All-Weston final for mixed open competition

A fine weekend welcomed the Claude Lalonde Trophy qualifiers to Weston Golf Club to play the event they qualified for by being the leading players from the two mixed opens held over the summer months.

Saturday saw the first match being an all-Weston affair with Dave and Julie Ward beating Tony Walker and Jean Booth. In the all visitor clash, the Forsters from Ragland beat Sally Meek and Mike Simmonds.

Due to injury, Sue Garrett and Chris Slocombe had a bye to the semis, with the last quarter-final being won by Weston pair David Snowdon and Sue Andow, beating D Baxter and Amanda Ransom.

This set up a semi-final on Sunday morning with the Wards beating the Forster, to set up a final with Garrett and Slocombe, who beat Andow and Snowdon in the other semi-final.

Garrett and Solcombe went on to beat the Wards 2&1 in a closely-contested final.

The Walker Plate, donated by long standing members Roger and Jill Walker for those who have played in either of the mixed opens, but not qualified for the Claude Lalonde, was contested by 20 pairs.

The overall winner were Jack Radcliffe and Kaylee Davey with 41 Stableford points, followed by Ruth Forte with Ian Freeman on 39, winning on the back nine from Dave Garrett and ladies’ vice-captain Mel Rossi.

Everyone was complementary about the course and hospitality and they look forward to trying to qualify next year.

The weekend also saw a team go to play in the Quad Cup, an annual fixture between Weston, Wedmore, Tall Pines and Brean, started in memory of Terry Murray, who as a local professional had association with each club.

Weston won the event at Wedmore and look forward to defending at Weston next summer.

Last week saw the seniors’ mixed open played at Weston and superbly organised by John Morgan. Overall winner were St Pierre pair of Cheryl and Paul Stickler with 41 points, with local pair of Di Brown and Mike Monaghan second on 40, with Burnham pair Clive and Jenny Johnstone third on 40, losing on the back nine.

That brings an end to the opens at Weston for this year, but they start again after Christmas with three winter series events.

The seniors staged a two-man Texas scramble. This unusual format attracted 21 teams and the winners by one shot were Graeme Somerville and David Farmer with a nett score of 61.7.

The second place honours went to Eddie Langford and Gerald Taylor on 62.7, with David Garrett and Chris Slocombe third with the same score, but losing on countback.

Teams from across the county and beyond gathered for the last ladies’ open competition of the year. The Berry Bowmaker was played in beautiful autumnal sunshine and all visitors complimented the club on the course and hospitality.

In first place with a score of 85 were Pat Rowland (Weston), Mandy Vickers and Sarah Champion (Burnham and Berrow). Runners-up were the all-Weston team of Tessa Pitt, Lynn Perry and Alison Whitewood with 82.

In third place were Lesley Wills and Susan Hockley (Enmore Park) and Janet Waplington (Wheathill). Taking the fourth slot on countback were Wendy Thomas and Eileen Donbavand (Weston) and Penny Johnson (Temple).

The longest drives were won by Kathy Shiells from Farrington on the 18th (silver) and Jane Beale from St Mellons on the 10th (bronze). Nearest the pin (silver) on the 14th was won by Ann Booth from Llanwern and Alison Whitewood (Weston) on the third (bronze).

Best all-visitors prize went to Jo Waite and Ann Booth from Llanwern and Jeanette Watkins from St Mellons with a score of 74.

The summer competitions are drawing to a conclusion at Worlebury.

Each has been played in a sporting way and there have been some nail biting finishes, none more so that the matchplay Petty Cup final, which was contested over 36 holes by Jack Partridge and Richard Godwin

After the morning session, Richard was two up in a tightly contested game. Jack came out fighting in the afternoon, quickly erasing Richard’s lead, and taking command of the final.

After holing out from 150 yards on the 15th, Jack was dormie three and it looked all over. Richard did not take this lying down and used his years of Avalon League matchplay experience to win the 16th and 17th, leaving Jack only one up.

Richard looked out of it on the last, but sank a 20-foot putt to put the pressure on Jack, who held his nerve to roll in an eight footer, to win an excellent match one up.

Having won the Tolladine Cup, Dale Rendall, added the Founders Cup to his trophy cabinet, narrowly seeing off Tom Main in the 36-hole strokeplay final.

Pauline Smith has been in fine form as of late, following up her win in the Jackson Barstow matchplay against Lynn Pope to win the CD Lock Trophy with her partner, Kevin Fudge. Hazel Cox and Ray Collick were the gallant runners-up.

Lorna Macivor beat Marnie Sweet in the Vi Dunston Matchplay. Having recently been in the winning team on lady president’s day, Claire Bayliss followed this up with a fine performance in the ladies’ October Stableford.

Her 39 points was the best score of the day and saw her winning Division 1. Janet Fear was runner-up with Emma Bourton third. Gloria Roche won Division 2 with Janet Keight pipping Cheryl Saunders to take the runners-up position. Judith Nicol won Division 3 with Carole Miles second, edging out Lorna Macivor.

This week was a better one for seniors’ captain Ron Stevens. The October Stableford had a good turnout and a good home win was recorded against Woodspring.

Geoff Wildman top scored in the October Stableford, his 42 points winning Division 2. Roger Leaver was second on countback with Tony McDonald third, both players scoring 38 points.

Division 1 was closely contested with Keith Thomas’ 39 points giving him a narrow win over Frank Hopkinson, who had 38 with Alan Woolford third on 37.

