Paul wins David Magee Cup at Rathmore

He also ensured that his playing partners won’t go hungry at Christmas as he also bagged a turkey for his efforts.

Paul, playing off 17, had an average enough front nine of 18 points, a blank at the sixth took the shine off it slightly, but a birdie at ten helped to make up ground. Another blank at eleven threatened to derail things for a moment but Paul came back with an immediate recovery at twelve with a birdie.

Some great scrambling near the end of the round gave him a few three pointers and, despite a double bogey at seventeen, all this came to 23 points and a victory on countback from Keith Elliott.

20 points from his back nine kept Keith in runners-up spot, again on countback. Good steady scoring was the basis of his day.

One birdie on the front nine, at the ninth, was the highlight going out. Another birdie followed at the eleventh and with nothing worse than a bogey at the rest, twenty points back and a total of 40 kept him in front of Roy Robinson.

The thirteen handicap Roy started very well with only three bogies on the way out, at the 5th, 7th and 8th, for 22points. Double bogies at seventeen and eighteen took the shine off the consecutive birdies at fifteen and sixteen and, with countback employed, proved costly as Keith was pushed into third place.

Rory Houston, playing off one, claimed fourth spot all by himself with his return of 40 points. Five birdies in all, and only two bogies at seven and nine was a very good round with only one shot to work with. Stephen Dunlop used the countback to his advantage to take fifth place on 39 points.

One under par after one and a blank at the eighth and a few double bogies gave up 16 points out, but a great comeback saw 23 points added to the card which included birdies at ten and twelve balanced with double bogies at eleven and seventeen.

Next week sees another Sunday Turkey competition combined with a ‘Ryder Cup Sunday’ competition to fit in with coverage of the event in Wales.