All the news and happenings from the local golf clubs

Bushfoot Golf Club’s Lifeboat Shield competition was held on Saturday and Frankie Cosgrove produced the best score, 41points, of the day to top the chart.

His seven at the opening hole gave him just one point but after that he didn’t score fewer than two points at any hole until his blank on the twelfth. Frankie had 26 points bagged by then, four better than his handicap would suggest, and he returned to his productive scoring by adding another 15 over the six closing holes to have 21 for the inward nine. His overall of 41 points was two clear of the field.

Leading the chasing pack was Harold Love on 39. Harold also suffered from a one pointer, the second, before regrouping and slipping in a birdie four on the long sixth for four points. He ended the opening nine with another one pointer to have 19 points bagged at the turn.

A run of pars from eleven to sixteen boosted Harold’s tally but that run was broken by a double bogey six on seventeen. His par at the last gave Harold 20 back for his 39 total.

Countback had to be deployed to put Harold into second place at the expense of Aubrey Sweeney who also hit 39 points. Aubrey had a bad finish to the front nine, a blank hole, which left him on 19 points.

He cured that by picking up a four pointer on the index one tenth though and kept that momentum going as far as the sixteenth where just one point was logged.

Seventeen was parred for three points but eighteen gave up just the one and meant a final six hole countback went Harold’s way.

Keri Kidd scored a gross 75 on the day and claimed his prize for that. His birdy free front nine score was 38 and it was at eleven he claimed his birdy two.

That brought Keri back to level par for the back nine and he dropped just two more on his way in to improve on the his front nine by two, finishing with 37 back and 75 overall.

BUSHFOOT OPEN WIN FOR RORY

Scoring 36 points from his fifteen handicap secured a win for visitor Rory Sheehan in Bushfoot Golf Club’s Open Stableford on Sunday.

After a disappointing front nine score of 15 points Rory steadied the ship over the first five holes of the back nine before hitting nine points on the next three.

Two points at eighteen gave him a back nine of 21 and secured a one point win over Eoin Coyle and Willie Patterson who hit 35 points each.

RS GRAHAM SALVER AT

CASTLEROCK

Columb McCloskey, (5) and Richard Boyd (11) produced the score of the day at Castlerock on Saturday to win the RS Graham Salver.

In this Fourball v Par format they finished eight up on the course. The pair took the first two holes with birdie threes then added another win with another birdie on the par five fifth.

The only slip up on the opening nine came with a loss on the sixth but that was short lived as handicap shpts were used well at seven and eight for two more wins. So, four up after nine it was but this changed for the better as the duo took wins at ten and twelve, again using their shots well.

The long fifteenth was won and the clincher came with a birdie two at the Summit to take them to eight up. This turned out to be the final score and the Salver was theirs.

That last birdyie win was need too as Jonathan Dickson (7) and Ryan Dunlop (14) finished just one back on 7 up. Again the use of their shots was crucial as Jonathan and Ryan got to the turn four up.

A birdie three on fourteen started a run of three wins to get the pair to seven up before they had their first and only loss of the round with a four on the Summit.

This was quickly corrected with a closing four at eighteen with a shot to get them back to seven up. Countback kept them second and eased the other seven up pairing of Michael O’Donovan (1) and Gary Gaile (5) into third.

A couple of birdy threes and good use of their limited shots got the pair to nine on four up and pars on ten and twelve boosted them to six.

The score stayed that way until the long seventeenth fell to a birdie four and the Michael and Gary ended the day on seven up.

HAT TRICK CHANCE FOR JJ AT ROYAL PORTRUSH

JJ McElderry claimed another win over the Dunluce Links at Royal Portrush Golf Club on Saturday with his net 65 in the Monthly Medal.

The long second gave him a birdie four a nd seven a three to be out in 35 shots, one under par.

Twelve and sixteen took two shots off JJ but he knocked in a birdy four on seventeen to be back in 37 for a gross 72.

