England pipped by the Rest of the World

WORLEBURY Golf Club held its England v the Rest of the World match last weekend in blustery conditions, with 17 fourball matches on the course.

With the Rest of the World team having a mix of other UK countries plus French and other Europeans represented, there was much banter on the first hole with flags flying and Celtic songs being played to spur on the troops

The Rest of the World got off to a good start winning three of the first four matches to take an early lead. The England team rallied in later matches, before conceding defeat 9-8 in a close match.

? A FULL week of golf at Wedmore started on Monday with the seniors’ Bowmaker.

It was a Bowmaker with a twist though, with all team members’ scores counting on the par fives, two on the par fours and just one on the par threes.

There was a close finish with just one point covering the top three teams. One point off the lead in third place was the team of Philip Springfield, Dennis Howerd and Tony Ireland. Losing out on countback over the last six holes on 71 points were Ivor Monelle, Brian Kidd and John Taylor, leaving Brian Crosby, David Adams and Tony Biggs to claim victory with the same score.

By Thursday the wind was blowing strongly and the greens had cut up somewhat to make scoring difficult. Trish Phelps was the only player to match handicap, winning bronze division with 36 points ahead of Angela Webber (33) and Maggs Willetts on the same score. Silver division went to new captain Jane Hewitt (32) with Jan Jenkins (30) second and Aileen Robertson (29) third.

The hotly contested annual match between Cheddar and the Rest of the World was played, postponed due to the snow in December. This postponement to a different year seemed to confuse the Cheddar team who failed to score their usual victory, Steve Major’s team claiming victory by 14.5-11.5.

There was a more serious match on Sunday as the club started its challenge for the Mail on Sunday Classic with a tough match at home to Enmore.

The early exchanges left scores equal, Nick Parker halving, Darryl Cornelius just losing but John Wormald claiming a win. With Terry Edwards taking the fourth game, all depended on Paul Plume in the final match who duly delivered with a half to clinch the tie.

Whilst this was going on, there was a notable moment for Rob Davis, scoring his first hole-in-one on the eighteenth.

? ON a day when the wind affected many players’ scores, single figure handicapper Jared Poole came in with an excellent score of 42 points.

He could even afford a last hole mishap where he scored no points and still win by seven points in the top Division of the monthly Stableford. Runner-up was Poole’s friend Dave Gummer on 35.

The prospect of taking up the captaincy certainly hasn’t affected Dave Bradley’s golf as he again featured in the prizes. With his handicap having been cut in recent weeks, he handed in another haul of 40+ points.

His 41 points secured Division 2 to win by four from Roger Phillips. The scoring of Division 3 didn’t match the other two, as 33 points was good enough to see Tony Romeo win. Nick Windsor beat Martyn Cahill on countback for the runners-up spot.

Sunday saw another round of the Winter League. Best score of the day came from Trevor Pitt with his 40 point score. This won Division 2 ahead of Stewart Garrett who had 39.

A countback was needed to separate the top two finishers in Division 1 as Graham Exton and Steve Mason both recorded 38 points. Mason was adjudged the winner after his better back nine holes score. Current club captain Steve Bateman and Kevin Davies took third places in their Divisions with scores of 36 and 38 respectively.

There was more success for Andrew March in the G&S PGA Medal played at Forest Hills last week. Continuing his good start to 2011, he recorded his first win for many seasons after a level par 72 at the Forest of Dean venue left him in a three way tie at the top.

This moved him up to sixth place in the Order of Merit and to within striking distance of the top four, which includes his Brean colleague David Haines, who missed the latest event through illness.

? WESTON seniors had the third qualifying round of the Alan Holt Trophy postponed because of the frosty conditions.

As a result, a Stableford competition was held, producing some good scores, especially from the winner, David Poole, with 46 points.

Leading Scores: David Poole 46 pts; Peter Sedley-Jones 45; Brian Whiddett 43; Tony Barry 43; Roger Preston 42; Tim Latchem 42; Jim Brown 42; Bill Raynham 41; John Banfield 41; Nigel Jillings 41; Dick Skelley 41; Peter Alcock 41.

? WORLEBURY Golf Club ladies’ section - January results - individual Stableford: E Limer 34 pts; J Simms 32; Jill Webb 32; A Du Rose 32.

Greensome Stableford: I Swift, M Williams 32 pts; J Hartree, M James 31.

Bowmaker: G Baker, J Hartree, L Griffiths 68 pts; H Cox, J Phillips, M James 63; J Wakerley, J Keight, J Simms 62.