Fergie in box seat in Harry Harper

The 12-handicapper has opened up a three-shot gap at the top of the standings with just one round to go.

Having had a level par 68 in the first round, he stepped up the pace when he returned a nett 62 but he may just lose a shot on handicap going into the final 18.

An outward nine hole score of two over gross included a birdie at the fifth, while a second nine of four over gave him equal nines of 37 shots less his handicap, giving him a nett 62 and a total of six under nett for his two rounds.

Second place on the day went to Fred Johnston (21) with a nett 63 which put him on a two-round total of one under par 135.

Fred got off to a flier having had two pars, a birdie and a double bogey on the third and after nine holes he was five over gross.

The back nine was much harder on the handicap as he had three double bogeys in the last four holes to end that nine 11 over but Fred could well be a danger in the final round.

The third best score of the day came from Gerard McCann (16) who had the best nett 64 on a better second nine from Paul Stevenson (8).

Despite having had a double bogey on the fourth and eighth, McCann was through the first nine in six over gross. The second nine was also played in six over but the difference was that he dropped three shots on the 11th and he played the last six holes in two over.

Stevenson had seven pars, one bogey on the fifth plus a birdie on the ninth on the front nine and he was still level par after five holes on the back nine but his last four holes were bogey, double bogey, bogey, par for a four over total and a nett 64 but neither he nor McCann made the final cut of the 20 best scores.

John Bartley (19) was fifth on the day with a nett 65 and he had a double bogey on the sixth, 11th, 14th plus a triple bogey on the 17th which transpired to be very expensive.

The final nett prize on the day was won by 17-handicapper Dennis Stewart who returned a nett 66. Again, the double bogeys were hard on him at the second, fifth, 10th, 11th and 17th but his card contained eight pars.

Steven Smyth again returned the best gross card of three over 71, having been two over on the outward nine and a lone dropped shot on the back nine 16th.

This, added to his first round 67, puts him in fifth place overall after two rounds. Steven’s card showed him having 13 straight pars from the third to the 15th inclusive.

The 20 qualifiers for the final round were: 130 - Ferguson McKelvey; 133 - Michael Scroggie; 135 - Fred Johnston, William Russell, Steven Smyth, Gary Black 135, Trevor Hamill; 136 - Sam Murray, David Smith; 139 - Eric Sands, Peter McCann, Geoff Stewart; 140 - John McElroy, Donald Smyth, Wesley Smyth, Harry McGarry; 141 - Alex Stewart, Brian Craig; 142 - Denis Stewart, Nigel Thompson, Richard Armstrong.

SUNDAY OPEN STABLEFORD

The Sunday open stableford was for the Missing Persons charity and Shane Duffin returned the top score of the day of 39 points.

A front nine total of 19 came from eight holes as he had a non-score on the ninth but the shot-a-hole handicap player did better on the back nine where he scored 20 points. This was boosted by Shane having birdies on the 14th and 16th which was worth four points on each and he totalled 14 points from the last five holes and that included one of three double bogeys on the homeward nine.

Visitor Stephen McAuley (7) scored 37 points to be second, while Pat Kerr (14) was third nett with 35 points and having scored 19 on the front nine, he could only manage 16 on the way back.

The ladies’ prize was won by K Short (36), a member of Antrim Golf Club, who had a fine return of 39 points.

WEDNESDAY OPEN

The Wednesday open was won by WH Miskimmon (19), from Belvoir Park, with 35 points, two clear of Stephen Campbell (11) and the best gross card came from Adrian Gough, who covered the course in 76 shots.

LADIES

Jill Crockard won the final ladies competition of the summer at Ballymena Golf Club last Tuesday.

Her success in the Harvest Basket came thanks to a haul of 33 points, which saw her edge out Betty Penny on a better back nine.

Betty's consolation was victory in Section A, while Elaine Mark (32) won Section B and Daphne Glass (30) took the Section C prize.