Lisburn members attend GUI Centenary Dinner

LAST Thursday, ten Lisburn members attended the Celebration Dinner to mark the Centenary of the founding of the Ulster Branch of the Golfing Union of Ireland.

The dinner was held in Belfast City Hall where the Rt. Hon, the Lord Mayor, Alderman Gavin Robinson welcomed the 400 guests. After a five course dinner the toast to the Golfing Union of Ireland was proposed by Albert Lee, the Hon. Secretary. Presentations from the GUI, the Professional Golfers Association and the Irish Ladies Golf Union followed.

Other speeches were made by the Chairman of the Ulster Branch (G.U.I.) – Peter Sinclair, the First Minister of the N.I. Assembly – the Right Hon. Peter Robinson MLA, the President Elect of the GUI – Ivor McCandless (Lisburn), and the Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews – Pierre Bechmann. Gene Fitzpatrick completed the proceedings in his own inimitable style. A very enjoyable evening ended shortly after midnight.

Following regional finals a Centenary Competition, open to all Ulster Branch clubs, will be held at Royal Belfast, the oldest golf club in Ireland. A centenary tie, costing £10, is available to members of any club affiliated to the GUI. An eBook and limited edition hardback centenary book will be available later in the year.

The cold damp conditions early on Saturday morning gave way to sunshine in the early afternoon for the EMO Winter League. As the weather improved so did the scoring with Ricky Leathem (5) and Sepp Zwahlen (14) leading the field on 21 points.

Ricky won Section 1 by two points from Noel Robinson (8) and Christian Kennedy (4) with Noel’s better finish securing second place. Sepp finished three points ahead of David Whelan (15) and William Friars (15) in Section 3. On count-back David was placed second.

There was a triple tie on at the top of Section 2: David McDowell (11), Ivor McCandless and Ryan Chambers (10) all scored 19 points. David was declared the winner ahead of Ivor with Ryan third.

Jim Lockhart (21) was a clear winner of Section 4 with 19 points, one ahead of Joe Davey (19) with Wesley Haslett (19) third on 17.

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