Lisburn lose in the Sam Rutherford semi final

Lisburn Golf Club’s last chance of winning an inter-club matchplay competition in 2014 disappeared into the sunset last Sunday evening in the second leg of the semi-final of the Sam Rutherford Trophy.
Lisburn's Sam Rutherford team. From left to right: C. Budd, I. Leathem, A. Parr, M. Jamison, R. Kernaghan, P. Watters, D. Armstrong and C. Hill.Lisburn's Sam Rutherford team. From left to right: C. Budd, I. Leathem, A. Parr, M. Jamison, R. Kernaghan, P. Watters, D. Armstrong and C. Hill.
Lisburn's Sam Rutherford team. From left to right: C. Budd, I. Leathem, A. Parr, M. Jamison, R. Kernaghan, P. Watters, D. Armstrong and C. Hill.

The competition is in greensomes format with all matches playing the full 18 holes and result depending on overall holes score.

Trailing by 7 holes to their opponents Mannan Castle following the first leg in Co. Monaghan the task did not seem insurmountable. After 9 holes of the return leg, Lisburn seemed to be in command of the situation with Ivan Leathem & Colin Hill 3 up, Mark Jamison & Andy Parr 2 up and Randal Kernaghan & Paul Watters 4up. Chris Budd & David Armstrong were playing well but lost holes 8& 9 to consecutive birdies to trail 1 down. At that stage Lisburn were leading the overall tie by one hole.

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In the homeward 9 holes, Ivan & Colin lost 4 holes in succession to go one down but fought back to square their match. Mark and Andy were never behind but had quite a tussle losing the seventeenth to go all square. They came good in the end winning 1 up. Although Chris and David were 2 down after 12 they fought back to win 1 up and but for a double hit on hole 17 they could have been 2 up.

The situation, with 3 matches in, left Lisburn needing to win the last match by 5 holes to force a play off over tie holes. Unfortunately the final Lisburn pairing, who had moved to 6 up after 14 holes, lost 3 holes on the trot to be only 3 holes up with one to play. A win for Lisburn being mathematically impossible, Mannan Castle won the overall tie by two holes to move on to the final.

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