Dermot shines in Spain

BALLYMENA affiliated golf professional Dermot McElroy narrowly missed out on a first Challenge Tour victory at the Challenge de Espana played at the Club de Golf Playa Serena in Almeria at the weekend.

McElroy was seven shots off the lead after three rounds having scored 67, 71, and 68, before producing a blistering last round of 62, eight under par, to leave him in the lead at the conclusion of his round.

McElroy would eventually be joined on his twelve under total by former DP World Tour winner Andrea Pavan, and twenty year old French amateur Martin Couvra.

These three players would contest a play off utilising the eighteenth hole which started with all three parring the first extra hole before Pavan was eliminated on the next hole.

That left McElroy and Couvra to go back to the eighteenth again and this time Couvra would emerge the winner with a par to Dermot’s bogey.

A sad ending but a magnificent performance from the 30-year- old Ballymena player and one which earned him valuable points in the Road to Mallorca tournament in his quest to qualify for the DP World Tour.

In a highly competitive race which includes a number of former DP World Tour competition winners McElroy moved up the rankings significantly and will look to cement a place at the finale played at the start of November at the Club de Golf Alcanda in Mallorca.

Tullymore Cup

Meanwhile, at Ballymena Golf Club itself the Tullymore Cup was the trophy at stake in the latest Saturday competition.

It was played in the against par format where players gain a point for a net score better than par and lose one for net scores above par.

The veteran Campbell Wade (20) was the winner with a very good score of 5 up.

Wade opened his round with a par for an early point but lost points at both the second and the third holes.

Another par at the fourth took him back to level before going back to minus one with a six on the tricky par four fifth.

A bogey five at the sixth was good enough for a point and this was followed by another two points for pars at the seventh and eighth before a closing bogey left him 2 up after nine holes.

The second half of Wade’s round got off to a good start with points scored on the tenth and eleventh before a run of bogeys to the fifteenth tee box left him on 4 up.

Pars on both the fifteenth and sixteenth holes took him to 6 up but a closing six would reduce this to 5 up which was good enough to secure the trophy.

Second place went to Millar Eagleson (15) who finished one point back on 4 up.

Eagleson birdied the first and then parred the next three to be 3 up after four holes. Seven shots on the fifth and six on the sixth reduced this to 1 up which was how he finished the front nine after gaining another point on the eighth but losing it immediately on the ninth.

The back nine opened with a par before two consecutive sevens meant he was back to level again.

Eagleson then hit a purple patch scoring points at each of the next four holes starting with a birdie on the par four thirteenth.

A double bogey on seventeen was cancelled out with a closing par to leave him on 4 up and the strong back nine was good enough to place him ahead of the Adam Gregg (10), Noel Kidd (17) and John Riddles (10) who all finished on 4 up with the order decided on the countback process.

Third place Gregg (10) had five birdies on his card coming at the first, seventh, ninth, sixteenth and seventeenth holes.

The order of the remaining prize winners was Noel Kidd (17) 4 up, John Riddles (10) 4 up, Ryan Foster (10) 3 up, Brian Russell (22) 3 up and Colm Cunningham (15) 3 up.

There were eighteen twos with John Riddles and Damian Kelly both recording two apiece but these were devalued by Colm Cunningham having a hole-in-one at the short pitch hole seventh.

* This week the Jimmy Gribben Memorial is scheduled and is played in the Stableford format.