Hurricane havoc

With so many days of heavy rain this month and a few lightning storms thrown in, the competition schedule at many clubs has been badly disrupted. However, the difficulties faced in reorganising events are nothing compared to those endured by the unfortunate Steve Mays, tournament director for the self-styled World Amateur Handicap Championship in South Carolina.

With a field of over 5,000 playing on 65 different courses in the Myrtle Beach area, he could have done without Hurricane Dennis which forced the abandonment of the first round. Then he had to deal with a flurry of complaints over the slow posting of scores both at the tournament venues and on the internet.

"When the first round was cancelled our computer system broke down and after the tournament was over we had to re-input all the scores to the original program to post them on the internet. When we were getting ready to put them on the site we were forced to evacuate by Hurricane Floyd," May explained.

Among the massive field was Gweedore President John Breslin who finished 13th in his Seniors section with nett scores of 67 at Wicked Stick and Calabash and a 75 at Heather Glen.