Josh wins club championship at Worlebury

A FULL field took to the course for Worlebury Golf Club’s premier event, the club championship.

The course was set up wonderfully by head greenkeeper, Tim Needham, in a way that was designed to test the competitors to the full.

Despite this, many members rose to the challenge and recorded excellent scores. Leading the way was Josh Freeman, who recently won Worlebury’s other major, the Jubilee Shield and he added the championship to this season’s haul.

It had not started well for Josh, as he triple bogeyed the first and went out in 41. A remarkable back nine of 31, four under par, saw him at the top of the leader board by a single shot at the end of the first round with Rob Berry and former champion Paul Simmonds, who both shot gross 73s.

In the second round, Josh’s competitors fell away, while others came to the fore. Former champion, Simon Dempsey, shot an excellent 69, the best score of the day, but this was eclipsed by first team captain, Harry Rowlands, who went round in even par and when this was added to his first round 77, it was good enough for him to win the Papworth Cup for the runner-up in the gross competition, his fourth runners-up finish in the last six seasons.

It was Josh’s weekend however, and he played steadily in the second round. His 73 won him the President’s Cup by two clear shots from Harry. It is club tradition for the victor to be presented with a putter as well as the trophy and club president, Keith Wharton, duly did the honours.

The Bisdee Cup for the best nett was won at a canter by 18-handicapper Ian Johnstone, who played well all weekend. His nett 66 in the first round was followed by an impressive 64 in the second to win by five shots from nine-handicapper Jim Walton, who played consistently well and below his handicap in both rounds.

The seniors held their monthly medal which was also played in pleasant conditions. The winner of Division 1 was outgoing captain Gerry Miles, with an excellent nett 66, pipping Bob Webber on countback.

Former captain Brian Eleanor came third with a 67. Clive Mealing took the honours in Division 2 with a nett 68, closely followed by yet another former captain, John Taylor, who pipped Tony Miles on countback, both players having 70s.

Worlebury marched on in the Somerset Bowl Foursomes and will play Clevedon in the semi-final at Burnham and Berrow next month. Under the captaincy of Mick Keen, the team, with the accent on youth, recorded a convincing 4-1 victory against an experienced Stockwood Vale side at the neutral venue of Tall Pines.

WESTON’S Jade Cope secured the ladies’ club championship cup for the third consecutive year.

This 36-hole medal competition, played over two rounds on one day, is a true test of skill and endurance. Jade achieved the best 36-hole gross score of 168, posting an impressive 84 in both the morning and afternoon rounds. Runner-up and winning the Sally Irlam Salver was Glenda Latham with a score of 169.

Winning the Ruth Alford cup for best 36-hole silver nett score was Kath Farrant with 142. Runner-up in this category was Pam Hudson scoring 148.

The Audrey Hirst Cup presented for the best 36-hole bronze score went to Sue Garrett with 189 gross, together with the Audrey Hirst Carafe for best bronze nett score of 147. Runner-up was Kaylee Davey with 162.

Winning the morning gross competition was Sue Andow with 83. The morning nett score winner was Zena Balcombe with 73. The afternoon gross score winner was Alysia Rees with 90 and the afternoon nett score winner was Sally Brosnan with 76.

The 18-hole medal competition running alongside the championship was won by Carol Harris with a nett 73, with Caroline Poole in second place with 76.

The 36-hole ladies’ putting championship was won by Sally Irlam with a nett 67, followed by Dodie Waterhouse with 68 and Diney Costeloe 68 on countback.

Lady captain Tessa Williams congratulated all winners and participants of the championship competition during the evening prize giving presentation.

The four-ball betterball June competition was won by Wendy Thomas and Zena Balcombe with 40 points.

On a warm, cloudy day with a tricky breeze, Alan Tucker shot a brilliant 41 points to win the Weston seniors Lawley Trophy. Nick Bohin, Graham Tripp and Graham Osman all scored 37, but were divided by countback.

Played on a stunning day at Weston, the Grand Atlantic Trophy was played with a maximum field and the course was in fantastic condition.

The air show on the sea front added to the buzzing atmosphere with the likes of the spitfires and bombers flying over the course.

The scoring was as tight as its been for many years with 46 golfers within 10 shots of the leader (Aussie Denison, nett 66) after the morning round.

The best gross of the morning was a fantastic 69 (-1) from Jon James, who was at one time four under gross after 14 holes.

The main event of the day, the Grand Atlantic Trophy (36-hole nett) could not have been closer. The eventual winner was Adam Royle (Weston) with two rounds of 69, for a 138, beating Phil Parker (Enmore Park) also 69, 69 on countback. Steve Corrick (Weston) finished third with 67, 71.

