Weston Golf Club juniors defeated their Worlebury counterparts to win the Presidents Cup.

THE Presidents Cup was inaugurated in 1991 as a matchplay competition between Weston and Worlebury juniors.

The match played home and away, over a single weekend has been dominated by Worlebury, who had won 15 of the first 22 matches.

The 23rd year saw an exciting encounter that went to the wire. The Saturday match at Worlebury saw the home team take a 3.5-2.5 lead after good wins by Jack Partridge, Mickey Nicholas and Henry Court from Worlebury and Tommie Holyday and Tom Forte from Weston.

Sunday at Weston was a different story as the home team made the most of home advantage and the fast-running links course.

Wins for Sam Fernley, Harry Turner, Tommie Holyday and Toby Booth meant Worlebury fell just short despite strong performances by Alex Chandler and Ryan Tate.

Weston scraped home by a single point and current presidents John Poole and Frank Barlow presented the magnificent trophy to Weston captain Sam Fernley.

Weston have now taken the trophy in three of the last four years. The closeness of the match is testament to the superb play from both teams and the quality of the ongoing junior coaching programs at both clubs.

The Weston and Worlebury teams with Jenny Carter, Olga Forte, Roy Turner and the club presidents

WESTON ladies played the Auchterarder Quaich Cup which was presented to Weston Golf Club by the ladies from Auchterarder Golf Club many years ago. This was won by lady captain Di Walker who secured the trophy with 41 points.

The August medal was won this month by Wendy Homer with a net 71, closely followed by Sue Garrett with 72. The August Stableford was won by Sally Brosnan with 39 points. The Division 2 winner was Zena Balcombe, who has seen a welcome return to form over the past few weeks.

The Baldwin Stevens Trophy, a foursomes knockout for mixed couples reached its conclusion. In a nail-biting final, it was Dave and Sue Garrett who beat favourites Tim and Alysia Rees. All square after 18 holes, it was the Garretts who triumphed on the second sudden death hole.

THE Murphy Cup at Worlebury is contested by the winners of the various monthly medals in the previous year.

This competition is combined in a finals day with the one for the lowest gross score each month in the medal. The net winner on the day lifts the cup, the lowest gross, the Tilke Putter.

The latter was donated by club stalwart, the late Mike Tilke, who was a former club chairman, president and captain as well as being a former Somerset Golf Union president.

The winner of the Murphy Cup with a net 66 was Steve Bellingham, who has been in a rich vein of form since his return the club following a lengthy absence. Runner-up was James Walton, with a fine 67, with Stuart Fawcett third, a further shot adrift. Josh Freeman won the Tilke Putter with a gross score of 75.

The Avalon Team had their final match of the season against league champions Orchardleigh and recorded a fine 3.5-1.5 win. This went some way towards avenging a whitewash in the corresponding fixture earlier in the season.

Mike Usher-Clark and Fred Hooper led the way winning 5&4. John Wright and Andy Collard won a tight match 2&1. Captain Tony Westren and Martyn Chambers won on the last hole, having been three down after eight holes.

Finally, Robbie McMillen and Zak Shellford halved their match having been two down with three to play. The captain thanked Zak in particular for his part in the win as he was a late, but able replacement.

Eric Waghorn, aged 88, rolled back the years, his 39 points winning the Stableford competition at the former captain’s get together. This followed his recent hole-in-one which was his first after many years of trying.

Many scoffed when Eric decided to invest in a new set of clubs despite his advancing years, but he proved his mockers wrong.

Steve Bellingham (left) and Josh Freeman with Worlebury captain Keith Wharton.

Eric Waghorn being presented with the Captains Salver (which he donated), by former club captain and current SGU County president, Brian Evans.

BURNHAM & Berrow are through to the semi-finals of the Somerset Bowl after a hard fought 3-2 victory against Bath at The Mendip.

Adrian Deakins and Harvey Sampson lost to a strong pairing 3&2 and in a tight match, Robin Griffiths and Matt Houghton lost on the 18th. Dave Pearce and Symon Clifford won their match 3&2 and the pairing of Neil Darby and Justin Lane won 7&5.

All eyes turned to Andy Fisher and Jon Pitcher, who from three down, had taken their match to extra holes and finally won on the 20th.

The semi-final will be played at Clevedon on September 14 against Tall Pines.

