David shows no mercy on the field to take top spot by a single point

The heavy rain on Friday night and early Saturday morning made the course almost unplayable.

There were pools of water on several greens and puddles on some fairways. When the rain stopped in the afternoon the greens were left in excellent condition giving the late starters an advantage.

David Mercer (11) started with two pars but dropped strokes at the third and fourth. A birdie three gave him four points at the fifth, powering him on to complete the nine holes in 39 shots for 21 points.

Three players finished on 20 points: Andrew Parr (10), Rory Sanaghan (20) and Martin McDonald (19). Andrew had two three pointers at the fifth and eighth. With two points at the other holes he was placed second on count back.

A ding at the seventh and a single point at the ninth proved expensive for Rory and cost him the victory.

Competitors found it difficult to hit their putts hard enough on the very moist greens. This resulted in only two birdie twos being recorded. Both Graeme Kerr and Philip Sanaghan managed this feat at the fourth.

Match-play

There were several surprises in the match-play competition.

Pride of place went to David Gardiner who had to play on his own as his partner John Boyd was unavailable. David got off to a great start and defeated Michael McNeice and Stephen Jeffers by three and two on his own.

There were several first time winners. Wesley Haslett and Garth Kerr defeated Colin Reid and Colin Watson, while Andrew Gibb & Tommy Beattie and Martin McDonald & Michael Rooney celebrated their first success.

With two weeks remaining, several groups are very closely contested. Paul Watters and Dessie Kerr halved their match with Norman McNellis and Chris Scott at the top of Group Eight.

Mark Jamieson and Declan Marsden are clear leaders in Group Five while Stephen Shaw and Ivor Walker lost their unbeaten record in Group Three.

Clive Black won the Wednesday competition with 24 points, one ahead of David Johnston and Ivor McCandless.

Table-Tennis

There were two very competitive section finals in the table tennis competition.

Colin Hill recovered to beat David Armstrong 2-1 while the favourite, Matthew Hutchinson, defeated Chris Moulds in the second final. All four qualified for next month’s play-offs.

Winter League

There was no Sunday Winter League due to Remembrance Sunday.

New Shed

The key to the new greenkeepers’ shed was handed over to Lisburn captain Peter Cairns by William Rodgers of Rodgers Construction last week. The old building will be demolished soon thus increasing the size of the car park.