Practice makes perfect for Brian at Lambeg GC

This competition was sponsored by The Beechlawn Hotel, where the club always hold their Captain’s Day prizegiving dinner.

Brian has been seen practicing quite a bit recently and it has certainly paid off with a fantastic birdie at the first hole.

A disappointing “no score” at the par 3 fifth set him back but he recovered with high scoring pars at 6, 7, and 8.

Further pars at 13 and 14 built up the points and he finished a clear winner on 44pts.

Last week’s winner Ernie McAleenan (13) continued his fine form with another blistering round and finished with 42 pts. Ernie got off to the worst possible start with a triple bogey on the first, but a brilliant run of nine pars and one single bogey over the last ten holes fairly accummalated the points. David Porter (17) also finished on 42 pts pars at the 5th, 6th and 7th a long with a birdie at the 8th put him in a strong position at the turn and playing steady but it was the double bogey on the last that turned out to be the deciding factor and he lost out on the countback. John Oakes (8) won the Best Gross 71.

Ritchie Gorman Kitchen Design sponsored last week’s competition which started with the first four-ball teeing off at 6.20am. Lambeg Ladies were holding their Charity Day and as this is always very well supported by visitors from other clubs, the gents moved their tee-times to accommodate.

The early tee-off times didn’t put many off as there was still a very good turn-out and it certainly didn’t affect Aaron Smylie (23) when he played the game of his life, returning with 44 pts to win outright. Aaron had a bit of a mixture on the front nine with double and triple bogeys in the mix but four pars gave him a reasonable points tally. The back nine was steadier and with another four pars accompanied with a birdie at the 16th he soon reached that winning score of 44pts.

Mark Neeson (19) had no less than seven pars on the front nine and was well in the hunt but the back nine was more up and down and he didn’t just score as well but still managed to finish on 43 pts and take second place. Third place was won by the ever steady Darren Mc Shane who won the President’s Cup recently.

Darren hit four pars and birdies at the second and the seventh to keep well in touch with the leaders. After hitting another four pars and nothing worse than a single bogey in the back nine, he finished with 42 pts and the third prize. John Oakes won the Best Gross again with a brilliant 69 which include 3 birdies.