It was perhaps fitting that the inaugural running of the Steve Keegan Trophy was won by our newly crowned club champion at Castletown Golf Club on Saturday. Andrew Challenor (+4) carefully crafted a two under par 70 and then attended the lunchtime prize presentation to receive the TISE sponsored club championship trophy from club member and TISE chairman Anderson Whamond.

Challenor’s glorious gross score on Saturday netted down, or up in his case, to 74 which placed him 21^st on that basis. However, the club, with the agreement of Steve’s widow Linda, had wished to reflect Steve’s affection for traditional Strokeplay golf. Hence, Challenor’s three birdies and just one bogey put him three clear of the field. Poignantly, Challenor’s name will be the first to be placed on his former playing partner’s memorial trophy.

Second on the day, with a gross score of 73, was the immediate past club champion Steve Boyd (+1) who had bagged back-to-back birdies on a sub-par front nine. Out of the prizes, but worthy of a mention, were Gez Bradley and Ben Smaller who grossed 74 and 76 respectively.

However, there was another gross 76 which deserved more than a mention. William Laughlin (16) may have finished fifth overall, but on a nett basis he won by a mile! Two bogeys and birdies saw him turn at level par and, with just four more bogeys, he finished on a fantastic nett 60. Consequently, Laughlin’s WHS has been slashed by 3.5 shots.

There was a two-way tie for the remaining nett prizes. Both Frankie Doherty (7) and former captain Mike Horsthuis (10) carded nett 70s, but Doherty didn’t dally on the run-in. His tidy three over par back nine was twice as good as Horsthuis who, unfortunately, dropped three strokes over the final two holes.

At the lunchtime presentation Andrew Gerrard took the opportunity to thank all those who had helped him during his year of office. There had been much praise for the club, the course and staff following the Northern Counties Senior’s event. It was noted that over £3,700 had been raised for the captains’ chosen charity following the recent golf day and Peter Robertson had generated a further £370+ for ‘The Friends of Noble’s Hospital’ as a result of completing the MFX Limited End-to-End Walk.

Simcocks CEO Phil Games was on hand to congratulate Mike Travers who won the Simcocks Stableford with 46 points back in June. Although his playing partner Adam Mackay was absent, Dan Williams collected the Alan Christian Cup from the captain, who, in the absence of club president Steve McGowan, also presented the President’s Cup to Damion Harrison. 

Sam Skelton received the TISE senior club championship trophy, then praised our new PGA professional Martin Chalcraft who he suggested had, ‘succeeded in teaching an old dog some new tricks’.

At the culmination of the presentation the captain gave a fulsome account of the winner’s ability and potential, when handing the W. Kirkpatrick Singles Matchplay Trophy to the worthy winner, young Guy McGuinness.    

This coming Saturday sees the fifth and final round of this season’s series of Suntera month medals. Finally, lady golfers from across the island should note that at 10:30am on Wednesday 4^th October the Bessie Cain Rose Bowl shotgun start competition takes place at the Links. So far, 35 competitors have signed up. Contact the pro-shop on 822211 if you wish to join them.

MALCOLM LAMBERT