All the news and happenings from the local golf clubs

The weekend club competition for the Greenkeepers Cup was the last of the Summer season.

Mark Dempsey (18) retuned a fine score considering the wet and windy conditions.

After a steady opening nine with one par and eight bogeys he used his handicap well to score 19 points.

With the help of a two at the difficult 11th. Mark added a further 20 to win by two points from Malachy Laverty (15) who had the best of three returns of 37 points.

Despite failing to score at the opening hole Malachy had 17 after nine adding 20 over the second nine to edge Tommy McGowan (8) also scoring 17 and 20 into third place by virtue of a better last six.

The other player with 37 was Tom Boyd (7) with nines of 19 and 18.

For the second week in a row twos were plentiful, sharing the twos kitty were R. Milliken (two) T. McGowan M. Dempsey M. Torrington and M. Laverty.

NORWOOD WINS AT

BALLYCASTLE GOLF CLUB

When Gerard Norwood stood over his third shot on the 18th hole in Saturday’s Brass Putter Competition he must have had thoughts of emulating Jim Furyk’s 59 on Friday in Chicago.

Needing a five, Gerry’s third shot found the bunker and he finished off with a seven which gave him a nett 61 off his 16 handicap to win the Putter by a clear four shots from the Ballymoney dynamo David Getty (13) who on any other day would have been a winner with a nett 65.

Indeed the Division Two winner Michael Kearns (15) also recorded a 65 and in Division One Liam Gallagher shot a nett 67 while Harold Russell (17) took the Divison Three prize with a splendid nett 66. Patrick Dallat Jnr (1) took the first gross prize with a 71 while Mark McCormick (3) took 2nd gross also with a 71.

Next Saturday sees the final competition in the Golfer of the Year series with the September Medal up for grabs. Mel Carleton remains in pole position for the GOTY title on 99 points but could still be caught on the line by Rory Gallagher who has 93, or Francis Og McGinn who has 83 points.

Members are reminded that the Annual General Meeting takes place in the Clubhouse on Friday 27th September at 7.30pm and will be followed at 9.30pm by the presentation of all the cups won during the season.

A full attendance of cup winners is requested, a list of winners is available on the club website

TOMMY TOPS AT THE ‘ROCK.

With a gross score of 75, two over par, eight handicapper Tommy Campbell took top spot in Castlerock’s Monthly Medal on Saturday.

That 75 netted down to a 67 for Tommy and won the day by two shots. Tommy bogied the first and three other par fours to get to the turn in 40 shots.

The inward nine was more eventful as a birdie four came out of the long eleventh and was balanced up by a bogey at the next.

The short sixteenth, the “Summit” gave Tommy a birdie two which gave him the taste for birds as he hit a four down the seventeenth to go two under for the nine.

A par to finish meant Tommy was back in two under par 35 and round in 75 for his net 67.

Andy Guthrie was the man eased into runners up position with his net 69. Andy plays off nine and started very well hitting a three up the first.

This was given back with a bogey at two and Andy interlaced pars and bogeys to get to the halfway spot in 39, three over.

A similar pattern emerged on the return nine with a birdie four showing at eleven and a few bogeys thereafter resulting in the same stroke score, 39, for the nine.

78 gross, 69 net for second place. Low Section winner was twelve handicap Paul McNicholl with a net 70. Paul played steadily for a 39 out and 43 back round of 82, netting down to 70.

Best in the High Section came David Cameron with a net 71 off 21.   David Cameron (21) 71. After some steady golf David’s dreadful eight at the tenth did not daunt him as he dropped just four shots after that to get his reward for the net 71.

In the anno domini section it was Tom Cunningham that came out tops for his net 73. 43 out, 41 back and a two at the fourth meant a good day all round for Tom.

Michael O’Donovan hit a gross 75 to claim his prize. Two and three fell to birdies as did the long fifth to see him out in one over par 37.

