Hamill wins final summer competition of season

Photographed last week were Sean, Anne Marie and Eamon McKillop, of the Spar, Frys Road with golfers Cormick McQuillan and John Burns who played in the Spar Frys Road Golf Tournament at Ballymena Golf Club. INBT 44-820H

Having been postponed from an earlier date, due to one of the rare wet Saturdays, the winner was Gareth Hamill (15) with 42 points.

The majority of the prizewinners were early starters with heavy rain hampering the efforts of those who started later in the day.

Gareth, who had teed off at 9.30am, had five bogeys plus a par in the opening six holes, before completing his opening nine birdie, bogey, birdie for 21 points.

Into the back nine with a trio of bogeys, Gareth completed his round with four pars and two bogeys for a further 21 points.

Second-placed Michael McGarry was the only prizewinner to play his round in the afternoon but it didn’t seem to deter him with a birdie, bogey, birdie start en route to 22 points, to which he added a further 19 points, aided by a birdie on the final hole.

Thompson Eccles (16) scored equal nines of 20 points with a second nine of eight fours marred by a costly non-score on the 12th.

Despite that, his efforts over the last six holes were enough to push Lawrence Kerr (13) into fourth place after he, too, had equal nines of 20 points, with bogeys on the final two holes stopping him from finishing higher.

Fifth nett prize was won by William Greer with 39 points, four of which came from a birdie on the penultimate hole.

The final nett prize went to Maurice Harkin (21) with 37 points, 19 of which came on the homeward stretch.

The best gross score came from Steven Smyth who completed the course in four over 72 shots.

SPAR OPEN

The Wednesday open stableford, sponsored by Spar, was won by John Burns (14), a member of Massereene Golf Club, with 37 points.

Second place went to Dylan Cole (15) with 36 points from equal nines of 18 points, including a birdie on the third.

Ferguson McKelvey (10) scored 35 points to claim third prize.

SUNDAY OPEN

The Sunday open stableford saw eight-handicapper Sean McElroy complete the course in one over par gross for 43 points, including 23 on the front nine.

He had five points to spare over second-placed Clifford Worthington (13), while Blair Jamieson (9) won the best gross prize with a 75 shots.