weather conditions continued for the second part of Ballycastle Open Week and a large field was out on Monday 15th to compete for the prizes sponsored by McNamara Home Furnishing. Andrew Dillon (2) from Carrickfergus took top spot on 42 points just pipping Neil McAuley (14) on the last six holes. In Section One Francis Og McGinn (12) was the winner on 41 points while Garth Beckett picked up his second prize of the week in Section Two also with 41 points.

The Vice Captain David Lamont took the Section Three honours on 40 points while the gross prizes were won by Francis McGinn (2) and Harry Sheehan (7) with Oran Kearney taking the junior prize on 39 points. Tuesday saw the Open Gents Stroke competition sponsored by the Dallat Group and this time Neil McAuley went one better taking the first place with a nett 63 just ahead of Jason Lorimer from Galgorm Castle on 64 and Niall McGarry third on nett 65.

The first gross prize was picked up by Rory Gallagher on 70 with Patrick Dallat Jnr and brother Peter picking up the second and third gross prizes on 70 and 72 respectively. Young Diarmaid McShane (14) lifted the stableford prize with an excellent 40 points. Visitors took the top two prizes in Wednesday competition sponsored by Anzac Wines & Spirits, with Stephen Bateson (4) Moyola Park just pushing Paul Lambe (12) Balmoral into 2nd place after both had finished on 42 points. The section prizes were won by James McNeill with 42, David McMullan 41, and Dessie Higgins 42 points. The first gross prize also went to a Moyola Park visitor Mark Hammond (1), with Peter Dallat in 2nd place.
The Junior Open on Thursday had prizes kindly provided by Stephen Watson and Diarmaid McShane continued his good form from the Tuesday to win the Section One for 0-18 handicaps with 43 points. Niall McNaughton Cushendall was 2nd on 42 points and Declan McAuley 3rd on 41 points. Michael McHenry won Section Two for the 19-38 handicaps with a splendid 47 points ahead of Ronan Agnew on 43 points, and Conor Boyd 3rd also on 43 points.

The final competition of open week was the Ladies Stableford on Friday sponsored by Northern Road Markings and Mary McErlean lead the way with 39 points. In 2nd place Susan Davidson from Gracehill scored 33 points while Yvonne Spiers from Warrenpoint was 3rd on 32 points just pushing Mary T McKeirnan into 4th place also on 32 points. Fiona McCombe was winner of the gross prize.

Saturday’s Glens of Antrim Cup saw Dennis Allen (13) have a dream day, going round on three over par gross to record a nett 61 and take first place from Vincent Miskelly (6) who scored a nett 67.