Birdies flock in as Jonathan wins

Strangely enough, Jonathan hasn’t won too many major competitions at Banbridge. This year, he has won two opens at Greenore and two more at Concra Wood.

This win on Saturday was his first at Banbridge. And he did it in style.

Jonathan had five birdies, at holes 2,6,8,9 and 15. He lost a ball at the fifth hole and that was his only mistake. He was round in 67 gross which gave him a winning score of nett 63.

Philip Strong (21) led the competition for most of the day with a nett 64.

He started poorly and was 11 over par after 6 holes. Philip settled himself and played the remaining holes brilliantly. Birdies at holes 9 and 14 really helped his score.

He missed very short putts on holes 17 and 18. If one of them had dropped, Philip would have won. That’s golf for you.

Colin McDonald (15) took third place with a nett 64. He had a brilliant finish to his round.

Colin birdied 15 and 16 and then parred 17 and 18. That lifted him out of the pack into third place.

Rory Leonard (+1) won the best gross prize with a one under par 68.

John Parkes (13) was in top form as he won the seniors prize with a nett 64.

John’s scorecard was close to perfect except for an ugly triple bogey 8 at the 14th hole. If John had managed to par that hole, he would have won the competition by two shots.

Brian Shannon finished 6, 5, for a nett 64. That was sad.

Trevor Mulholland had 4 bogeys in the last 5 holes and he still finished with a nett 65.

Seamus Rooney and Michael Robinson both came close with nett 65’s.

But, at the end of the day, it was Jonathan Ward’s name at the top of the leader board and he was a very deserving winner.

All the players would like to thank Paul Magee for sponsoring the competition in memory of his father.