Third Ulster title for Jimmy Heggarty

JIMMY HEGGARTY collected the Ulster PGA championship title for a third time at Castle Home yesterday but didn't know he was the winner until he had signed his card.

Heggarty added a second round 71 to a similar opening score for a two under par total to be one shot ahead of Holywood professional Michael Bannon, who shot a course record 69.

I thought that Michael had also finished at two under and it was only when I handed in my card that I discovered he was just one under," said Heggarty. "I heard when I was a few holes out that Michael was two under and I didn't know that he had dropped a stroke at the 17th."

In fact that hole was the crucial turning point. Bannon made his only mistake of the round when he three putted from 25 feet for bogey five while Heggarty made birdie blasting out of a greenside bunker to six inches. That was a two shot swing which gave the Spawell touring professional the honours.

Heggarty had two other birdies on his card but they were cancelled out by two bogeys while Bannon was four udder after 14 holes to climb to the top of the leaderboard. The overnight leaders, Leslie Robinson and Eamon Logue, went in the other direction with a pair of 755, but Liam McCool was, at one stage, tournament leader when he carded four birdies in his opening seven holes.