O’Hara breezes to win at blustery Ballycastle GC

Barry O’Hara won the McGildowney Cup at a blustery Ballycastle on Sunday with a fine nett score of 68 in the fiendishly difficult conditions.

Playing off nine, Barry started with a birdie at the first, managed an eagle at the fifth and played steady golf over the treacherous top holes before closing with a birdie at the last to win the cup by a couple of strokes.

Second place went to five handicapper John Higgins with a nett 70. John Morgan, playing off twenty-one, was third with a nett 71 and eighteen handicapper Michael Dallat senior won the stableford prize with 36 points. In the gross competition, Michael Dallat junior finished ahead of Francis McGinn on the back nine after both golfers recorded 75’s on Sunday.

Michael Dallat jnr picked up thirteen Golfer of the Year points on Sunday to close the gap between himself and the leader Mel Carleton to a single point.

Mel (81 points) and Michael (80 points) have pulled clear of the bunch in recent weeks but with seven events to go there is still time for someone further back to make a charge up the leader-board.

In the Winchester Bowl gross competition, Michael Dallat jnr picked up maximum points on Sunday to all but wrap up this year’s title.

Michael is now forty points in front and needs just a single point in either of next weekend’s competitions to be sure of victory.

The race is still very much on for a podium place in the Winchester Bowl competition with only a few points separating Francis McGinn, Patrick Dallat, Mel Carleton and Rory Gallagher in second, third, fourth and fifth positions.

There is also a battle taking place to secure one of the top twenty positions on the Winchester Bowl leader-board and thus guarantee participation in the 36 hole Club Championship on Saturday 11th August.

The final two counting competitions are the Rathlin Cup on Saturday 28th July and the Ballycastle Challenge Cup on Sunday 29th July.

Mrs Heather McGuckian held a very successful Captains Day at Ballycastle Golf Club on Saturday. Congratulations go to Rita McCormick for winning this year’s Captains Prize.

The Lady Captain also awarded a prize to the leading gent on Saturday with fourteen handicapper Shane Staunton the winner on a total of 44 points. Second place went to Eddie McMullan on 42 points, Vice-Captain Cecil Watson was third on 41 points with Lawrence McQuillan, Joe Gillan and Trevor Thompson each recording 40 points to finish in fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively.

Eddie McMullan and Jonathan Blair teamed up successfully to win the Shotgun Foursomes competition on Friday evening with a nett 67. Second prize went to Phil Cullen and Louis Sweeney on 67.5 with Ronnie Mitchell and Niall Hill in third place on nett 68.

Phil Cullen was in fine form on Wednesday as he recorded 43 points to take first prize in the midweek open competition. Eamon McCarry finished in second place on 41 points, Jamie Thompson from Banbridge was third on 40 points with James McLister and Eamon Hackett in fourth and fifth places after they also recorded 40 points in the competition.

Members are reminded that the timesheets for Robin McHugh’s Captains Day go online at 4pm on Thursday 26th July with the day itself taking place on Saturday 4th August.