John recovers well to take the win at Lambeg

Judging by the results quite a few players took advantage of the better conditions, with more than 32 coming in with par or better.

Eastwood Estate Agents sponsored this week’s Stableford competition and it was John McArdel who took the first prize with a great score of 44 pts.

John didn’t get off to the best of starts, although he started with par at the first, a bogey and a double bogey at two and three set him back but he soon recovered parring four of the next five holes, his only blemish was a bogey at the par three 5.

Although he didn’t score at the ninth he still made the turn with 21 pts.

A double bogey at ten was another set back but once again he steadied himself and scored pars at the next four holes.

Three single bogeys and a par on the last four gave John 23 pts for the back nine and a total of 44 pts for a well deserved win.

John’s win is an impressive one, given the tricky nature of the Aberdelghy course.

The course has seen many changes through the years, starting as a 9 hole course, then another 9 were added. Small compared to some of the golf courses in the area, it has a lot of tree-lined fairways and tree plantations, with some new bunkers having been added to increase its difficult nature.

Second place was a much more competitive result with no less than three players finishing on 42pts but it was Colin Higgins (20) who took the spoils with the better back nine.

Two double bogeys and two pars in the front nine gave Colin 18 pts but as mentioned, it was the back nine were he scored, parring six of the nine holes. One double bogey at the tenth was his only slip-up.

Beaten into third place by the count-back was Tony Hamilton (15) and it was double bogeys at index one and two along with a no score at hole four that was his undoing after completing the back nine with a brilliant seven pars.

Losing out completely from the prizes and finishing fourth was Tommy Coulter (12) and Tommy was very unlucky after playing an amazing round of steady golf. Twelve par holes and only four single bogeys were spoiled with a big eight at the relatively easy 7th hole and to be fair he did not drop the head, going on to score a birdie at the next hole.

Best gross was won by Ivor Harron 69. Next week’s Stableford competition is sponsored by Lisburn Fuels.