Michael dropped shots at ten and eighteen but had birdied the long eleventh in between these to card another one over par nine of 38 for his overall 73

Senior Tom Cunningham (11) 73

TROPHY WIN FOR WILLIAM

The Johnnie Fitzsimmons Trophy was claimed by William Burgess on Saturday as the ten handicapper scored 39 points, winning by one point.

His birdie four at the second was needed to balance up a double bogey six on the fifth as William worked his way to 19 points for the nine.

No more birdies and no more double bogeys came his way on an inward nine of four over par which translates to another 19 and 38 overall.

Douglas C Stevenson was the closest to William on 37 points. He birdied the opening hole, and the fourth. To help himself to a level par front nine which, with his handicap of four, gave him 20 out.

Ten fell to a birdie four but disaster struck on the fifteenth where no points at all were logged.

This was a crucial blow to Douglas’s chances but second place had to be a consolation. Gary Alford was pushed into third place, also on 37 points, on countback.

He had scored 21 out, including birdies at one and eight, and had started the retrun nine well, adding another birdie three at thirteen. The curse of the double bogeys appeared then and restricted Gary’s scoring on the inward stretch to just 16.

Sid Henry recorded another Best Gross win for his 73. The card was very easy to report, bogey five at seven, 37 out. Nine pars, 36 back. One over par 73, prize won!

SUPREME SENIOR STANTON

By scoring 43 points from his 19 handicap Andrew Stanton won Portstewart GC’s Seniors Day by four points.

Out in seven over par, including a two at the sixth, Andrew had 21 points in the bag, Four good pars in the return nine helped him to add another 22 for his winning total of 43.

This was four in front of Moore McAuley and Dessie Crawford with 39 each. Moore, with a couple of single pointers on the card was restricted to 17 points for the opening nine.

He opened the back nine with a string of pars that was only broken by a couple of birdies!

A four at the long fourteenth was followed by a two at sixtenn as he ran out the nine with another 22 points.

Dessie, off nine, couldn’t match that back nine tally but gave it a good try. His solid 19 out was better than Moore’s but two single pointers coming back were his undoing. Even with his birdie four at thirteen 20 points was the result and so, for Dessie, third place it was.

George Gibson took the honours in the Frank Montgomery Trophy with 42 points from his seventeen handicap. Two 21 point nines were carded, the highlight of which was the two at the sixth and the low was the blank at eight. Sean McGahon scored 38 points off sixteen to get runners up spot in this section.

The Club Sweep for the ‘weans’ was topped by Willie McCaffery with 42 points. The fifteen handicapperalso had two nines of 21 points each but scored them in very different ways.

The first had a triple bogey eight and a double bogey five together with a good birdy three at the eighth. The back nine had no blanks and a good birdy two at fifteen. Willie’s closing pair of pars gave him six points and clinched the sweep for him.

GMAC EVENT SUPPORTS

MS SOCIETY

A few weeks back Ben Best won the annual GMac competition at Rathmore.

He and numerous golfers from the Rathmore and Royal Portrush clubs supported the event, which is the brainchild of Graeme McDowell, and raised £1,000 for MS Society NI.

It is a cause close to Graeme’s heart and the turnout for the day shows the esteem in which he is held in Portrush.

As well as the playing golfers other donations came from GMac himself, his parents Kenny and Marian McDowell together with many others.

Kenny and Marian presented the cheque to Tom Mallon (MS Society NI) ably supported by Rathmore Club Captain Rodney Montgomery.

MARIE CURIE WIN FOR DAVID

David Cartmill scored 43 points from his handicap of 27 to secure a win in the Marie Curie Trophy.

This is an open competition, ladies and gents, played at Bushfoot Golf Club.

After a blank at the eighth hole David recovered well and recorded several good pars on the back nine to finish a point ahead of seventeen handicap Sharon Scott.

She was out in five over par and back in six over for her 42 score.