Paul Downey is the top man in the Bin 66 competition

Everyone loves this competition because the prizes are always spectacular.

Whenever you score in the 40’s, you naturally enough think you have a good chance of a prize. It doesn’t always happen.Stanley Dickson, Kieran McGreevey, David Cherry and Colin Dodds all had 40 points and didn’t feature in the prizes.

Willie Dickson had 41 points and he too went home empty-handed.

The saddest story of all was that of Jim Matthews. He bogeyed the last four holes to finish with 43 points, two behind the winner, and he missed out on a prize.

The winner, with a superb score of 45 points, was Paul Downey (11). Paul really takes his golf game very seriously and it was only a matter of time before he won a major. And he has got his handicap down to single figures so it’s a win-win situation for Paul.

Kenny Baines (18) was runner-up with 44 points. This was Kenny’s best round of the season so far. He didn’t win but he will pick up a valuable prize. Connor Doran (+1) won the best gross with a 2 under par round of 67. As a matter of interest, Rory Leonard has won the best gross four times this season. Andrew Quinn and Rory Madeley have both won it on three occasions. Luke Woods, Jonathan Ward and now Connor Doran have each won it twice. There are dozens of players who have never won it.

Back to the Bin 66. Roy McAfee (12) won the low section with 40 points. Gareth Magee (7) was second in this section with 39 points. Seamus McGrath (17) and Alan Dale (14) both came very close to winning the Bin 66 outright. Seamus had 44 points and he won the middle section. Alan had 43 points and he was runner-up in the middle section.

How about this for a hard luck story! Gerry Blevins (21) started with two dings, no points after two holes. And yet he finished with 43 points, only two off the lead. Gerry had to be content with winning the high section.Aidan Lavery (19) was second in the high section with 41 points.

Finally, the seniors’ prize went to Robert Haire (19) with 40 points.