Despite July being the high holiday season, there were 1628 rounds of golf in men’s, 18 hole, qualifying competitions, beginning with a Wednesday Sweep on the 3rd of the month and ending with the Lady Captain’s Prize for the men on the 31st.
The best nett score of the month was returned by Conal McAshea when his 45pts, off 20, were enough to easily win the Gent’s Open Stableford on Sunday, 21st.
Of all scores returned, 17 were below par, as follows:
66 Ronan McCrory, Nathan McCann, Gary Clarke.
68 Ronan McCrory, Caolan McCann
69 Ronan McCrory (twice), Caolan McCann, Nathan McCann, Jim McKee, Francis Tallon, Brian Scullion, Brian Speers, Shane Magee, Colin Thompson, Robert Emerson, Nicholas Campbell.
16 eagles were scored during the month, as follows:
1st hole - Joe Dowey Jnr, Nathan McCann
4th hole - Nathan McCann, Aidan Murphy, Olcan Kearney, Anselm Henry, Gary Clarke, Joseph Carroll, Colin Thompson, Jim McKee, Ronan McCrory
7th hole - Andrew Gates
10th hole - Colin Thompson, Brian Scullion
15th hole - Ronan McCrory
18th hole - Martin Scullion
Colin Thompson, Ronan McCrory and Nathan McCann led the way with two eagles each. Ronan scored his eagles at 4 and 15 in the same round.
Andrew Gates immediately followed his eagle 2 at 7 with a birdie 2 at 8 to record a most unusual, if not unique, double.
The best gross score of 66 was returned by Gary Clarke, Nathan McCann and Ronan McCrory.
Gary: He played 4 rounds and for his 72 holes he was level par.
Nathan: He played 6 rounds and was +2 for those 108 holes.
Ronan: He played 8 rounds and was -4 for his 144 holes, which included 4 rounds under par.
In the Gent’s Open Stableford on Friday, 19 July, there were just two 2s, both of them scored by Andrew Thompson from Tandragee.
There were plenty of contenders for Golfer of the Month and the list would surely include the following three.
Tony Henderson won two 18 hole events, 2 Wednesday 9 hole comps, and was runner-up in the Gerry O’Neill Trophy. In the process he saw his handicap tumble from 9.6 to 6.3.
Sean McKinstry won a Gent’s Open Stableford and a Wednesday Sweep to see his handicap reduced from 11.3 to 8.1.
Brian Speers recorded two victories with the July Medal and a Gent’s Open Stableford which comfortably restored his Category 1 status.
There was one Open Mixed Greensomes during the month which was won by Gwen McCracken and Gerard Marner with 4 1pts. This win was a watershed moment for Gwen whose game has since moved forward in leaps and bounds resulting in winning Lady Captain’s Day just a couple of weeks later. Gerard’s game has also moved in leaps and bounds, unfortunately in the other direction.
