Clane's Connors off to Moyvalley

FANTASY GOLF 2012:AFTER HOLDING on to top spot on our overall leaderboard since we started up four weeks ago, Noel Connors won't have far to travel for his monthly prize, our Clane manager having earned himself a fourball at Moyvalley Golf Club.

With the help of top 10 finishes by George Coetzee, Alexander Noren and Adam Scott at the Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea, Noel picked up 67 points in week four, enough to hold off the challenge of Gavin Doyle.

Only just, though. Gavin also had Coetzee, Noren and Scott on board, but Marcus Fraser’s share of third at the tournament helped him close the gap at the top from 18 to nine points. His reward for finishing second in our first monthly competition is, then, a fourball at the New Forest Golf Club in Tyrrellspass, Co Westmeath.

Another 11 points behind on the overall leaderboard is Bryan Crowley, from Carrigaline, whose team earned a highly impressive 88 points at the Ballantine’s, the 66th top score of the week – which is reasonable going considering there are 11,500 teams in the competition.

Gullane also featured Fraser, Scott and Coetzee, but benefited from a good weekend for Miguel Angel Jimenez (tied for fifth), Ian Poulter and YE Yang chipping in with another eight points each. Bryan, then, takes third, the prize for which is a €100 ‘credit card’ for the driving range at the Spawell Golf Centre in Templeogue.

None of our managers, though, could match Conor McAllister in week four, his line-up, like so many others, featuring Fraser, Scott, Coetzee, Jimenez and Noren, Victor Dubuisson making the difference in the end, the Frenchman tying for third. He had, mind you, led the tournament, finishing seven shots behind Bernd Wiesberger in the end, but it was still enough for Conor to take our weekly prize of a Fantasy Golf polo shirt and some other goodies.

Next in the schedule is the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, which might just prompt one or two of you to sign up Rory McIlroy, who, you might remember, had a half decent time of it at the tournament two years ago. He was 66 to 1 to win on that occasion, good luck finding similar odds this time around.

More than a few of our big guns, and most expensive players, return to action this week, among them Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood. Mickelson is Noel’s choice from that selection, so we’ll see how he fares.

If you haven’t taken the plunge yet in the transfer market you can do so today, naturally enough before the action starts at Quail Hollow – this week’s transfer password for the website is LOUTH.