Stephen sweeps to victory at Ballymena Golf Club event

The Saturday event was won by Stephen Russell (6) with a total of 40 stableford points, and on a better second nine total from Mark Surgenor.

Russell scored four pars, four bogeys plus a birdie on the third for 18 points on the way out, while the tougher inward stretch saw Stephen notch six pars along with birdies at the 13th and 15th.

His lone dropped shot on the second nine came at the final hole as he amassed 22 points, which was one more than his fellow six-handicapper Surgenor.

Mark played the first eight holes in level par, only to drop two shots at the par five ninth for no points, while his other eight holes produced 19 points.

The second nine saw him add 21 points to that total from five pars, two bogeys and birdies at the 13th and 18th.

Third nett was won by Denis Stewart (15) with 39 points, of which the second half was responsible for 20, despite a non-score at the 13th. Overall Denis scored nine pars, including the final four holes.

Ken Herbison (20) claimed the fourth nett prize with 38 points, of which 20 came from the outward nine, whereas four holes on the inward nine saw him shed nine shots.

Fifth nett was Thomas Surgenor (12) with 37 points, which could have been more but for a non-score on the par three seventh but on the plus side, a birdie at the 16th hole was worth four points alone.

The final nett prize went to Allan Campbell (22) who returned 37 points but on a lesser last three hole total from Surgenor and he was left to rue a non-score at the par three 10th.

Steven Smyth (4) notched up another best gross prize with a total of 71 shots after a round of 12 pars, three bogeys, a double bogey at 15 and birdies at the seventh and 13th.

SUNDAY SWEEP

The Sunday sweep saw Gary McMullan (16) post the top score with 41 points.

Gary was six over gross on the first nine holes in which he collected 20 points and a very steady second nine was boosted by four points from a birdie at the 17th.

He finished one point ahead of runner-up Lawrence Kerr (16) who had four pars plus a handful of bogeys on the front nine holes to which he added five bogeys, a double bogey and a trio of pars.

Third nett was won by William Tuff (10) with 39 points with the outward nine - which included seven pars - supplying 20 of those.

John A Jamieson (6) produced the best gross card when he went around the course in three over par 71 shots.

The outward nine saw him score seven pars, a dropped shot at the second and a birdie at the seventh. The inward nine saw him score another seven pars, a bogey on the 10th, plus he dropped two shots on the 12th for a total of three over.