McKay seals Rathlin Cup win

JAMES McKay, playing off six, won the Rathlin Cup competition held at Ballycastle Golf Club on Saturday with an impressive one under par round which gave him a nett score of 64.

Shay Paul Duffin finished in second place with a nett 65, James Laverty took third on nett 67 and Austin Mullan and Peter Dowds were in fourth and fifth places with their scores of nett 68.

Mark McCormick won the gross prize in the Rathlin Cup with a 72, one shot ahead of Rory Gallagher in second place.

Eamon Dornan, runner-up in last Sunday’s Medal, finished eighth in the Rathlin Cup to earn him yet more valuable points in the Golfer of the Year competition. This was Eamon’s fifth top ten finish of the season and he has now extended his lead to sixteen points over the chasing pack with five events to go.

There is a similar scenario in the Winchester Challenge Bowl with Rory McCormick opening up a seventeen point advantage at the top of the leader board thanks to his tenth consecutive top ten finish in this year’s competition.

The next counting event in the Golfer of the Year and Winchester Bowl competitions will be the Monthly Medal on Saturday 14th August.

A team stableford competition was held at the club on Sunday 1st August to raise funds for the Good Morning Ballycastle charity. With an excellent total of 131 points, Sunday’s winners were: Paul Surgenor, Noel Dobbin, James McNeill and Gerry Gillan. Second place went to the formidable quartet of Lawrence McQuillan, Vincent Dowds, Danny Taggart and Seamus Killough with a total of 128 points. Many thanks go to all who took part to help raise some valuable funds for this local charity.

The Club Championship (Shangarry Cup) sponsored by Brian McKay takes place at Ballycastle on Saturday 7th August. The top twenty gross scores on Saturday morning will qualify to play in the afternoon round which begins at 4pm. The draw for the second round should be available in the pro shop from 3.30pm onwards.

The Shangarry Plate competition also takes place on Saturday. This is an 18 hole nett competition sponsored by Seamus Killough.

The Dunrainie Open Mixed Foursomes is held at Ballycastle on Sunday 8th August with a member’s stableford competition also taking place in the morning.

Entries are now being accepted for the Casement Cup match-play competition. Any member wishing to take part should register in the pro shop no later than Sunday 15th August.