Williamson wins hard-fought April Medal

With the golf season now moving into full flow it was Ryan Williamson who put his head above the parapet to secure the Railway St sponsored April Medal in what was a day of low scoring in tricky conditions on the Championship Links at Newcastle.

Williamson might have plenty of shots to play with, but he also had to steer a steady course to complete his card in the strokeplay format. His round got off to the worst start with a nine at the opening par five. However, his resilience was quickly on display as he followed up with a quick birdie at the second.

On a day when pars (and even boyeys were the currency), Williamson did enough to sign for a fine nett 68 to win the Mourne Golf Club competition on a countback from Sean O’Higgins in second. O’Higgins picked up birdies at the fifth and 11^th but was left to rue four dropped shots on the final stretch.

As Williamson won the overall competition, Connor Pimm won Division 1 with is nett 69, while O’Higgins and Williamson were respective Division 2 and 3 winners. The Smyths Centra sponsored gross prize went to James Maginn with a great round of 72 to finish two ahead of his Senior Cup teammates, Stephen Barker and Pimm with their 74s. Maginn picked up birdies at the first, seventh and 13 with just four dropped shots in all.

There was a fine showing in Division 1 from many of the Senior Cup panel as they all jockeyed for position on the leaderboard, including veteran Frank O’Donoghue, who once more proved he can still mix it with the youth.

O’Donoghue was second (71) behind Pimm alongside Maginn (71), while Barker, Conor Toner, Eoghan Simons and Barry Hillen made up the Division 1 chasing pack on 72.

In Division 2 Michael Nugent Jnr was O’Higgins’ closest challenger with his 70, while Darryl Northrop was third on 71 and Neal Toner (72) fourth. In Division 3, Daniel O’Rourke (70) was second, Jack Graham (73) third and Thomas Ireland (76) fourth.

Special thanks go to all our sponsors at Mourne Golf Club through the season, with particular thanks to Railway St and Smyths Centra for their support of the April Medal.