IT was the biggest competition of the year at Isle of Wedmore, as the club championships took place in ideal conditions.

First day scores were not brilliant, with Ben Barwell leading the way on 74, but he closely pursued by three players all on 76 - Tim Harris, Brad Ruddick and Rich Vowles. Jim Dobbs led the way in the nett competition with 67.

In the second round, Harris and Vowles both faltered early, but Ruddick reduced the lead to just one shot and Mike Snelgrove in the group ahead was also playing well.

This was unchanged with two holes to play.

When Barwell appeared to be in trouble, Ruddick played safe, but he also faltered, and when Barwell escaped with a bogey, Ruddick missed from short range extending the lead to two.

Safely on the green at the last, Barwell took the championship by four shots, taking the Jackson Trophy with 151. Ruddick failed to escape from the bunker and slipped back to a tie with Snelgrove and Harris.

On countback, second place went to Snelgrove with Harris third and after pushing hard for so long, Ruddick was left with the consolation of best gross on day one.

Jim Dobbs took the Directors’ Cup for best nett with two under par rounds totalling 136. Other prizes went to Jim Grey, Nigel Jones and Jon Thompson.

Earlier in the week, the ladies held an open bowmaker with a close finish with locals Val Rosser and Maggie Morris, together with Sarah Campion from Burnham & Berrow, edging out Sue Hockley, Carol Robinson and Sheila Bowden from Enmore on countback, after both teams finished on 79 points.

Joan Peck, Judith Robinson and Alison Buckton took third with 78, while Pat Brew, Nicky Edwards and Margaret Schofield from The Bristol won the visitors’ prize.

There were more visitors for the seniors’ invitation day won by David Taylor and Steve Rowse (Wells) with 43 points. Alan Shiner and R Mann (Knowle) were a point back in second, with Peter Rowntree and Clive Johnston (B&B) in third.

GRAHAM Foy collected another monthly Stableford win after he scored 42 points in the June event at Brean.

This was the best score of the day and he headed home his Division 2 rivals by two points. Ron Vine was his closest challenger with his 40 point card, beating Pete Dunn for second on countback.

Another countback was needed to decide the top division with Dan Broom holding off Jason Kidley for the prize after they both returned 39 scores.

The countback system worked overtime as it was also in demand for the Division 3 result. Super senior Pat Mullholland showed that experience paid as he held off Simon Baunton after they had both scored 38 points. Ladies’ captain Annie Williams was the winner ahead of Sheila Rouse.

Andrew March’s first pro’s day since taking over at Brean was played in glorious summer sunshine and everyone enjoyed the excellent course and weather.

March assembled a useful looking team of professionals with former Brean pro’s David Haines and Roy Baker returning to join him alongside former European Tour player and his good friend David Dixon.

The melody format is a demanding one, but the pro’s found the winning tune with a 12 under par score of 58. Between the quartet, they amassed 15 birdies and three eagles during the round.

The members tried to beat that score, but the closest anyone got was a nett 61 coming from captain-elect Stuart Wills’ team. He was joined by Andy Thomas, Martyn Cahill and club champion Dan Broom as they went round in a gross 66 and collected the shield for the leading members’ team.

The format seemed to favour the lower handicap teams and third place on the day went to another strong foursome as Phil Hodgson, Tom Marshfield, Wayne Barrett and Steven Eley ended on nett 64.4, just 0.4 of a shot ahead of Eamonn Wynne, Russell Shaw, Murray Parsons and Tony Richards, who took fourth spot.

Seniors’ captain Allen Fellingham was victorious in the second round of the senior Captain’s Cup with his nett 67 seeing him end up three clear of the rest.

Leading the best of the rest was Dai Wood in second with his 70 edging out Tony Tissington, who also matched that score.

After suffering a poor run of form on the road in recent times, the seniors were rallied by their captain Allen Fellingham and they responded superbly with a 3.5-2.5 win at near neighbours Weston.

A TILT at golfing glory awaits amateur Chris Ward and his Bleadon Hill PGA professional Scott Thompson as they bid to reach the Lombard Trophy grand final being staged at Gleneagles.

Ward teed up a chance to tread the fairways of the King’s Course at the famous Scottish resort in September when he won his club qualifying competition with a nett score of 64.

He and Thompson now advance to the regional final at Parkstone Golf Club on July 10, where they will compete against up to 70 other clubs for the chance to secure one of 16 prized spots available for the 36-hole grand final.

Ward, is a builder from Weston and has been playing golf for five years and plays off a handicap of 15. Thompson, aged 33, has been a professional at Bleadon Hill for four years.