Rainey Golfers Complete Ulster Double
Last June the Rainey Endowed achieved remarkable success in winning the Ulster Junior Golf Championship at Carrickfergus. It was a fitting climax to what had been the most successful golfing season for many years. This season saw the team miss out in the qualifying section of the Darren Clarke Golf League by just half a point and reach the finals of the NEELB School’s competition as top qualifier. This will be staged at Castlerock next Monday.
On Monday 12th the team went to Silverwood in Portadown hoping to put up a good show as current Ulster Champions. The team contained three of last year’s successful quartet, Adam Moore, Mark Rooney and Chris Pickering with newcomer Cahal Lavery in only his first season taking the fourth spot. 32 schools from across the province teed off with Rainey in the final group alongside Ballymena Academy, Rathmore Grammar and Ballyclare High. It became clear early on that if they were going to retain their title they would have to outscore last year’s total. One school came in with 120 points from their three best cards to be followed by two more on the same score. Adam Moore was first to finish with his best score of the year, 41 points to be followed by Mark Rooney with 37 points for a total of 78. The situation was quite simple, one of the remaining two players had to come in with 42 points, a tough target at any time but especially so in a competition of this nature. Third home was Chris Pickering who had finished second highest last year with an incredible 43 points followed by Cahal Lavery with 39 points to leave the boys with a three card total of 123 points thus achieving a remarkable double. Chris took second place overall again just 1 shot behind the top score. This was a tremendous performance by the boys especially with the last two not being able to benefit fully from their handicap due to the handicap limit set. The boys were presented with the trophy by the Chairman of the Ulster Branch and in school by the Chairman of the Board of Governors, Mr Jack Moore with badges to commemorate their success.
