Turner and McClelland win Australian Spoons

Melanie Turner and Rhonda McClelland have “put Limavady on the map again” as the Roe Park pairing battled the tougher afternoon conditions in County Longford and came out on the brighter side, claiming this year’s All-Ireland Australian Spoons title.

Thirty-two teams from all over the island descended on County Longford Golf Club looking to get their hands on the almost 60-year-old title as the unpredictable Irish weather reared its head once more this summer, with rain making the going that much harder for the later starters.

It was a long journey down for the Roe Park team but it was all worth it in the end.

An impressive 24 points for their opening nine holes set them on their way and while two scratches on the back nine almost saw the championship head elsewhere, the ship was steadied in the afternoon rain as the pair rallied to pick up 13 points across their final six holes to give Turner and McClelland a 38 point total and a 2 point victory over East Cork’s Lillian Harrington and Deirdre O’Mahony (better back nine) while hometown defending champions Anne Casey and Ann Gregg of County Longford finished third.

“Amazing, unbelievable,” said the delighted Turner and McClelland.

“We’re gobsmacked to be honest; we came down to play a good round of golf and get through it and didn’t have any expectations whatsoever so to actually come away as winners is amazing.

“We just came down to enjoy ourselves and it’s been brilliant we have really loved it, it’s been amazing.

“We had a great front nine, we sunk quite a few putts on the front nine and a few good drives and that but the back nine is tougher so we didn’t expect to score just as well.

“We don’t look at the scores, we don’t add them up or anything we just go out and play the best we can. A bit shell shocked so we are.”

With a long journey home ahead for the delighted duo, the drive will go a lot quicker with the win and the Australian Spoons in the bag.

“We’ve put Limavady on the map again, it’s about three hours, it’ll be a nice run home.”

East Cork missed out on the championship win but would not go home empty handed however as Harrington and O’Mahony picked up the Best Gross title with an impressive 78 strokes giving the duo a stableford total of 31 points, finishing four ahead of Gort’s Hannah McInerney and Shauna Burke. 

View the final scores here