Crunch time for Whitehead, says McHugh
BANBRIDGE will be hoping to avoid a second defeat in seven days when go into a top-of-thetable showdown with Whitehead at Meeting House Lane today.
The County Down boys surrendered their unblemished record last weekend when they were dumped out of the Irish Cup by Belmont.
Although they bounced back with an impressive midweek win at Donaghadee, which guaranteed their top spot in the NIBA Division One table, their early season league form will certainly be scrutinised when the title
Tough test: Martin McHugh
holders leave a calling card.
“This will be out toughest game of the season,” said Whitehead’s Martin McHugh. “Banbridge are still top of the table on merit. They’ve already won well at Bangor, so that’s a fair indication of far they improved.
At the other end of the table, Portadown have the chance of putting a bit of daylight between themselves and basement side Divis when the teams clash at Pleasure Gardens.
Today’s fixtures: Northern Ireland Bowling Association Division One: Portadown v Divis, Lurgan v Dundonald, Bangor v Donaghadee, Banbridge v Whitehead, Lisnagarvey v Balmoral.
Northern Ireland Private Greens League Division One: Picke v Larne, Belmont v Ards, Dunbarton v Ewarts, Old Bleach v Ballymena, Falls v Ulster Transport. Northern Ireland Provincial Bowling Association Senior League: Dunluce v Cookstown, Portglenone v Portush, Letterkenny v Coleraine, Ballymoney v Limavady. AFTER an extremely impressive debut round at the European Tour’s Shot Clock Masters, 15-year-old Tom McKibbin struggled in his second round and missed the cut in Austria.
The Holywood golfer shot a one-under par first round of 71, scoring better than over half of the 120-strong field at Diamond Country Club in Atzenbrugg, but could only card a six-over par 78 in his second round leaving him well adrift of the cut mark.
Having managed the nerves well yesterday, the teenager couldn’t replicate his perfor-
Promising: Tom McKibbin
mance on day two and was already back to four-over by the time he made the turn.
McKibbin, playing the course backwards, suffered a double bogey at the 13th, which was fol- lowed by dropped shots at the 14th, 17th and 18th.
Another double bogey followed at the second, however the young star did finish with something to take away from the week having birdied the eighth.
While he will be bitterly disappointed not to have capitalised on his Thursday round, this marks another step on the right path for golfing wonderkid McKibbin, whose fledgling career goes from strength to strength.
Having won the inaugural Major Champions Invitational in Florida back in March, hosted by Nick Faldo, the teen has now announced himself on the professional scene and will have caught the eye of several onlookers.