The mild weather brings out plenty of golfers at Lisburn GC

Martin Blakely, Ricky Leathem and Stephen Jeffers after their round at Lisburn.

Even with the fifth tee moved forward only one competitor scored 23 points with six finishing on 21. For the first time in ages there were no birdie twos.

The shorter fifth hole with the pin placed near the front on the narrow green yielded nine birdie threes.

As usual the long par four seventh proved the most difficult hole on the front nine. Ivan Leathem was the only competitor to register a three at this hole while Richard McDermott open his round with an eagle three at the first.

A run of three pars from the third helped Michael Patterson (18) to 23 points. He was the top scorer and a clear winner of Division 2. Stephen Wilkinson (18), Peter Cairns (18), Mervyn Mawhinney (14) and David Megrath (19) finished two points in arrears.

Stephen was the only one from this group to finish with two pars. The others finished with two bogeys to leave Stephen second on count-back.

Simon Ingram (8), John Boyd (10) and Brian Patterson (13) tied at the top of Division 1 with 21 points. John’s two pulled his second shots at the two par fives into the trees. This resulted in a double bogey seven at the first and a six at the eighth. This gave Simon top spot on the better finish over the last three holes with John second on the last six.

Billy Hawthorn (28) won Division 3 with 20 points. He had one point to spare over Chris Warwick (21) and Norman Allen (28). All three finished rather weakly. Billy and Norman both finished seven, five while Chris finished with two sixes. Norman’s ‘ding’ at the short sixth left him in third place on count-back.

Wednesday Stableford - David McCallister won the Wednesday Stableford with 24 points over the front nine holes. Michael Maxwell and Ricky Leathem were joint second on 23. There were only two twos. Ricky Leathem had an eagle two at the fifth while Brian Houston had a birdie two at the fourth.

A large number of members and their friends attended a Fine Dine Evening to celebrate Valentine’s Night. Jane had the clubhouse suitably decorated for the occasion. After an excellent meal those present were entertained to music from the Perfect Strangers. There was a pleasant surprise during the interval when club members Val and Lesley Potter presented all the ladies with magnificent sprays of orchids.