Woodspring were the vistors to Worlebury, and the home side recorded a narrow 3.5 to 2.5 win. Worlebury were on the backfoot early on, when the first pairing of Tony McDonald and Fred Spearing lost their match 3&2.

Captain Stevens, partnered by Stuart Macivor, immediately hit back to redress the balance. Gordon Poynter and Mike Strang fought hard to secure a half. Wins by Colin Dale/John Yates and John Hobbs/Clive Rides put Worlebury in the driving seat. There was a rare reverse, however, for vice-captain Barry Newson, who partnered by Roger Leaver, narrowly lost by one hole.

There was a setback for the seniors the following day when they travelled to Wheathill and were on the wrong end of a heavy 4.5-1.5 defeat.

Things had started well when debutant Kelvin Betts, partnered by Mike Usher-Clark, had a comfortable win. Dave Pope reversed a recent run of poor results by securing a half with his partner Tony Evans.

The good news stopped there, particularly for Mike Strang and John Hobbs, who were in the bar early, having been the recipients of a canine caning.

The other matches were closely contested, but Wheathill’s local knowledge won the day. For many of the Worlebury seniors this was their first visit to Wheathill and the defeat did not detract from a highly enjoyable day.

Stragglers captain Martin Morgan, hosted the section’s finals day. Seventeen players enjoyed perfect conditions. This led to high scoring with Roger Clouter winning the Clive Thomas Trophy with an excellent 42 points.

Previous winners, Paul McAdams and Andy Taylor followed closely behind with 41 and 40 points respectively.

The club Stableford at Wedmore was a family affair as son and father-in-law Kevin Osman and Keith Thomas both scored 43 points to win Divisions 2 and 3 respectively.

It was a close call for Thomas though, as he was chased home by Greg Speller who was just one shot behind and Ben Gillibrand, who scored 40. It was more comfortable for Osman as he finished six points clear of Dave Skelton, runner-up with 37 points, with Marcello di Mascio third on 35.

There was a close finish in Division 1 with Geoff Fisher winning on countback from Stuart Bishop, with both players scoring 39. Bishop must have been cursing failing to score on either the 15th or 16th holes in an otherwise outstanding round. Bill Lander took third with 36 points.

Best scores amongst the ladies came from Janis Lawrence with 35 points and Colette Sweeting on 34. It was a good day for the Sweetings as Mark and Steve had scored 40 and 39 points to come fourth and fifth in Division 3.

The ladies own competition was for the Olive Bowl, another Stableford and with more sensational scoring, particularly from Karen Barnett with a handicap crunching 44 points.

This put her four points clear of Val Webber, despite scoring an excellent 40 points. Mary-Lou Denny took third place on countback from Gina Falcon and Ruth Pearson after all three scored 39.

The scoring was not so brilliant when the club’s past captains travelled to Tall Pines to compete for the Rodwell Rosebowl. Best of the bunch was Ian Robson, winning his second past captains event of the summer with 34 points.

Hope for the future came from current captain Toni Ribi, ineligible for the main trophy, who scored 40 points to win the pairs competition alongside Jim Crick.

Going into the annual Quad Cup as trophy holders hasn’t been a position the Brean team have been in too often in recent years.

After their success on home soil last year, they travelled to Isle of Wedmore looking to retain the trophy. A strong looking team took on the full quota of opposition – Weston, Wedmore and Tall Pines.

When all the matches were complete and the complicated scoring finalised, the Weston team ran out as winners with 5.5 points out of six. Brean put up a spirited defence taking second with three points.

The winning pairs for Brean were Stuart Wills/Phil Hodgson, Russell and Matt Shaw and John Cullinan/Mike Carter, while the other three pairs all lost on the 17th hole in close games.

Wedmore took third spot ahead of Tall Pines. Next year it is Weston’s turn to host the event.

Back at Brean, Brian Read won the Super Series event by a comfortable five-point margin. His spectacular card of 45 points was well clear of the field with both the runner-up and third placed players scoring 40.

Tony Higgins took the silver position, while Jim McLauchlan was third after a countback. The previous day, Read also featured in the prizes, but it was the most experienced team in the field that ran out the victors in the Bowmaker Trophy.

The seniors trio of Mike Allen, Ray Byatt and Bob Toller produced a stunning card of 113 to swipe victory from under the noses of two thirds of the defending champions.

Read joined last year’s winners Dave Bradley and John Cullinan to accrue a total of 120 and this looked good enough to win until the seniors team bettered it to steal victory.

Octogenarian Allen was the main contributor as he enjoyed a dream round way below his 20 handicap, but youngsters Byatt and Toller both chipped in with positive effect to the winning total.

With Read, Bradley and Cullinan being declared the runners-up, it was Matt Haskins, John Rabbetts and Steve Mason who were left in third position, a further two points back on 125.

On a blustery morning, Barrie Yearsley swept to success in the October seniors’ medal with a best of the day nett 66. This gave him the Division 1 award with a two-stroke victory over Tim Durbin, with Barrie Tucker edging out Tony Roper for third on countback.

Captain-elect Ray Byatt was one stroke adrift of Yearsley’s best with his nett 67 as he took top spot in Division 2. His winning margin was much more comfortable though, as he was seven clear of runner-up George Stratford and eight ahead of third-placed man Charlie Hastie.

The seniors concluded this year’s inter-club matches by taking on an Oake Manor side at home. On a dry but chilly October afternoon, honours ended even at three games apiece with the game being played in a great spirit as usual.