Winter League starts at Ballycastle

THE P.J. McIlroy & Son sponsored Winter League got under way at Ballycastle Golf Club over the weekend with an excellent turnout in each of the twelve teams taking part this year.

In section one of Saturday’s stableford competition, Michael Campbell, playing off thirteen, won with a super score of 38 points over the sixteen holes in play. Eamon Dornan finished in second place in section one with a total of 37 points ahead of George McVeigh in third place on a better back nine score. In section two, Joe Tannahill recorded 36 points to finish first ahead of Jimmy McConaghy on the back nine with Derek Bell in third on a total of 35 points.

The excellent scoring continued on Sunday with Martin Morgan leading the way in section one with a score of 38 points. Gerard Dowds took second spot on 36 points and Ciaran McFarline was third with a total of 35 points.

In section two on Sunday the top three all returned scores of 37 points but when the back nines were compared it was David Getty, playing off fourteen, who took first place with Martin McGuigan in second and Gerard McCloskey in third.

The early pace setters in the Winter League are team H with George McVeigh (37pts), Paul Scott (36pts), Denis Devine (34pts), Jonathan McBride (33pts) and Eamon McIlroy (30pts) counting towards their total of 170 points.

Team L are in second place with Gerard McCloskey (37pts), Stuart Graham (34pts), Gerard Dowds (33pts), Aidan Higgins (32pts) and Robin McHugh (31pts) giving them a total of 167 points.

The Winter League runs for eight weeks in total but after four weeks of competition it will split into two ‘mini leagues’. Teams in the top section will hold on to the points they have accumulated in the first four weeks and will continue their battle for a top three prize over the remaining weeks.

All teams in the bottom section after week four will have their team points reset to zero. Over the remaining weeks a prize will be awarded to the team that finishes top of this section but the dreaded Wooden Spoons will go to the bottom team!