After an unfortunate accident had left him on crutches for a few weeks, Olcan Kearney marked his tentative return to the fairways in some style when he lifted the Gents Seniors Open with 40pts off 4. Birdies at 2, 5 and 10 were evenly balanced by bogeys at 8, 9 and 13 for a level par round which saw him pick up where he left off before his enforced lay-off. Welcome back to the fairways and the podium Olcan.
Darragh McKeown came second with 38pts off 15. After a birdie at 2 had given him a welcome early boost, he faltered a little and included no fewer than 4 double bogeys before a pair of closing pars brought his round to a very satisfactory conclusion.
Third place went to David Watts whose 37pts, off 25, were accomplished in a most unusual manner. Rarely can a competitor find a place on the podium after a round which included 5 NRs, but he also included 4 nett birdies and 4 nett eagles, and he is no doubt looking forward to his next outing.
Shaun Donnelly is certainly a man in form and his 36pts, off 9, brought about the third handicap reduction in his last four rounds. His 19 homeward pts gave him the edge over Rodger McIlwaine, 12, and Richard Dawson, 20, who came 5th and 6th respectively.
The difficulty of the course on the day was reflected in the Competition Scratch Score being reduced to 34pts, but that didn’t prevent Gary ‘Mr Birdie’ Clarke returning the weekend’s only sub-par score to lift the gross prize with 37 gross pts. Birdies at 4, 9 and 10 left him 3 under par on the 11th tee, and bogeys 11 and 18 meant a round of 69.
Colin Thompson was 2 over par after 9 but an eagle at 10 got him back to level. Bogeys at 11 and 15 were followed by double bogeys at 16 and 17, which suggested he might have a round worth forgetting. He then eagled the 18th to leave him wondering just what had gone wrong at the two previous holes. Can anyone remember a player opening and closing the back or front 9 with eagles?
