Paul ends his season in style

The calculated standard scratch score was nett 67 or 38 stableford points. This was equalled by 6 players and bettered by no less than 20.

Trevor Mulholland (13), Stephen Shaw (19), John Redpath (12), Danny O’Boyle (13), Lyle Rea (23) and Dougie Stevenson (15) all finished with 38 points.

Vaughan Lamont (11) and Kieran McGreevey (21) were alone on the 39 points mark.

The group of 11 players on 40 points contained the best senior and the best gross. Can you spot them?

The list reads Colin McKinney (15), Gary McCartney (10), Cameron Morton (12), Tommy Gillespie (13), Michael Robinson (14), Neil Comiskey (12), Sherwin Curran (15), Rory Leonard (scr), Kenny Jones (19), P.J. Johnston (14) and Shane Rooney (8).

Surely you picked out Colin McKinney as the best senior player and Rory Leonard as the best gross winner.

This incidentally was the ninth time this season that Rory Leonard has won the best gross prize. His round this time was close to perfect. He had a 65, which included 5 birdies and a solitary bogey at the long par 4 fifth hole.

Malcolm Hanna (12), David McComb (10) and Shane Bell (6) all played really well and all finished with 41 points.

We now come to the top four players and the main prizewinners.

Jim Cochrane (11) was fourth with 42 points. A double bogey at the 10th hole was the only blemish on his card. Jim has been remarkably consistent all season and it’s no surprise that he finished in eighth place in the golfer of the year points table.

Patrick McKibben (19) was third, also with 42 points. Patrick had three double bogeys in the first four holes. Some players would have given up after that start but not Patrick. He steadied himself and was rewarded with a podium finish.

Kevin McKay (13) was runner-up with 43 points. He was heading for another win but came to grief at the par 5 fourteenth hole. He would have been hoping for 3 points there but drew a blank.

Kevin’s form in recent weeks has been incredible. He won the President’s Prize in partnership with Brian Grimes. He won top prize on Champion’s Day and he was runner-up here. This is certainly a player to watch.

And the winner of the Saturday Stableford was a star of the Senior Cowdy Cup winning team, Paul Magennis, playing off a 5 handicap.

Paul started his round very quietly and he was 2 over par after 5 holes. But then something clicked and Paul could do no wrong. He played the next 13 holes in 5 under par gross. He finished with a gross 66 and a best of the day 44 points. Terrific stuff!

Well done, Paul! What a nice way to finish off the season! I wonder who will win the last 18 holes competition next Saturday.