Mourne Golf Club News

By Paul Gallagher

05/07/23

A team format was the order of the day in last Sunday’s competition at Mourne Golf Club and Sean O’Higgins and Mark Guinness Jnr combined perfectly to land the Donard Nursery Cup with an excellent winning 62.

The Fourball Better ball format played on the Championship Links lends itself to low scoring, but nobody could match the winning duo and their nine-under winning score. The leaderboard was littered with 60s, but it was the sibling partnership of Feargal and Brendan Rodgers who went closest to O’Higgins and Guinness and their 64 was good enough for second.

Martin Fitzpatrick and Daniel O’Rourke took the final podium place with a fine 65 that was good enough to claim third on a countback.

In other recent club action, Thomas Burns won the Sunday Stableford competition in mid-June with a great score of 40 points. Burns had no less than four birdies on the card as he won by three from Liam Cunningham (37) in second, while Oliver Brogan claimed third as the best on 36 points, the same mark as Brendan Brown.

The recent Thursday competitions have also seen some great scoring. At the end of June there was a real tussle at the top before Damian McEvoy came out on top to deny Gerard Toner. The leading pair returned excellent scores of 41 points with McEvoy taking the top voucher with a better back nine. Barry McCrickard was next in third with 38 points as the left-hander denied Thomas Burns (38) on a countback.

James Maginn showed top form with a best gross of two under 69. The plus two handicapper had a string of six birdies on the card, including two late ones at 16 and 17 for another sub-par round of the season.

The previous Thursday saw Michael Hazzard return to some of the great form he has shown earlier in the season. Hazzard won with 39 points in a round that included a magical eagle at the par five 12th.  Hazzard’s effort denied Danny Williamson (38) in second, while Eugene Jennings (37) was third with a better back nine than Paul Mullan (37).

Most of the team competitions for Mourne have now come and gone, but Andy Torrens’ Junior Cowdy squad are still flying the flag. Their next opponents are local rivals Kilkeel with the home and away fixtures due to be played in the coming days.

This week will see the regular Thursday Stableford competition take place before the PGA Tankard on Sunday.

-ENDS