Four hole scoring bursts fire Martin to victory

​Paul Martin won the Singles Stableford competition played over the weekend of March 22 and 23 but it’s unlikely he thought he would only win by one point after he carded a fantastic score of 49pts.
But the minimum margin was all that separated him from the in-form Johannes Steenvoorden when the dust had settled and the leading pair were out of sight of the rest of the field.
Playing off 32, Martin produced a round that included two incredible bursts of scoring. The first came around the turn as he produced four consecutive four-point pars from the eighth to the 11ths. Then, as he neared home, he reeled off four consecutive three point bogeys from the 15th to the 18th for a 12pts return that took him to 49pts having gone out in 22pts and come home in 27pts.
Steenvoorden, whose playing handicap was 29, has been playing well of late and apart from blanking the par five sixth, which Martin also failed to score on, he hardly put a foot wrong with a round that saw him go out in 25pts and back in 23pts for a score of 48pts. His card featured four-point pars at the seventh and ninth, three-point pars at the second, 13th and 14th, and three-point bogeys at the first, third, fourth, eighth, 11th, 15th and 18th.
The next best score was 43pts which was recorded by three players, two of them playing in Division Two where Tony O’Connell (16) pipped Andrew Cumiskey (17) on countback by 23pts to 22pts.
Bill McCarthy (30) won Division 3 with his 43pts but he only had one point to spare from Adrian Kenny (22) while in Division 1 Paolo Cordiano (12) shot 42pts to beat Stephen Lynch (9) by one point.
Caolan Rafferty warmed up for his defence of the Laytown & Bettystown Scratch Cup by shooting 43pts for the best gross score of the weekend. 
Saturday, 22 March and Sunday, 23 March - Singles Stableford – Overall: Paul Martin (32) 49pts, Johannes Steenvoorden (29) 48pts. Division 1: Paolo Cordiano (12) 42pts, Stephen Lynch (9) 41pts. Division 2: Tony O'Connell (16) 43/23pts, Andrew Cumiskey (17) 43/22pts. Division 3: Bill McCarthy (30) 43pts, Adrian Kenny (22) 42pts. Gross Recognition: Caolan Rafferty 43pts.