McCann wins Louis Sweeney Cup after sensational round

Jim McCann was the winner of the Louis Sweeney Cup at Ballycastle Golf Club on St. Patrick’s Day with a phenomenal score of 47 points.

Playing off twenty-five, Jim accumulated an incredible total of 26 points on the front nine despite not registering a score at the first hole!

Jim completed his astonishing round with a birdie at the final hole to give him a three shot victory ahead of Eamon McIlroy in second place.

Eamon, playing off twelve, made a blistering start to his round with three birdies in the first five holes and he collected the runner-up prize with a score of 44 points.

Third place on St. Patrick’s Day went to seventeen handicapper Ciaran Killough whose score of 42 points included a brilliant series of birdies at the fifteenth, sixteenth and eighteenth holes.

Allan McCook, playing off twenty, recovered superbly from a poor start to finish fourth on 42 points with Patrick Dixon, playing off twelve, also recording 42 points to pick up the fifth place prize.

In the gross competition, John Callan was the winner ahead of Francis McGinn in second place after both golfers recorded one under par 70’s.

The tremendous scoring continued in Sunday’s Fourball Betterball competition with brothers Conor and Niall McGarry winning with a total of 48 points.

Playing off twelve and fourteen respectively, Conor and Niall recorded 24 points on each nine with Conor picking up a birdie at the tenth and Niall collecting birdies at the seventh and sixteenth holes.

Second place in the competition went to the Club Captain Robin McHugh and Terry McNamara with a score of 47 points.

Robin, fresh from leading his team to victory in Winter League, had birdies at the sixth, eighth and thirteenth with Terry, fresh from leading his team to the wooden spoons, making birdies at the fifth and seventeenth holes!

Harry Sheehan and Paul Taggart also made five birdies between them as they finished in third place with a total of 46 points.

In the Ladies Fourball Betterball competition, Liz Dowds and Doreen Reid were the winners with a total of 37 points.

Paul Devlin won the Midweek Open stableford competition played at Ballycastle on Wednesday 14th March with a fine score of 43 points for the eighteen holes.

Paul McKillen finished in second place with 42 points and Wallace McKeeman from Gracehill Golf Club was third, also with a score of 42 points.

Stableford competitions will be held at the club on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th March and a threeball/fourball scramble is scheduled for Saturday 31st March.

On Sunday 1st April, the first handicap qualifying competition of the year takes place.

The Mary Peters Trust Charity Stableford competition will be played off white markers with the winner going on to represent the club in the regional finals at Lisburn.

Members will be pleased to learn that the GUI have agreed to increase the standard scratch score at Ballycastle to 69 for white markers and 68 for green marker competitions during the season.