Mourne Golf Club News

13/09/23

By Paul Gallagher

It was another day of sensational scoring on the Championship Links at Royal County Down before Kieran O’Connor came out on top to land the September Medal at Mourne Golf Club last weekend.

In a tightly bunched leaderboard, we didn’t have to scroll far to see the plethora of birdies on show. In ideal conditions a handful of players broke nett 70 in a hotly contested medal. In the end, there were three nett 67s at the top with O’Connor taking the spoils on a countback, to deny Eamonn Crawford in second and Keelin O’Higgins in third.

O’Connor opened with a birdie at the par five first, and although a run of four bogeys followed, he kept a steady hand to the turn before finding another birdie at the 11th with dropped shots either side at 10 and 12. From there the eight-handicapper parred home to ensure a strong back nine.

Crawford not only finished second, the Course Manager at Royal County Down also signed for the best gross of the day with a two-under 69. ‘Steady’ rolled back the years with an opening eagle and reached the turned in level par 35. The fireworks really kicked in from the 12th  when he went on a run of four magical birdies. Despite dropped shots at 17 and 18, it was one of the low rounds of the season for Crawford.

The highlight of O’Higgins round was a fine birdie two at the fourth as he secured third.

From there came two outstanding athletes, who are equally adept with their trainers on as they are with golf club in hand. Elite runners Tom Crudgington and fellow Newcastle AC clubman Patrick McNiff were fourth and fifth respectively with their 69s. McNiff also had a rash of birdies on his card to sign for a gross 71.

Michael McLaughlin continued his fine form of late to finish sixth on 70, one ahead of Paul Mullan and Tony Murray.

Last Thursday’s 18-hole stableford competition was won by Ian McEvoy with 39 points as he had clear air between himself and the chasing pack. ‘Mac’ steered another steady course to win by three from Darragh Murphy in second and Jack Keenan in third after both had 36 points. Stephen Barker was fourth with 35 after signing for yet another sub 60 round this season. This time he shot 69 to deny Daniel Brogan, who also had 35 points.