Club championships held at Worlebury and Wedmore

IT WAS a big weekend at Worlebury with the club championship, with Simon Dempsey and Claire Bayliss emerging as men’s and ladies’ champions.

The weather was dry but very windy, particularly on the Sunday which made life difficult for the players and this was reflected in the scoring.

In the men’s competition, head greenkeeper Tim Needham set the pace with a one shot lead after the first round, but the combination of work and play got the better of him and he could not sustain his effort.

Two former champions, Simon Dempsey and Josh Freeman, came to the fore and at the end of the 36 holes they were neck and neck on a gross total of 149, which required a four-hole play-off.

The ladies competition was similar, with Clare Bayliss having a commanding lead after the first round, only for Amanda Cook to chip away at the deficit on day two and draw level to also force a play-off.

The two play-offs had further similarities with the third hole pivotal. Josh and Amanda got into difficulty with their respective tee shots, which gave Simon and Claire some breathing space, allowing them to go on and clinch their titles.

Simon won the President’s Cup and Josh, as runner-up, the Papworth Cup. Claire bagged the Championship Trophy, while Amanda had the consolation of winning the ladies’ Papworth Cup for runner-up in the gross and the Marshall Trophy for best nett, with Michelle James coming second.

Declan Dorrington played brilliantly on the Saturday, his 63 setting him up to win the Bisdee Cup for the best nett in the men’s with an overall score of 138, beating Mark Otterburn by one.

In the post competition speeches, the captains and winners thanked everyone who contributed to the weekend’s success, particularly the greenstaff and the match and handicap team, with Pete Nuttall and Sue Kinch prominent.

Worlebury’s hopes of retaining the Somerset Bowl foursomes title ended in a heavy defeat to a strong Enmore side at the neutral venue of Mendip Springs.

Captain Mick Keen disappointingly acknowledged his team were well beaten with only Alex Winn and Simon Dempsey salvaging some pride with a good win in their match.

Ironically Enmore, with a sprinkling of their foursomes team, were the visitors to Worlebury the following day in Division 3 of the Avalon League. They were put to the sword with Worlebury winning 4-1 to give the team vital points in their league campaign.

The Royals maintained their unbeaten record in Division 7 of the league, but had to be content with a draw in a tight encounter at home against Mendip Springs. This leaves them in a strong position to win the division as they strive for promotion at the first time of asking.

The juniors followed up a good win in the league against Taunton and Pickeridge with a fighting draw at home to Farrington Park.

In a match refereed by retiring SGU president Brian Evans, the long-awaited winter competition, the Glover Cup, was finally resolved with a good 4&3 win for the Royal’s pairing of John Melwani and Leigh White.

They beat the duo of Ken Hansen jnr and Premiership Football League assistant referee Ron Ganfield, who said he could not blame the match official for the result, conceding that the better team won on the day.

In the latest captain/pro encounter, Peter Phillips and Gary Marks recorded a convincing win over Pete Nuttall and his partner, eight handicapper Phil Stone. Peter and Gary played well and their haul of five birdies proved decisive.

The seniors’ June Stableford saw some good golf played particularly in Division 1 with Ken Williamson recording the day’s top score of 41 points. Dave Treleaven came second on 39 with Frenchman, Marcel Josling, taking third place on countback from Tony Foster, both scoring 38 points.

Division 2 was a tight affair with former seniors’ captain Bob Oram’s 37 points pipping the current vice-captain Ron Stevens, on countback. Patrick Balchin came third with 36.

A FULL field of 82 competitors took to the Weston fairways for the premier event of the year, the Grand Atlantic Trophy.

In its 66th year, the players enjoyed superb conditions with the added bonus of an air show. With a nett 140, Nigel Browne is the new champion and was presented with a new trophy given by members Trevor and Ann Ward. Trevor won the competition in 1972.

Runner-up with 141 was Stuart Hardy from Forest Hills winning on the back 18 holes from the junior captain George Worthington.

Alongside the Grand Atlantic, runs the 36-hole gross Centenary Trophy. David Poole presented this to Sam Fernley, winning with a score of 142. Runner-up was Joe Neary on 149 and Burnham & Berrow member Jon Pitcher was third with 151.

Weston’s first team took on Mendip Spring in the Bristol & District League, gaining a valuable half point in their effort to gain promotion from Division 5.

