Taking on the Rest of the World!

The weather in Portballintrae contrasted sharply with that for Celtic Manor and allowed this event to progress without a hitch.

Foursomes and fourballs were played on Saturday and resulted in a 9-7 lead for the Rest of the World, the pairings of Damian Clyde / Martin Freeman and Kenny Gault / Terence McFaull getting full points for the RoW and B and P teams respectively.

Gregory Warner and Kenny McKillop fell twice to Gault and McFaull on Saturday but Gregory prevailed against Kenny Gault on Sunday in the singles.

The Rest of the World scored well in the singles and with three ties to go were 15-12 up. Local players Aubrey Sweeney, David McCloy and Trevor McKendry came to the rescue with three wins in the final three games to tie the scores at 15 all, a gentlemanly score.

Top points scorers for each team were Terence McFaull (Bushmills and Portballintrae) and Martyn Freeman (Rest of the World) with three points each.

For those players not picked for the Ryder Cup proper, there was a stableford competition laid on and John Nicholl won this with his 40 points. John had 20 points out with a double bogie at the eighth and, even with a blank at the fourteenth, added another 20 on the way back for his 40 points.

Second place was claimed by Gerald Madden on a score of 37 points. Gerald birdied the par three second and the par three fifteenth on his way round. The only blemish was a double bogey at fourteen and, with the rest of the holes played steadily, was four points clear of third placed Terence Watton.

A comfortable eighteen points out, with a double bogey six at the sixth, was followed by a birdie two at ten. Disappointingly Terence blanked twelve and fourteen and finished the nine with 15 and a total of 33.