Brian is new Somerset Golf Union president

THE president of Somerset Golf Union for the next two seasons is Worlebury life member, Brian Evans.

Brian, who joined Worlebury in 1974, was club captain in 1992 and is a former president of the club. He has worked tirelessly for the county since he first became a committee member 13 years ago.

He is only the third Worlebury member to be given the honour, the last of whom was his great friend, the late Mike Tilke.

Brian is keenly looking forward to the forthcoming season and with the accent on youth and Wells member, Phil White, captaining the team, he believes the county can do well this year.

Over 100 members took to the course for the May monthly medal. Junior Matt Blackman, playing off five, won Division 1, his nett 68 pipping veteran Pete Cornish into second position on countback. Long-standing member Steve Gray came third, one shot adrift.

Division 2 was won by Russell Bourton with a 69, beating Dan Bovingdon by two clear shots, who in turn beat Andy Taylor on countback.

Exactly the same scores were recorded in Divison 3, with senior John Ratajczak winning, closely followed by Graham Griffiths and Chris Taylor.

WESTON Golf Club’s Avalon B team continues to do well in this year’s league.

The squad are currently sitting at the top of the table and team captain Andy Smith is delighted with the performance and is keen to see this form continue for the rest of the season.

They have currently played just over half of their matches and as that is more than some other clubs. The overall scoring average is good and Andy says that the squad will be under pressure to maintain that.

Team players that have taken part this year are: Andy Smith (captain), Gary Homer, Steve Corrick (club captain), John Whitewood, David Andow, Chris Homer, John Greaves, Ed Stephens, Andy Zanelli, Kenton Simpson, Alan Harris, Darren Henderson, Steve Ham, Dave Snowden and Bob Hurrell.

The Avalon Golf League is played amongst clubs within the Somerset county region. There are six divisions in the league each containing up to six clubs that play both home and away.

Weston held its first open mixed greensomes event, with the top four pairs qualifying for the Claude Lalonde Trophy in October.

Results: Dave and Lynne Pope (Worlebury) 39 pts; Andy and Zena Balcombe (Weston) 39 (GHD Evans Trophy winners, best Weston net score); Tony Logan and Josie McCullock (Frome) 37; David and Jackie Cooper (Frome) 37.

Best visitors’ prize: Tony Doman and Pauline Jones (Frome) 36pts.

Congratulations go to Sam Fernley, a junior member, for coming sixth in the county championships.

Sam, aged 18, competed against a field of 62 of some of the best Somerset players at

Burnham and Berrow Golf Club. He shot a good score of 78 in the morning, making

him one of the early leaders in the clubhouse at lunchtime.

The wind got up for the afternoon round, but at one point Sam was two under, but dropped a couple of shots on the last few holes to return to the clubhouse with a 73. Sam set the standard at 151.

The seniors’ Foursomes Plate was won by Robin Webb and Tony Barry with a fine score of 71.

Results: Robin Webb and Tony Barry (11) 71; Nigel Jillings and Rick Fowler (15) 73; Dave Reynolds and Ray Chambers (16.5) 73.5; Gary Homer and Dave Snowden (11) 76; Mike Hill & Gerald Taylor (15) 76.

The last card in turned out to be the winning score in the seniors’ Dennes Cup.

John Morgan won with 39 points from Nigel Jillings on 36. Other scores: Graham Tripp 36; Colin Dummett 35; Craig Kennedy 35; Bob Clarke-Hall 35; Dave Rowland 35; John Hurcombe 35; Keith Britton 35.

PAUL McLanaghan won his third event of the Brean Golf Club open week as he paired up with double winner Stuart Wills to win the fourball betterball Stableford.

The pair, who also tasted success with Martyn Cahill in the Texas scramble, stormed home with a 43 point total. Roger and Jenny Vaughan also thought they had 43 points, but a scorecard oversight saw them not sign for a score on the 18th, meaning they scored no points for the hole, reducing their to 41.

They did however take second spot on a countback from Jim McLauchlan and Pete Dunn. Fourth place was occupied by Bob Masterman and Chris Payne, who came out top of a three-way countback on 40 points.

The Avalon League Division 6 team suffered another narrow defeat in their away game this season. Travelling south to Taunton Vale, they went down 3.5-1.5 to ensure they returned home with a few useful league points in the bag.

The winners were the unbeaten Foy pairing of Graham and Steve, while Chris Stephens and Mark Elvins gained the half point.

Charlie Hastie won the seniors’ medal with a splendid nett 67. Second place went to Bob Hurrell on 70, with Pete Douglas in third on one shot more.

Richard Broom revelled in the summer sunshine as he carded a superb 44 points to win the Pro Shop Stableford. He won by three points from a quartet of players on 41.

The countback rules were applied and John Owen ahead Tom Broom, Phil Hodgson and Tony Romeo.

Forty-four was again the winning score on Sunday and Wayne Barrett was the owner of the best card. Runner-up was Suzanne Hatfield with 42, relegating three players into a battle for third after they returned 40 points.

Roger Phillips was the winner of the countback ahead of Graham Exton and Chris Payne.

THE ladies at Wedmore invited the seniors to compete for the Friendly Bowl.

The match itself as usual lived up to its name as seniors’ captain Paul Burkhill, led from the clubhouse, due to an operation.

He led his team to victory by just Stableford points. Prizes for the best pairs on each side went to Judy Cutter and Sue Hughes and Tom Bennett and Summers-Cooke.

The seniors’ held their monthly Stableford which also incorporated the Committee Trophy.

Best score of the day went to Mike Peacock who,as a committee member, therefore won the trophy as well as Division 2. His 43 points was four ahead of both Alan Shiner and Brian Kidd, with Shiner taking second place by virtue of countback.

There was a close finish in Division 1 won by Ray Dodkin with 41 points, which was one better than both John Russell and Ivor Monelle, who were second and third respectively.

Richard Sanders was the clear winner of Division 3. His 41 points put him five clear of Bob Jepps, who beat David Hollingdale on countback.

Outstanding score of the day in the monthly medal came from Mike Garbutt, who won with a nett 62. He was clear winner of Division 2 by five shots from Tom Smith, who beat John Vowles on countback.

The second excellent round came from David Eley, who had a gross 72 on his way to winning Division 1 with nett 65. Josh Barwell was again in the places with 67, followed by Geoff Fisher on 69.

Four players all finished with 69 in Division 3. Robert Cornish was first on countback despite taking nine on the 17th. Kevin Osman was second ahead of John Sims with John Symonds in fourth.

Judy Cutter had a nett 69 to record the best ladies’ score of the day with Di Cornelius second on 72.