A STRONG wind once again greeted the Saturday players at King Edward Bay but this proved little obstacle for Danny O’Hare (6) whose 39 points earned him the Railway Shield.
The winner overcame a potentially disastrous couple of holes to birdie the 10th and cruise home in eight consecutive pars thereafter for another very tidy lap. The victory was, surprisingly, O’Hare’s first major individual win for more than a year but in this kind of form don’t expect it to be his last. Birdies on the 4th, 6th, 12th and 15th saw a welcome return to form for runner-up Geoff Skillicorn (7) who finished a point further back and edged Paul McMullan (1) and John Ronan (9) on a countback.
The following day saw much calmer conditions which was reflected in the quite staggering scores that the leading players posted.
Not many people score 44 points, or get slashed more than two full shots in a single comp, but that’s what happened to winner Dave Clucas (20) who enjoyed perhaps his best outing to date to claim the Cystic Fibrosis stableford.
A total of 10 three-pointers had Clucas on course to post one of the all-time great stableford totals at KEB, but a blob on the last denied him what could have been. Still, eight-under isn’t bad.
Nigel Thomas (11) edged closer to a single-figure handicap with his 42 points - a birdie on the 7th being the highlight of a round that on most other days would have given him the win. Third place and best gross on the day was Scratch League stalwart Tam Dick (4) who knocked it round in 66 to show his true class - birdies on the 4th, 5th, 14th and 16th being the highlights there.
Monday’s Scratch League match against Douglas was called off because of the weather but the lads go head-to-head tomorrow (Friday) in the rearranged fixture before an away trip to Peel on Monday - play well, guys.
Good luck also to the club’s two senior island internationals, John McMullan and Geoff Skillicorn, who travel with the rest of the squad to play in the senior counties next week.
No doubt they’ll do the island and the club very proud - we’ll have an update on how they get on in next week’s report.
Saturday it’s the usual open stableford followed on Sunday by the always popular Clarrie Benson Bowl.