McCaughan wins Glandore Cup

A cold easterly wind coupled with hard, bouncy conditions under foot made scoring extremely challenging and only 3 golfers managed to play to their handicap out of a total entry of more than 130.

In the end, Conleth’s back nine was just about good enough to fend off the challenge of runner-up Gerard McCloskey with Colin Millar also returning a nett 71 to pick up the section two handicap prize.

Eleven handicapper Steven McGarry won the section one prize with a nett 72, the section three handicap prize went to Dungannon visitor Peter Hughes with a nett 74 and the Glandore Cup gross prizes were awarded to Mel Carleton for a 77 and Patrick Dallat jnr for a 78.

The traditional Easter Open Mixed Foursomes competition took place at the club with the visiting partnership of Ronan and Bronagh McCoy picking up the only two on their way to victory with a total of 36 points.

Second place went to Michael and Heather Page with 35 points and Paul O’Donoghue teamed up successfully with his mother-in-law Margaret McWhirter to finish in third place also with 35 points.

The Gents Open stableford competition was captured by fourteen handicapper David Higgins with a superb total of 45 points. Billy Rooney won the section one prize with 40 points, Kieran Kelly was victorious in section two also with 40 points, Tommy Devlin won section three with 41 points and John Callan had the best gross of the day with a 73.

Sunday’s Open stableford competition proved to be a memorable one for the young Kilgore brothers with sixteen handicapper David the overall winner with an excellent 44 points and Harry, playing off eighteen, the section three winner with a total of 42 points.

Paul Surgenor picked up the section one prize on Saturday with 39 points, Lawrence McQuillan won the section two prize with 41 points and Patrick Dallat jnr had the best gross with a 73.

There was an excellent entry for Wednesday’s Open stableford competition and some excellent scoring too with twenty handicapper Michael McAfee carding birdies at the ninth and tenth holes en route to victory with a total of 44 points.

Kieran Kelly, playing off fifteen, birdied the final two holes to finish in second place on 41 points and four handicapper John Callan was third, also with 41 points.

John birdied the sixteenth and eagled the first but it was his hole-in-one at the 300 yard par four eighth that will surely live longest in the memory! The qualifying weekend for the summer match-play competitions at Ballycastle also saw fantastic scoring as Martin McGuigan, playing off twenty, produced a sensational score of 48 points to lead the way in Saturday’s section three competition with young James Morgan finishing in second place on 43 points. In section two, Sean Brogan sealed his place in the match-play draw thanks to a total of 42 points with Gerry Norwood finishing in second place ahead of Michael Campbell on count-back after both golfers recorded 39 points.

Ciaran McFarlane’s 41 points was the best score in section one with Allan McCook in second on 40 points. Congratulations go to Hugh Sayers who managed a hole-in-one at the 10th on Saturday!

Liam Laverty was the top points scorer on Sunday as he captured first prize in the section three competition with a splendid total of 45 points from fellow twenty-three handicapper Tommy Devlin in second place with 42 points.

Youth was very much to the fore in section two with David Kilgore winning with 44 points ahead of Francis og McGinn in second on 41 points. Brendan Black picked up the top prize in section one with a total of 39 points from Damian McSorley in second place, just ahead of Owen Kennedy and Paul Surgenor on count-back after all three scored 38 points on Sunday.

The draw for the match-play stages of the Valencia, Tieve Tara and Culfeightrin Cups has now been made and the details can be found on the club noticeboard and website.