Well the Apple Blossom weekend finally arrived and with it plenty of golf, from Friday through to Monday the competition was hot, unfortunately we couldn’t always say that about the weather which was rather changeable to say the least.
On Friday the Apple Blossom Open Mixed 4ball event took place, a well contested competition with the eventual winners being the very strong pairing of Noreen McCone & Sam Jenkins, the next best was Lorraine Abbott & Eddie Millar taking the runner-up spot just a few points behind. That’s a great result for Noreen & Sam and well done those “also rans” who help to make the event competitive, maybe it’s your turn next year.
Saturday saw day 1 of the Apple Blossom Open stableford competition, the best score on the day was that of Marty Dalzell with 38 points, there were two other scores of 38 points by Jack Traynor and Noreen McCone who took 2nd and 3rd place on a countback. Eugene Scullion was 4th with 37 points, also on 37 was Keith Johnston in 5th, Robert Mawhinney took 6th place with 36 points. Well done good scoring!
On Monday we had day 2 of the Apple Blossom Open stableford competition, winner on the day was Brian Nixon with a really good score of 40 points, in 2nd place was Evan ‘A’ Simpson five points behind on 35 points, Willie Gracey was 3rd with 33 points, three scores of 32 points by Simon Wallace, Davy Coote and Robbie Mawhinney took 4th, 5th and 6th spot. Well done fellas!
The overall winner of the two day event was Brian Nixon with 71 points, runner-up was Jack Traynor just 1 point behind. The overall Ladies winner was Noreen McCone! These were the best 3 players over the two days and thoroughly deserve their results on an excellent but tricky course in testing conditions, well done Brian, Jack and Noreen!
Twelve teams turned up at Loughgall to compete in the Jimmy Bruen area qualifying competition on Sunday, the weather could have been better but it was much the same for all the teams, maybe a little better for the teams going out later. Only the four best scoring teams go through, Loughgall produced a reasonable score and had every hope of qualifying, we were the 4th best score until the final score came in from the Portadown team who had a better score by two points! Close but no banana….not this time. Well done Tandragee who had the best team score on the day and the other three teams of Lisburn, Dungannon and of course Portadown who all qualified, unlucky Loughgall it was a good effort. We had expected Armagh to be in the frame for sure being the closest club to our own and some past members of Loughgall in their team, but apart from one decent score they didn’t come close. However, ten shots or two shots short of the mark…. is still short of the mark. Maybe next time.
The Weekly Challenge sponsored by Murder Mystery NI was won by James Curran with 43 points, 2nd was Brian Nixon Jnr on 40 points and Davy McRoberts also on 40 points took 3rd place…. excellent scores fellas!
The Junior 18 hole competition was won by Daniel Brown with 45 points, 2nd also with 45 points Ben Currie and 3rd with 36 points was Luke Weir….wonderful scoring lads!
Good news for our Ulster 4ball team led by team captain John Currie, a 4-1 win at home against the team from Fortwilliam Golf Club gives us a good lead for the away leg Sunday week, still a job to do yet fellas but it’s in your hands…good luck!
This report cannot be complete without reference to the course, we had at least 80 players from many golf clubs playing Loughgall over the weekend, I personally spoke to many of the visitors and the feed back without exception was 100 percent positive. Many thanks to our greenkeepers because the course was superb, infact it’s never been better. The competition was well organised and our ladies of Loughgall can take much credit for the initial catering and the friendly reception given to visiting clubs. I’m sure the name of Loughgall Golf Club will be carried far and wide, we have done ourselves no harm with the hosting of the Jimmy Bruen and hopefully we have made a few friends in the process. Our thanks go to all that helped in any way to the success of the weekend… because it was a massive success. We didn’t qualify but we have a lot to be proud about… well done LGC.
Good luck….and enjoy your golf!