With his best ever competitive round, Ronan Beattie claimed his first notable win in the Western Brand Stableford.

Beattie opened up with a couple of bogeys, but then shot the lights out with a run of nine pars and a birdie to stand on the 13th tee with an eye-watering 31 points amassed for the first 12 holes.

At a point where many would have been overcome with nerves, the 12 handicapper did what any good sportsman would do and stayed focused in the moment.

Another fours pars and two bogeys resulted in a three over par round of 74, and a total of 45 points, which, on a day of low scores, was good enough to beat second-placed Mark Conway by a point.

Like many before him, Conway got off to a slow start, frittering the shots away over the first five holes, but started to pull his game together from around the sixth onwards.

A steady run of pars and bogeys up to the 14th transformed his card.

Then, on the 15th, something of a golfing black swan event occurred when Conway pulled a birdie three out of the bag on one of the most difficult holes on the course.

He kept his focus over the final stretch, adding another six points for a total of 44 points.

Derek Elliott finished third with 43 points, beating Miki Haveron on the better back nine. Haveron had 13 pars and five bogeys and also managed to keep a six off his card.

Some 11 twos were recorded, with two accomplished players bagging a brace – Brian Doran and Warren Dixon.

The other twos winners were Michael O’Kane, Sean Maxwell, Rory Connelly, Gerry Tierney, Andy Mowat, Robert Johnston and Dermot Love.