His handicap of seven netted this down to his winning 65.

Paddy McCann hit a fighting 67 to claim the Silver position. Paddy birdied the fourth and the ninth but in between had a double bogey six on seven and a triple bogey seven on the eighth.

This meant he was out in 39 shots, three over par. The ten handicapper let a shot slip on ten and twelve before settling down to par the rest and get back in 38. The resulting gross of 77 netted down to 67 for second place.

Dr Herbert Baird got the bronze position by scoring his net 73. This included a nice two on the short sixth.

John Turner jnr hit a level par round of 72 to win the Best Gross. His bogey four on three was cancelled out by his birdie four on nine and he matched this pattern on the back nine with a bogey four at fourteen and a birdie four on seventeen to get two nines of 36 each.

BILL’S CUP WIN AT RATHMORE

Bill Clarke hit 40 points round the Valley on Sunday to win the Gordon Wedlock Cup by three clear points.

His card made very easy reporting, a bogey five on the second plus eight pars for 20 points out. A birdie four on ten and a bogey five on twelve plus seven pars for another 20 points. One over par gross for the five handicapper proved to be too good for the rest.

The best of them was Rory Hamilton who showed a return to for by carding 37 points.

He had logged 19 points out but a blank early on the return nine restricted his scoring to 18 back for second place.

John Fall jnr won out in a countback for third place with his 37 points. He had a modest 16 points for the opening nine but hit two birdies to start his back nine to get back on track.

An unfortunate six on thirteen did him no favours but he ended his day on a high with a two at eighteen to get 20 more points for his card and seal his countback win with 36.

Philip McIntyre was the man to be pushed into fourth spot but his two blanks did the damage. They came on seven and thirteen to give him 16 out and 20 back.

Ian Kettyle scored a 73 to secure his gross prize. Two threes to start helped to balance two late front nine bogeys to see Ian out in level par 35. Ten gave him another birdy which was to be his last of the round. Shots drifted away here and there on the last eight to see him back in 38 for his round of 73.

TIE BREAK WIN FOR MICHAEL

42 points with 22 back was enough to get Michael Barr’s name on the Ewan Lowry Cup at Portstewart on Saturday.

He got no return from the opening hole but made up for that slip with a birdy three at the next for four points. Following up a bad score with a good one was Michael’s game plan as he took a single point from the par three sixth then hit a pair of birdies, a four on seven and a three on eight, for seven points.

He got to the turn with 20 points under his belt even with another one pointer at nine. The back nine started the same way and it took Michael until the thirteenth to get back to birdie territory as he holed for a four there and did it again on the next for good measure. His three on sixteen gave up four more points and he added two pars to finish the inward nine with 22 points scored taking his total to 42.

That 22 back eased Paul Hewitt into runners up spot. He had a great front nine score of 24 points which equates to level par for the twelve handicapper.

Shots were dropped at the first and the ninth but birdies were struck on four and eight, four points coming from each of these.

The two par threes coming back did not help Paul much, a point at each, but he still played the nine holes to his handicap for 18 more, unfortunately for Paul not good enough in countback terms.

Section A was topped by Tim Brown with 39 scored. His first dropped shot was at the fifth and his only blank was at six. With a birdy four on seven he got back on track and ran out the nine for 20 points.

Tim’s birdie on ten got him off to a good start for the back nine and it wasn’t until the fourteenth was reached that another bogey appeared.

The points were still building nicely but eighteen gave up a nasty six for one point and 19 back, 39 overall, was the result. Ivor Turkington took the honours in Section B with 40 scored off his 15 handicap.

Ivor blanked the second but dropped just three shots in the front nine otherwise to get 20 points lodged. He started back with three pars and a birdy four, at thirteen, but seventeen was not kind at all as Ivor got nothing there. A par to finish meant another 20 to seal his section win.

Adam Brown shot a two over par 74 to win the best Gross Prize.