On a fine day with light winds and fabulous greens, 59 Weston seniors contested the Lawley Trophy. The perfect conditions were a recipe for good scoring and Robin Webb took full advantage with a fantastic score of 42 points, well ahead of Roy Schubert on 39.

The final podium position went to John Greaves on countback from John Stokes on 38. The over-80s cup was won by David Dodgson with a creditable 34 points.

The ladies’ Lillington Bowl brought in some high scores with Wendy Thomas in first place on 42 points. Not far behind with 40 points was Moira Parish and Bobby Ferrari in third place with 36.

The ladies’ friendly team fought hard at Burnham & Berrow against a strong team, but lost 11.5-3.5. Dodie Waterhouse battled on alone after her partner left the course with an injury. Reine O’Reilly and Jo Blackhurst won their match and Kaylee Davey and Caroline Poole halved theirs.

Junior open results - Uphill Trophy for best nett went to Charlie Goss from Clevedon;

Longhop Trophy for best Weston player; George Worthington; the Nigel Long Trophy for best gross was won by Kieran Babbage from Saltford.

A HECTIC week of golf at Wedmore ended with a four player play-off for the club championship.

The first round on Saturday had finished with Josh Barwell shooting 73 to take a three-shot lead over the field, while Bobby Jones had the best nett score with a 66.

A strong wind on Sunday made scoring tough and it became difficult to follow who was leading. As the scores were totted up, it gradually became clear that four players, Josh Barwell, his father Ben, Rich Vowles and Richard Weight had all finished on 157.

A three-hole play-off was therefore called for and Vowles rather unluckily fell behind when he went out of bounds. A birdie form Ben Barwell gave him the edge chased by his son.

Nothing changed on the second and despite being in the rough on the final hole, Ben’s bogey was good enough to hold off both his son and Weight and win the Jackson Trophy for a second year. It was Fathers Day after all!

Weight took second place on the strength of his second round with Vowles third and the younger Barwell taking best gross on day one. Bobby Jones had a second solid round to take the Directors’ Cup for best nett.

The ladies’ held an open seniors’ bowmaker with almost 100 players taking part. In a week of tight finishes, there was a three-way tie at the top.

Countback on the back nine settled the places, with Claire Biggs, Betty Norman and Wendy Lucas taking first place ahead of Gill Jones, June James and Pam Berry. Penny Parker, Jackie Bull and Gwen Cavell from Enmore took the visitors’ prize, with all three of these teams scoring 82 points.

There were more visitors for the seniors’ invitation day and some prodigious scoring. Organiser Malcolm Timmis partnering Stuart Fitton from St Pierre won the day with 46 points, which put them two ahead of Tom Bennett partnering Harvey Piper from Oake, as well as seniors’ captain Jim Crick and his partner Trevor Hawkins from Lilleybrook.

COLIN Roberts tasted success again in the second round of the seniors’ Captains Cup at Brean.

His net 66 led the way by three, ahead of a logjam of six players on nett 69. Tony Roper was the best of those and took an unexpected runners-up spot. That place would have gone to Jim McLauchlan had he remembered to sign his scorecard.

Unfortunately his failure to do so meant he was disqualified from the day’s event. As Roberts also won the first round of the event last month, he is now sitting in a healthy position ahead of the rest.

Mark Hatfield defied the windy conditions to win the monthly Stableford as he was the only player in the 60-strong field to reach the 40-point mark. This gave him Division 1 success ahead of Murray Parsons on 37.

David Hunter was the winner of Division 2 with 39 points and like Hatfield, enjoyed a three-point margin over runner-up Mike Hurman.

Tony’s dominated the top of the Division 3 leaderboard with Tony Slade winning on 36, ahead of Tony Groves on 35.

The following day it was Super Series action and yet again the wind blew. Craig Higgins won a countback on the back nine holes to claim the win. He edged out Gordy Wheelghan, who matched his score of 37 points.

Third place was taken by Steve Martin on 36 points and this result, along with his other recent consistent ones, moves him to the top of the points table at this early stage of the campaign.

The Avalon League Division 6 side faced up at home to Vivary Park as their opposition. They enjoyed an impressive 4.5-0.5 win to collect some valuable league points.

The only pair not to win were Simon Baunton and Steve Eley, but after being four down with five to play, the half point they eventually earned must have felt like a win.

Eric Jones notched up yet another midweek Stableford victory as he led the field with 36 points. He won by a single point from Steve Eley who in turn held a one point advantage over new member Byron Lismore who finished third.