The Houldsworth Cup was won on by Chris Hill with an excellent 72 (5) 67. Chris beat the lowest gross score of the day from Frank Ellis 69 (2) 67 and Steve Longmoor 81 (14) 67 on countback.

The Tradesmens Cup, which is played off the championship tees, was won this year by Adrian Deakins with 73 (2) 71. Runner-up was Peter Lismore with 81 (9) 72, ahead of Peter Tomlinson with 83 (11) 72.

Congratulations to Andy Harriott (4), who won the Captains Prize handicap summer knockout competition by beating Barry Hall (15) on the 19th hole.

The juniors continued their great season under the stewardship of Stewart Jones to beat Taunton Vale 2-1 to reach the final of the Somerset Junior Knockout Cup. Team on the day was Charlie Huggins, Tom Barker and Miles Richardson. The final is scheduled for the September 8 at Cannington.

Burnham & Berrow ran a nine-hole junior open Stableford on the Channel Course for new starters and higher handicaps.

Seventeen players entered, including players from Mendip Spring, Isle of Wedmore and Taunton & Pickeridge. The aim was to give these players the experience of playing in a competition, but in a more relaxed format.

The feedback on this event from both the players and parents was very positive and another will run during the October half-term break.

The winners were – boy’s: James Havercroft (Burnham & Berrow) 24 pts; Nathan James (Burnham & Berrow) 22; David Dickson-Bell (Burnham & Berrow) 22; George Williams (Burnham & Berrow) 21. Boy’s best gross: Nathan James.

Girls: Harriet Lockley (Isle of Wedmore) 15 pts; Maddie Richardson (Burnham & Berrow) 11. Girls’ best gross: Harriet Lockley.

Burnham & Berrow and The Mendip players pictured after the match.

SENIORS chairman and Brean Golf Club golfer of the year for 2012, Wally Pape is maintaining his fine form into the current season.

He added the seniors’ August medal to his growing list of success after a nett 66 gave him a three shot win over Roger Phillips. John Sherwood was third after his round of 70.

The seniors claimed a victory in their home game with Woodspring. Roger Williams led his side to a 4-2 win over their visitors from Bristol.

Dave Lockwood produced a stunning round that accumulated him 45 points in the Super Series. It also gave him a three point winning margin over his nearest challenger, Trevor Pitt. David Morris was one point further behind, ahead of Graham Foy on countback.

Tony Romeo helped himself to a significant share of the prize money in the Super Series. He scored 42 points and also recorded the only two of the day. John Mardon came second on 40, while Mike Porter edged out Kevin Davies for third spot on countback after they had both scored 38.

The Avalon League side which play in Division 6 ended their season with an away defeat at Frome. They went down by 3.5-1.5 with Graham and Steve Foy claiming Brean’s only win on the day. Clive Goode and Pete Barton secured the half point in their game.

THERE were two major events at Wedmore last week. The second of these was a mixed greensomes, supporting the Captains’ Charities, Alzheimer and Prostate Cancer.

The major result of the saw £850 raised for these good causes mainly through the efforts of captains Deidre Wheadon and Paul Burkhill.

There was also some excellent scores with 42 points being required to get sixth place. This was achieved by John and Judy Cutter although it was only countback which kept them behind Cathy and Martin Olive in fifth and visitors Philip and Carolyn Archer from the Kendleshire who took fourth place.

There was then a jump of two points to third place, 44 points securing this for Brian and Roz Hughes from Long Ashton, just losing out to home players Alison and Ray Dodkin who claimed runners-up spot on countback.

The was no doubt about the winners though with Steve Lockley, partnered by young daughter Harriet scoring a massive 47 points to take the trophy.

The other event was the Richard Banks Trophy in memory of the popular club member. There was an outstanding performance from the team of Brad Ruddick, Pete Beavan, Bob Jones and Terry Simpson who scored 92 points.

This beat Josh Barwell into second place. Teamed with the Cornish family – Mark, Darren and Rob he scored 86 points. This beat young Georgia Pope, Caroline Patterson, Trish and Tony Phelps on countback.

Breaking news from the weekend was the suucess of the men’s A team who finished the season with a drawn match at Windwhistle.

This was just enough to get them home as champions of Avalon League Division 2, by just half a point. An outstanding performance from Tony Ribi and his team who have also reached the semi-finals of the Somerset Bowl, and now meet Weston in September.

The men’s B team and ladies’ A team also look destined for glory, but still have a match or two to play.