One-hundred-and-sixty-eight players contested a stableford competition at County Armagh Golf Club on 25 July but no one could match the heroics of winner, Roger Duggan.
In the event generously supported by Irwins Quality Aggregates, Roger accumulated an outstanding 43 points to secure his three-point triumph.
Duggan dispensed with the front nine in just 35 strokes, having been boosted in no small part by a sensational sequence of two birdies and four pars from the 3rd to 8th.
A third birdie arrived at the 17th, and this was a timely one as it instantly dismissed the fears of a late collapse that may have begun to fester after Roger’s only double bogey of the day at 16.
In reality, nothing of the sort was to materialise as champion Duggan coasted to a majestic gross 76 and a new handicap of 12.
Roger’s closest challenger in the Saturday rankings was Stewart Stevenson, whose exquisite one-under-par offering garnered 40 points. Stevenson birdied the 7th, 10th, 12th and 14th and landed the overall runner-up award, which is never a mean feat for such a low handicapper.
Elsewhere, Anthony Conlon backed up his PGA Tankard conquest of the previous Saturday with a category 1 victory this time out. In-form Anthony’s performance peaked with a birdie up on the 10th and his pleasingly symmetrical scorecard showed 38 shots on each nine.
Reaching the same 40-point total as Conlon but losing out on a break of tie was Kris Calvert, who posted a brilliant gross 75 that included a dozen pars and a birdie at Crossways.
In category 2, Geoffrey McCarten was admirably unperturbed by the no-score with which he began his round. Geoffrey dusted himself off and proceeded to rack up a tremendous 38 points to prevail among the 13-18 cohort. In second position here was the equally creditworthy Michael Wasson, who registered a pair of pars on each nine and was defeated by McCarten only on a tiebreaker.
Elsewhere, Anthony Mone had little to moan about in category 3, where his splendid 40-point haul proved without compare. Three points behind Mone was second-placed David Spratt, who obtained eight of his 37 points from back-to-back birdies at the 6th and 7th.
Meanwhile, Philip Kelly claimed the gross accolade courtesy of a consummate two-under-par knock that featured a quality quartet of birdies and just two dropped shots.
Four days later on 29 July, Kevin McElvanna set about the midweek tournament with his typical surgical precision and duly fired a stunning 41-point salvo. The Madden man’s winning outing culminated in a steady-handed birdie at the last.
On the same Wednesday, Paddy Hicks’s satisfyingly neat-and-tidy display of seven pars and 11 bogeys earned him 38 points. And having seemingly shaken off his self-diagnosed but often debilitating ‘Arsenalitis’, Hicks soared to the summit of the over-50s standings as a result.
Finally, Rodney Villiers was the star of the over-70s contingent by virtue of a peerless 39-point plunder that featured a nap-hand of pars.
