DESPITE THE RIBBING AUSTIN McGUIRE AND ANDY DENT WIN THE PAIRS BETTERBALL

The ribbing began on the 1st tee at Castletown Golf Club, but Dandara’s Managing Director Austin McGuire -shown above- responded by striping it down the middle, clipping it close and strutting off with a birdie. Nett birdies on the 5th and 6th, a par on the 8th, plus three vital points over the final two holes showed McGuire dutifully dovetailed to help build a winning score.
McGuire’s playing partner in the pairs betterball competition on Saturday was Andy Dent who had an extraordinary round, contributing 33 of their winning 47 points over just 12 holes. Apart from two birdies and four nett birdies,

Dent -shown above- landed a nett eagle on the 7th and an even more impressive nett hole-in-one albatross five-pointer on the par-four 14th.
Two teams were initially tied in second on 45 points. Husband and wife pairing Stephen and Linda Fisk warmed up with 20 outward points. They made up for a disappointing nil-pointer on the 9th by covering the back-nine in six-under-par for 25 points. Linda’s nett eagle on the 11th having been equalled by Stephen’s efforts on the 15th.

William Laughlin with his younger brother David did it the other way round, their two four-pointers purloined early on. Out in seven-under-gross they amassed 25 points, but a mere two-under-par inward leg only translated to 20 points. Consequently, this left the Laughlins in third place.

There were more family connections in fourth place. Andi Howland and his father Chris combined to collect 44 points from their eight-under-par round. Six of their eleven nett birdies were carded on the back-nine and this was enough to consign Gary Ashe and Peter Easthope to fifth place as their 44 points was evenly apportioned.

Once again PJ Vermeulen powered his way to a box of balls. His back-tees drive had to travel 76 yards before it passed the point from which those off the yellow tees had hit. Never-the-less Vermeulen launched the longest drive on the 7th which of course he went on to birdie.

Chris Till continued his habit of edging out the president by replacing his name to win nearest-the-pin (NTP) on the 8th, last week it occurred on the 16th. Jeff Magee made his mark on the 13th, and the aforementioned Dent duly augmented his club-house credit with his pin-seeker on the 16th.

Having been postponed three times now, it is hoped that course and weather conditions will be favourable for the Steve Keegan Memorial medal to take place on Saturday.

Finally, congratulations to Robin Dawson, captain of Peel GC for his highly successful and novel campaign to raise funds for IOM Anti Cancer Association. It was a pleasure to participate in the Peel v Rest of the Island Inter-Club Captains Trophy on Friday (16th October). For the record, Peel won 10.5 points to 9.5 and the winning pair with a nett 60 betterball total was Dan Williams and Chris Till from Castletown GC. Chris had to dash off before the presentation, so Dan stepped up to receive the prize from Peel’s captain.
MALCOLM LAMBERT

MICHELLE HOOKER ADDS THE BESSIE CAIN ROSE BOWL TO HER COLLECTION

Due to greens maintenance at Castletown Golf Club, the Steve Keegan Memorial was postponed until next weekend. In its place on Saturday a four-person Texas Scramble was arranged. Only 16 teams participated. Some groups only had three players, others preferred to play their usual Saturday swindle, swapping the odd bob or two.

In the scramble three teams finished at ten-under-par with nett 62s. Starting with back-to-back birdies, Neil Cartwright, John Ledwidge, Alan Rowe, and Terry Ditchfield raced into an early lead. Stuart Campbell, Andrew Dent, Ross Byrne and Chesterson drew level by the 4th with their second birdie of the day. Draining another on the 9th, Campbell and Co; turned in the lead at three-under on 34.

At that stage the captain’s team, who became the eventual winners, were two behind on 36 with Cartwright’s crew safely in second on 35 after two late birdies redeemed their bogeys on the 6th and 7th.

With the wind helping for much of the inward leg there were birdie chances galore. Campbell’s team fired four to finish at seven-under, but their 65/62 was the weakest on countback calculation, so they slipped to third overall.

An enterprising eagle on the 10th from Ditchfield’s delightful drive helped his team secure second place with their own 65/62. Birdies bagged on the 12th, 14th and 18th having boosted their back-nine tally to five under-par.

Captain Phil Games was accompanied by Chris and Andi Howland plus huge-hitting Michael Horsthuis, who’s drives dutifully delivered four birdies. Three more arose from six starting shots struck by Andi. The captain, whilst the first to complete his tee-shot quotient, was quiet on the birdie front.

Chris Howland started the winning team’s back-nine birdie blitz on the 10th. Five more followed, giving them a gross score of 36 + 30 for 66/62. With a team handicap of (4) the 18th was a stroke-hole which, ultimately, was the deciding factor in their favour.
The aforementioned Dent bagged the bonus balls for his longest drive on the 2nd. Gez Bradley, Peter Easthope and Chris Till took the others for their accuracy on the 8th, 13th and 16th respectively.

On Sunday in calmer conditions, the ladies were out for a shotgun start at 10:45. They were competing for the Bessie Cain Rose Bowl, an open competition, which last year was won by Nicky Vincent from Douglas GC. The memorial bogey competition, the favourite format for Bessie who was the Island Ladies Champion in 1969, was won by Michelle Hooker -shown above- with a (+1) score. This was two strokes clear of the field. Leighton Cup holder Hooker’s winning round of 93/74 included seven pars, five nett pars and six nett bogeys or worse.

There was a two-way tussle for second place between Island Champion Emma Noon, who won the nearest-the-pin prize on the 13th, and Jane Holt who won the Rose Bowl back in 2024. Both carded (-1). Noon shot a fantastic four-over par 78 and Holt belied her higher handicap by posting par on half a dozen holes. Based on their back-nines, Noon’s (-2) was one better than Holt’s (-3).
Diane Neale was on her own in fourth place on (-2). Club champion Sarah Blackman, who won the longest drive prize on the 12th, just held off Hannah Noon for fifth place. They both finished on (-3). Heather McKenna, whose home club is Port St. Mary, was the highest placed visitor.

Gavin Cleator, Bessie Cain’s grandson, kindly helped sponsor the event again this year and attended the clubhouse to present the prizes.

MALCOLM LAMBERT