In one of the closest Captain’s Days in years,Mick McCabe emerged victorious in testingconditions at Strandhill GC last Saturdaythanks to a tremendous final nine of 31 nett.Only four shots separated the 21 qualifierswho headed out in the evening for the shootout,and in the end only three shotsseparated the top-10 finishers.

And as the Captain, Eddie Rushe, observedthe action along with a great crowd inStrandhill GC, many of whom also had oneeye on Sligo’s magnificent Connacht semifinalwin over Galway in Markievicz Park, itwas unclear until very near the end who wasgoing to win. Peter Lynch and MichaelHenry were tied for the lead after 18 holes,shooting a pair of 66s that were remarkablescores in such difficult conditions.

For most of the day that was good enoughto separate them from everyone else by twoshots. Henry was steady all the way in hisscore, while Lynch recovered from aquintuple-bogey eight on the 14th, playingmagnificently and finishing well for his 66.Mark Wehrly looked like he was heading foran early shower after being four over for thefirst four, but he recovered with a birdie atthe fifth and straight pars from the sixth tothe 18th to join them in the final three.

Behind, Ronnie Conlon, Seamus Howley,Ronnie Doyle, Eamon Howley, Alan Lillisand Larry Culkin all returned 68s, leavingthem well in the hunt.Jim Branley, Padraig Watters, Noel Dykesand the in-form Philip Osbourne, who wasleading qualifier the previous Sunday, shot69s. Fred Litherland, Paddy Martin, MickMcCabe, Aidan Heffernan and HughGallagher all posted 70s, also good enough tomake the final 21, while Henry Parke,Donnie McGowan and John Stewart weregrateful for their good play on the back nineholes in their 71s, advancing on thecountback.

Indeed, McGowan emerged as an earlychallenger, chipping into the hole on the 11thfor a birdie and posting a very formidabletarget of 101.5 after his best-of-the-evening30.5 that could have been even better but forthree double-bogeys.

McCabe, however, followed by playingsteadily and making amends for a falteringfinish in the morning in a round that heldpromise. His 31 for the nine holes edged himhalf a shot ahead of McGowan,. After thefirst few holes, the most likely contenders tobeat that number were Philip Osbourne,Alan Lillis, Peter Lynch and Mark Wehrly.

Aidan Heffernan also mounted a concertedcharge in the evening, carding 33.5 to vaulthim up into fourth place. Osbourne fell backwith three dropped shots on the final threeholes to finish one behind McCabe, whileLillis saw his challenge ended at thetoughest-of-the-day 16th, where he had teedoff as the leader but carded a nine.

Lynch, too, had it in his hands but finishedwith an eight at the 10th to drop back intothe pack. Wehrly’s chances were all butdashed when he found bunkers on the ninthand 10th. In the end he needed to hole out hisseven iron second shot at the 18th to take thetitle, but it wasn’t to be.

McCabe adds this Captain’s Day victory tohis Winter League success some 12 yearsago. For Captain Eddie Rushe and his family,it was a tremendous evening with a bigcrowd partying well into the night, ate

RESULTS

Winner, Mick McCabe 101

2nd, Donnie McGowan 101.5

3rd, Philip Osbourne 102

Gross, Mark Wehrly 102

4th, Aidan Heffernan 103.5

5th, Padraig Watters 103.5

6th, Ronnie Conlon 103.5

7th, Jim Branley 104

8th, Eamon Howley 104

9th, Peter Lynch 104

10th, Michael Henry 104

Past Captain, Jimmy Noone

Non-Qualifiers

1st, Michael McTernan

2nd, Ian Fox

3rd, Martin Campion

Captain’s Prize to the Seniors

1st, Alan Lillis 103.5

2nd, Fred Litherland 104.5

Captain’s Prize to the Juniors, TristanProbst

(LADIES BRANCH)

The winners of the open day sponsored byBurkes Chemist Strandhill were 1st ClaireMcLoughlin 45pts, 2nd Therese Cosgrove 40pts, Gross Marianna Little 24pts 3rd EnaCahill 38pts,4th Kathleen Vesay 38pts FrontNine Eileen Cullinan 23pts, Back nine ValCummaford 29pts.

The winners of the 10 hole competitionwere 1st Kay Durkan 20pts, 2nd CatherineRaftery 20pts.The competition for Captains Prize to theLadies was played on Thursday 1st Thewinners were 1st Brigid Glynn 68nett, 2ndMary Greene 73nett, 3rd Therese Cosgrove73nett, 4th Sheila McCrann 73nett.The competition for the Past CaptainsTrophy was played on Monday 28th June thewinners were 1st Pat Mooney 28pts, 2ndMary Coyne 3rd Mary J Keane 4th ValCummaford.

The 18 hole competition sponsored byChurch St Gallery on Monday 28th were 1stUrsula Hughes 38pts,2nd Kathleen Vesay37pts,3rd Ann Cox 36pts.The 10 hole competition held on Tuesday15th was won by 1st Sue McCrory/IsabellaHowley 30pts,2nd Caroline Peacock/ConnieNoone 30pts, 3rd ImeldaMcSharry/Catherine Raftery 30pts, 4th PatMooney/Betty Ruddy 29pts.

The results of the 10 hole competition heldon Tuesday 29th were Cat A 1st MaryArchibald 21pts,2nd Angela Stewart 20pts3rd Nuala Niland 20pts.Cat B 1st SueMcCrory 24pts,2nd Una Keaney 21 pts 3rdIsabel Howley 20pts.The competition on Thursday is sponsoredby Southern Hotel.We wish our Lady Captain Breege a verysuccessful and enjoyable day on Lady