Scratch joy for Rafferty
DUNDALK’S Caolan Rafferty produced a strong finish to win the Laytown & Bettystown Scratch Cup for a second time on Sunday.
The 25-year-old birdied his final three holes to capture the 36 hole competition by one shot after shooting rounds of 70 and 66.
A shotgun start saw Rafferty teeing off both his rounds on the second hole and he admitted he was surprised to find himself only one shot off the lead after the first round.
‘It was a cold morning and there was a bit of a breeze but I didn’t hit it that well and I just scrambled my way around with five birdies and four bogeys. I couldn’t believe it when I found out I was only a shot behind a group on two under as I thought somebody would have posted a decent score.’
Relieved to be still in contention, Rafferty knuckled down in the second round and produced some excellent golf as he roared around the famous Co Meath links with a five under par 66 that included seven birdies.
After parring his opening two holes, he then birdied the fourth, fifth and sixth, to move to four under for the tournament. A dropped shot at eight was cancelled out by a birdie 11 but he then bogeyed the 12th to move back to three under.
Last Tuesday in Portmarnock, Rafferty returned the best gross score in the Winter Alliance when he birdied two of the last three holes for a 69 and on Sunday he once again produced some sparkling golf over the final three holes.
After birdieing the 17th, Rafferty hit a drive and an eight iron to set up a birdie on 18 and he then birdied the first, his last, to finish on six under and take the tournament by one shot.
It was his second victory in the competition having won it previously 2013 and he was delighted with the way he played and finished the final round.
‘It’s always nice to finish strong and to do it twice in a week is great. Winning the Laytown & Bettystown Scratch Cup in 2013 was a big breakthrough moment for me and it means a lot to have won it again,’ said Rafferty
While most of Ireland’s top amateurs are heading to Rosses Point this week for the West of Ireland Championship, Rafferty will heading to St Andrews in Scotland with Maynooth University for the R&A’s Scholars Championship.
ARDEE
SINGLES stableford played on Monday March 19th: 1st Sean McAufield 45pts, 2nd Oliver Sampson 38pts, 3rd Conor Meade 37pts.
Singles stableford played on Saturday March 17th: 1st Tony Hawkins 41pts, 2nd Ronan Phipps 40pts, 3rd John Travers 34pts.
ARDEELADIES
LADIES 18-hole stableford played on Wednesday March 14th: 1st Bernie Breen 44 pts, 2nd Susan Corcoran 38pts.
ASHFIELD
SENIORS result: 1st Martin Murphy, 2nd Micheal Joyce. There is a competition every Tuesday for ladies and gents - members €5, visitors €10 - commencing at 9.30pm.
CLOVERHILL
FOR a lot of our club players the prolonged Winter hibernation ceased this weekend, as the two day Spring like weather brought them back in numbers to compete in the 18 hole SinglesStableford. This was the opening competition in the Golfer of the Year contest, which is once again being generously sponsored by SpillAssist which is an Environmental Consultancy providing a comprehensive service of both advice and remediation in both domestic and commercial settings operating from 22 Rockstown Road, Armagh, County Armagh, BT60 2HF.
After threatening for so long and coming up short Raymond McCumiskey (21) finally strung it all together to take his overdue place in the winners enclosure. Raymond turned into the back 9 with a modest 21 points in hand but then went 2 better for the back 9 which gave him 44 points to knock long time leader Benny Tierney (10) from the winners perch by a single point. Benny had posted the lead in a hotly contested Saturday fourball but Raymond replied on Sunday morning with winning the fourball bragging rights and whatever comes with it definitely more important to them than the overall competition result. Third place with 42 points went to Christopher Reel (14). Easter weekend will see a Singles Stableford GOY competition in operation with play on either Saturday or Sunday. Easter Monday has a Bank Holiday Green Tee competition Visitors £12 Members £6.
Club Captain Paddy Malone will host his delayed Drive-in on the most suitable which is Sunday April 8 at 9-15, followed by a shotgun start Scramble at 9-30. Timesheet in clubhouse closes on Thursday April 5 to facilitate team selections.
Easter Monday Open Tee times can be booked through the Golfnet Booking system or by contacting the club at 30889374 or 30 889580. Entry Fee is £12 or £6 for members.
The Seniors were out in force last week as Thursday was the best weather wise that they had seen in months. The second round of the Spring League turned out to be very competitive with four players finishing with 25 points for the 12 holes played. The two Charlies, McShane and O Hare along with Joe Hazzard and Club President Pius Tierney were the quartet who had the leading score. Hopefully Round Three next Thursday will be played in similar ideal golfing weather.
The Ulster Cup matches against Ballyclare have been fixed for Sat April 7 @ Ballyclare 2pm and home the following week April 14 at 12 noon.
The All-Ireland Fourball team will be in action on the same two Saturday’s April 7 at home to Strabane and away on April 14 with a 12 noon tee-off time for both matches.
In the Cowdy competitions the juicy draw fell to our Sam Rutherford team (Combined 17 no less than 6 H/cap) who play Mourne at Royal County Down. Senior Cowdy (Max 5 H/cap) will take on Silverwood with our Junior Cowdy (18+ H/cap) up against Portadown. The Rossmore Cup will face Spa and just like our other three teams all four will be playing for a place in the quarter finals.
DUNDALK
LACK of sleep proved no obstacle to in-form Austin Shaw as he surged to victory in Sunday’s Singles Stableford competition which also doubled as Round 2 of the Winter League sponsored by Tiernan’s Centra Blackrock.
In the first 18 hole competition of the year, Shaw (9) had three points to spare over Neal MacKell (3) who had to settle for winning Category One and also recording the best gross score of the day with 37pts.
A passionate Dundalk FC supporter, Shaw travelled to the Showgrounds on Saturday night to watch Stephen Kenny’s side record a 2-0 victory over Sligo Rovers. He drove home after the match and, despite losing an hour’s sleep when the clocks went forward on Sunday morning, he still made the first tee for his dew-sweeping 08:12 start.
Any tiredness the nine handicapper might have felt were soon banished as opened with two three point pars followed by a two point bogey five at the third and a three point par at the fourth.
That left him on 11 points after the first four holes and then he missed holing his eight iron tee shot at the par three fifth by inches but the three points he gained for the tap in birdie brought him to 14pts for his round. Two pars on the back to back par fives yielded another five points and a one point bogey five at the eighth and a two point par at the ninth saw him turn for home on 22pt.
Three more pars and eight more points followed over the next three holes before a well struck nine wood into the heart of the green on the par three 13th set up his second three point birdie of the day.
A two point par at the 14th took Shaw to 35pts with four holes to go but disaster almost struck on the 15th when he drove into the trees but was fortunate to escape with a one point double bogey six. Shaw got that dropped point back at the 16th where he produced a three point par and he then parred 17 and 18 for a further four points to finish on superb score of 43pts and record his first victory of the season.
Donal Curran (12) took the Category Two prize and Conor Byrne (23) was the Category Three winner.
The final round of the Winter League, sponsored by Tiernan’s Centra Blackrock will take place