It is taking Kevin McKavanagh rather longer to get from the locker room to the first tee theses days as he slowly surveys the notice board and relishes the sight of his name peppered among the lists of winners.
After a relatively fruitless summer when his few prizes were confined to mixed events, some suggest wife Bronagh made the difference, he now can’t stay off the leader board, and he claimed his third victory in recent weeks by lifting the Wednesday Sweep with 41pts off 7. In his last 6 rounds of 18 holes he has averaged 41pts, so there is just no stopping him at the moment. His last 135 holes have seen just one double bogey and he has run up 10 birdies in the same period. Kevin’s Happy New Year just couldn’t be any happier at the moment.Jim McKee took his fourth runners-up prize of the winter with 41pts off 3, his 20 homeward pts being two less being 2 less than Kevin’s. Jim was actually the only player on the day to beat par after a round of 68 which saw 5 birdies and 3 bogeys. A burst of birdies around the turn, at 9, 11 and 12, gave him the scent of breaking the runners-up hoodoo, but even though he had his almost expected birdie at the last, he came up just short once again. It won’t be very long before that hoodoo is broken.
Big hitting Douglas Houston, 18, returned the best back 9 of four players on 39pts to take third place. He had 20pts at the turn but double bogeys at 10 and 13 left him chasing the leaders, but he will be pleased with his first podium finish in a little while. Fourth nett went to Jim McCann Snr with 39pts off 22. Despite a triple bogey at 7 he reached the turn with 21pts, but a pair of double bogeys at 13 and 14 were immediately followed by an NR at 15, and with that his chances drifted away.
Just out of the prizes came Johnny McEvoy, 11, who had reached the turn at the head of the pack with 22pts, but his bogey, double bogey start to the back 9 began an irreversible slide from contention. Johnny has been having problems with his tee shots recently and after deciding his driver must be the problem, he traded it in for a new one. Nevan Lavery purchased the old one and lo and behold the two players faced each other in a match last week. Nevan drove beautifully and easily won the small wager they were competing for. It would seem there was nothing wrong with the club after all!
Also edged out of the prizes was Joe Dowey Jnr, 7, who is returning a good score every time he tees off now. His downfall came at the 17th where a double bogey gave him no points and left him missing out on the back 9. Joe was just 2 over par for the last 27 times he has played the 17th hole, so to drop 2 there was both unfortunate and totally unexpected. Alex Denver repeated his performance of the previous Wednesday when he lifted the gross prize with 36 gross pts. On both occasions he returned three pars and three birdies for level par rounds and the continuation of his very impressive recent run.