| Having received a bye in the first round, the Rockmount boys were out finding form approaching our first Fred Daly match of the season against Galgorm Castle. Playing in the first round at home was: Adam Robinson, Jordan Patmore, David Turner, Ruairi Wilson, Darren McClure, Gary Smith and Russell McDonald. The team played great golf as a whole, notable performances coming from Jordan, out first, who battled hard down the last six holes to produce a well deserved half. Russell McDonald also played outstandingly well, to beat an 11 handicapper, playing above and beyond his current handicap of 18 in his first Fred Daly match. The team produced an excellent result with a 5 ½ to 1 ½ lead at the half-way stage with all players bar myself winning their match. At Galgorm Castle the team played very well across the board, notably with Adam producing an excellent win down the 18th hole, to add to the wins made by Gary, Russell and myself along with a fighting half-match from Darren. The result was a 4 ½ to 2 ½ win away from home, to secure our place in the third round with a victory of 10 points to 4. In our third round we came up against the distinguished Balmoral Fred Daly team. Having handicaps ranging from 4 to 9 we knew that we were up against stiff competition from the Balmoral boys. At home, our team performed well against this tough challenge with Adam and Jordan leading strongly from the front, producing two excellent wins. Darren and Gary followed this by producing wins of their own, with Russell only just missing out on a half-match at the last, after a super round of golf against a competitor of half his handicap. With a lead of 4 points to 3 at the half-way stage we knew that we needed to perform well at our next encounter with the Balmoral team. When the time of our away leg came we had prepared well for our second match. The Rockmount boys played well away from home, but unfortunately did not have the form of the Balmoral side going in to our matches. Sadly with Darren being the only Rockmount man able to secure a win at Balmoral we were beaten by the Balmoral side 9 points to I would like to extend my thanks to team captain Michael Clarke who did everything in his power to prepare us for our upcoming matches and who has been an essential asset to our teams performances as a Junior section over the last 3 years. I also thank all players and caddies for their effort and perseverance over our matches. Ruairi Wilson Junior Captain |
