Thomas Surge-s to the top in Gribben memorial competition

The Jimmy Gribben Memorial competition produced the best scoring in a Saturday competition at Ballymena Golf Club this term.
C. Anderson, Davy Black, Mark Jackson and Neil Courtney about to start a round at Ballymena Golf Club. INBT40-237ACC. Anderson, Davy Black, Mark Jackson and Neil Courtney about to start a round at Ballymena Golf Club. INBT40-237AC
C. Anderson, Davy Black, Mark Jackson and Neil Courtney about to start a round at Ballymena Golf Club. INBT40-237AC

The winning total of 42 points came from Thomas Surgenor who, playing off 17, produced equal nines of 21 points.

Having parred four of the opening nine holes, he shed a shot at five others to be out in five over gross.

The second nine began and ended with two pars, with the five holes in between producing bogeys plus a double bogey at the 12th.

Crucially, Thomas also had the better last six hole score of 14 points against Jonathan Law, who also managed 42 points, but only 13 of them over those last six holes. Playing off four, Jonathan’s round included five birdies.

Derek Francey took the third nett prize with the best of the 41 point returns and the 15-handicapper made no mistake over the second nine, where he accumulated 23 points.

That was enough to see off Chris Ramsey who scored 21 points over the closing nine holes, but a birdie at the last helped him rubber-stamp fourth place ahead of Cameron Horner.

The eight-handicapper was well-placed after scoring 23 points on the opening nine but he wasn’t able to maintain that high standard after the turn.

Nevertheless, the 18 points he managed on the way back was better than sixth-placed Peter Smith (16) who, after scoring a bumper 25 points on the first nine, fell away badly on the homeward stretch, where he could only manage 16 points.

Gary Black continued his tremendous run of form and he showed why his handicap has been cut to one as he again returned the best gross card, with a score of five under par 63 shots.

SUNDAY OPEN

The Sunday open stableford was won by five-handicapper Paddy Kearney wit ha total of 41 points after a level par round.

Runner-up was 12-handicapper Chris McCrory who notched equal nines of 20 points but a dropped shot on the final hole proved costly as a par would have seen him take overall victory over the last six holes.

The best gross card came from six-handicapper Gerard Rafferty who played the course in four over par, which included a triple bogey on the par four 11th.

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