Brean Golf Club champions

DAN Broom and Sheila Rouse are the new Brean Golf Club champions after winning the titles after two days of competition.

Broom overhauled the overnight leaders to claim the title by a sizeable eight shots after adding a stunning 72 to his opening 74. His powerful striking and low ball flight worked well in the strong wind as he won the title for the first time.

Runner-up after 36 holes was Andy Thomas on 154, while one of the overnight leaders Steve Bateman slipped back to third on 156. Stuart Wills was fourth on 158. The other overnight leader Tom Marshfield was unable to follow up his spectacular opening round and slipped back into the pack, which was also the same story in the nett competition.

Mats Mattsson produced the round of his life on the opening morning to hand in a nett 58, but he was unable to repeat it. The nett title was claimed by Craig Wheelaghan, who followed his 67 of day one with a superb 63 to match Broom’s winning margin of eight. Pete Barton edged out Pete Dunn on countback on the final day scores for second spot.

In the ladies’ event, captain Sheila Rouse held a seven-shot lead after day one and was able to maintain her advantage to claim her maiden title. In the end, her winning margin was reduced to five by Suzanne Hatfield. Annie Williams took the nett award after two steady rounds over the weekend.

THE final championship of the Wedmore season saw the ladies hold their competition over two rounds.

It was a match of two halves for eventual winner Marlyn Jackson, as her morning round took 92 shots putting her 10 back from Dawn Chadwick, who was two ahead of Cathy Olive, who in turn was a shot ahead of Alison Dodkin.

Things turned around dramatically in the afternoon. Olive moved out of contention with two lost balls on the 12th hole, eventually finishing with fourth best gross of the day.

Dodkin’s slightly untidy finish left her three shots behind in third, which also left her as nett runner-up. The top two were reversing roles from the morning and it was Jackson, storming to the best round of the day, a gross 78, who just got the upper hand to take the Insport Trophy for the first time. Her two round aggregate score of 170 put her just one shot ahead of Chadwick.

Other prizes in the gross competition went to Sue Tarry, Jane Hewitt and Claire Biggs. Best nett score of the day was Janis Lawrence, who won the Directors’ Cup with a net aggregate of 137, including an afternoon round of 66.

Eunice Bond and Jenny Thomas took the other nett places, while the morning and afternoon prizes went to Ange Webber and Deidre Wheadon.

In the club monthly medal, Mike Garbutt continued his great run by winning Division 1 with a nett 63, his. He was three ahead of David Eley, with Graham Sugg leading a group on 67.

Trevor Marshall had a fine 64 to win Division 2 from David Bates (66) and John Rowland (67). Division 3 went to John Cutter with 68, just one ahead of both John Sims and Michael Watkins.

Another player in form is Shirley Restorick, who was six under par in winning the ladies’ bronze division, with Di Cornelius second on 69. Dawn Chadwick just beat Alison Dodkin on countback in the silver division, both scoring 72.

Insport Trophy winner Marlyn Jackson and Directors’ Cup winner Janis Lawrence, together with other prize winners, sponsors and captains, following the ladies championship at Wedmore.

WESTON and Worlebury Golf Clubs renewed their rivalry to play for the annual Westbury Shield.

This year the match was hosted at Weston and each club fielded a team of eight mixed pairs and they enjoyed a fast-running course with slick, but true greens. Weston made the most of home advantage winning by six matches to two. Weston captain Steve Corrick was presented with the shield.

Weston’s men travelled to a neutral venue at Wells to play Mendip in the quarter-finals of the prestigious Somerset Bowl. In a tight match, the foursomes format of five pairs went down to the last match with Weston emerging victorious.

First out Tim Rees and Jack Radcliffe lost 3&2 and when the second pairing of Steve Thomas and Paul O’Hara also lost by the same score, things were looking bleak for Weston.

However, captain Steve Corrick and Chris Homer secured a 3&2 win to keep the match alive. Graham Hicken and Eddie Langford won a dramatic match that went to a play-off. Father and son pairing of Roy and Harry Turner sealed a fine win for Weston, when Harry sunk a long putt on the 18th.

Weston Golf Club made a fine contribution to the Volvo Help for Heroes charity. They also have a great chance of progressing to the regional finals after superb scoring in each of the three competitions.

The winner was Steve Strange with 43 points. The ladies’ event was won by Sally Brosnan with an excellent 40 points. The men’s event was won by Kevin Lane with 40 points, narrowly beating Steve Teale on countback.

WORLEBURY’S Avalon team have struggled this season in Division 3, but they recorded a fine home win against high-flying Farrington.

The 3-2 win avenged a recent whitewash by the same opponents. They had a head start when Andy Collard and Jason Dean won with a walkover as Farrington turned up with a pair short.

Captain Tony Westren and Mark Otterburn had a resounding 7&5 win and in the decisive match, Rob Furlong and Mike Usher-Clark won two up. Rob won the day when he chipped in on the 18th from the first fairway.

Unfortunately, the pairings of Keri Allchurch and Martyn Chambers and experienced campaigners, Robbie McMillen and Nevil Horne both tasted defeat. This was Chamber’s first loss in seven Avalon matches.