Slieve Russell plays host to John Ervine Memorial Outing

The 62nd Annual John Ervine Memorial Outing took place last week. The venue this time was the championship course at Slieve Russell in County Cavan.

David McCabe, as per usual, had everything organised to perfection. He cannot control the weather but thankfully, it was fine.

Day 0ne was Monday and the scoring was excellent. Slieve Russell is a long course and the greens are very tricky. They are extremely fast and full of hidden borrows.

Nevertheless, Walter Smyth managed to score 38 points. John Redpath had 37, Verdun Bond 35, John Poots 34, Wallace Henry 33, Albert Morrison 32, Roy Rankin 32, Sherwin Curran 31 and Joe Whiteside 31.

Walter Smyth was looking for his sixth win in this event and he certainly got off to the best of starts. But there were still two rounds to go and anything could happen.

The high standard of scoring was maintained on day two, Tuesday. Joe Whiteside led the way with 36 points. John Poots had 34, Norman Doak 33, Roy Rankin 33, Wallace Henry 33, Brian Parkes 31, John Molloy 30, Walter Smyth 30 and John Redpath 30.

The leaders, after two rounds, were Walter Smyth and John Poots, both on 68 points.

John Redpath and Joe Whiteside were only one point behind, each with 67 points.

Others still in contention were Wallace Henry on 66 points, Roy Rankin on 65, Verdun Bond on 64 and Brian Parkes on 60. It was all to play for on day three, Wednesday. There were a few nervous faces on the first tee.

Norman Doak hit top form and he had the best score, 36 points.

Joe Whiteside and Sherwin Curran both had 32 points. Wallace Henry and Walter Smyth both finished with 31 points. Conditions were not easy and that may explain why so many players failed to reach the 30 points target. When the three rounds were totalled, Joe Whiteside and Walter Smyth were level, 99 points each. Wallace Henry had 97, John Poots and Roy Rankin both had 93, and John Redpath had 92.

The final round decided the winner. Joe Whiteside’s 32 points was one better than Walter Smyth. Joe was presented with the John Ervine Memorial Cup for the second time. He had won it previously in 2009.

The other prizes were awarded as follows:

HIGH SECTION: 1st, John Poots 93 points; 2nd, Norman Doak 89; 3rd Albert Morrison 85.

LOW SECTION: 1st, Joe Whiteside 99; 2nd, Walter Smyth 99; 3rd, Wallace Henry 97.

Once again, it was a most enjoyable trip. Many thanks to David McCabe for organising everything and heartiest congratulations to Joe Whiteside on winning the cup. The talk has already started about next year’s outing. If you have never been away on one of these outings, you don’t know what you’re missing.

Put my name down, Davy!