Mark equals the course record at Ballycastle

Mark covered his first nine holes in one under par 35 before reeling off six birdies in a blistering back nine of 29!

Astonishingly, this is the second occasion that he has carded this score at Ballycastle, as he is the current course record holder thanks to a 64 produced during Open Week in 2007.

Not surprisingly, Mark’s nett score of 61 placed him first in the June Medal on Saturday but only by a couple of shots from Eamon Dornan, playing off eleven, who completed his round in three over par for a nett 63. Third place in the medal went to Gerry McConville with a nett 65, Steven McGarry was fourth with a nett 66 and James McNeill took the fifth nett prize with a 67. The 1st gross prize on Saturday went to John Callan for his one under par round of 70 with Patrick Dallat taking the 2nd gross prize with a level par 71.

The open stableford competition on Sunday was won by Gareth Curran from Gracehill Golf Club with 41pts. Gareth’s haul of 24 points on the back nine was vital as it gave him the edge over Michael Dallat jnr. and Victor Young on count back. Brendan Black took fourth place with 40 points and Rory McCormick was the gross prize winner with 35 points.

Congratulations go to Ballycastle’s Mixed Foursomes team for their victory over Kilrea in an epic match played at Greenacres on Saturday. Wins for the pairings of Vincent Dowds and Joan Wisener and Danny Taggart and Jenny Parkhill coupled with defeats for Seamus Killough and Susan Crawford and Hugh Sayers and Liz Dowds had left the match evenly balanced at 2-2. Things weren’t looking good for Ballycastle in the final match as Colm Hendrie and Doreen Reid were three down with five to play but they rallied superbly and Doreen holed vital putts on the final two greens to send Ballycastle through to the last sixteen.

The Marine Hotel Cup will be held at the club next Saturday 12th June and the following day’s competition will be a stableford to raise funds for the MS Society.

A reminder to members that the timesheets for this year’s Duncarbit Cup go online at 4pm on Thursday 10th June. The stableford format for this competition remains the same as last year with 18 holes played on Saturday and 18 holes played on Sunday. There is an overall prize fund of 750 this year and further competition details can be found on the club notice board.