James wins Weston championship after play-off

THE Weston Men’s Club Championship was won by James Browne after a six-hole play-off.

The weekend produced a mixed bag of weather conditions, testing all of the 110 starters, which was cut to the top 72 players for the second day.

The overall winner was Browne, who beat Alex Winn in a six-hole play-off, with both players tied on 144 (plus four) for 36 holes.

It was a tense affair with both players show great nerve and was watched by more than 50 members.

Third gross was greens chairman Geoff Sinclair, who must have been pleased with the many positive comments about the course.

The winner of the Handicap Plate was also Browne with a nett 134, winning on the second 18 holes from B&D captain Glenn Taylor. Third again was Sinclair with 137 nett.

The junior club championships also took place, with George Worthington taking the title from Tommy Holyday by two shots with a gross 154. Tommy didn’t go home empty-handed as he took the nett junior championship with 140.

WORLEBURY Ladies held their annual open which attracted a good field of members and visitors alike.

The format was a bowmaker with two scores counting in a team of three. The weather was not kind with heavy showers for much of the day.

The comfortable winners with 83 points were a team led by Worlebury member Lynn Pope, with two partners from Weston, Sue Garrett and Caroline Poole.

Wheathill members Lorna Elliott, Pam Frith and Gill Parram came second with 76, with Worlebury members Claire Bayliss, Sue Kinch and Eunice McAdams taking third place on countback from clubmates, Marnie Sweet, Hazel Cox and guest Sue Hares, both teams scoring 75.

Nearest the pin prizes were won by Hazel Cox for the home players and Sue Ovland from Wheathill for the visitors. Prizes for twos were won by home players Pam Burnell and Pope and for the visitors Carol Harris (Weston) and Ovland.

Lady captain Maxine Gardiner, thanked the players for supporting the event and her committee for helping to make the day such a success.

Former lady captain, the popular Pam Burnell, won the June medal and the Kelson Cup with a nett 70, closely followed by Lorna Mcivor and the consistent Izzy Swift, who both had 71s.

Led by the ageless Eric Waghorn, there was success for the Worlebury captains in their annual triangular match against their counterparts from Enmore and Wells.

Now in its 20th year, this competition, which this year was hosted by Enmore, cements the special relationship between the three clubs with the post match banter over dinner almost as enjoyable (some say more so) than the golf.

Keith Wharton top scored for Worlebury, taking home a lucrative pot.

BEST news of the week at Wedmore Golf Club came from the seniors’ scratch team.

Playing Clevedon in the semi-final of the County knockout competition, they fell two matches behind early on, but came back to win the next two and leave the match poised at 2-2.

Tim Harris was last man out and was three down with just six holes to play, but two birdies in the last five holes allowed him to turn the match around and take the team into the final for the first time.

The seniors’ own competition was a Stableford with best score of the day coming from Gordon Summers (44) to win Division 3 by five shots from Mike Nicholls and Colin Clegg.

Mike Peacock took Division 1 with 39, just one better than Martin Easton and Ellis Nearn. Chris McGowan had a convincing win in Division 2, 41 points putting him two clear of Tony Hoskings with Ian Sentence third.

It was the ladies’ seniors’ championship, but no results are given until the presentation next week.

The younger ladies played a medal with Liz Hill just beating Dawn Chadwick on countback, both scoring nett 71. Eunice Bond took third on 72, ahead of Shirley Gooding and Cathy Olive.

The club Stableford had a mixture of wind and rain which did not stop Mark Cornish scoring 44 to win Division 1 from Jason Hann by seven shots with Daryl Cornelius third.

David Coggan took Division 2 with 37 ahead of Kevin Osman and Pete Brown. A tight finish to Division 3 saw Steve Whitcombe finish on 39, two better than both Dave Bedford and Philip Horn. Carol Horsley was top lady on 37, with both Saybria Sims and Jan Jenkins two shots back.

Juniors George Cox and Sean Gray spent 12 hours on the course on Saturday, along with a few friends and supporters raising money for Frenchay After Burns Unit.

A marathon rather than a sprint, they played 65 holes taking a combined 599 shots which included an eagle two from George on the difficult 17th. More importantly they raised over £500 for the charity.

ERIC and David Jones certainly bring the best out of each other in team events as they yet again combined superbly to win the seniors’ open at Brean.

They dovetailed perfectly to score an excellent 45 points and gained a one-shot victory over two visiting pairs. Woodspring’s George Blackburn and his partner B Tierney (Chipping Sodbury) took second place on countback from Cannington duo Rod Vowles and C Davis.

Next came Mike Allen and Roger Phillips on 42, who were also awarded the over-70s Veterans Trophy. Pete Dunn and Mike Porter finished fifth also with 42. The final piece of silverware went to Ron Vine and Vince Ford, who won the Nicoll Trophy for the 65-69 age group.

The seniors’ team welcomed their Cannington counterparts to Brean on probably the hottest day of the year so far. The hosts were just as hot as the weather as they dispatched their opponents by five games to one.

Former club captain Paul Jones ran away with the July medal after a blistering nett 65. This gave him a sizeable six-stroke winning margin in Division 1 over runner-up Murray Parsons.

He put his success down to his new fitness regime as he plans to take part in the Burnham Half Marathon later this year to raise funds for the Captain’s Charity, In Charley’s Memory.

Matching Jones’ nett 65 was Roy Fletcher as he claimed Division 2, but had much stiffer competition than the top flight. No less than eight players bettered or matched their handicaps and Richard Triscott with a 66 took second position.

Pat Mullholland was the only player under his handicap in the third division as his 69 beat Trevor Searle by one.

Early starters Tony Higgins and Steve Bateman were one of the few pairs to complete a dry 18 holes on Sunday before the wet weather hit.

They completed their winning card of 44 points around 10 minutes before the heavy rain fell, which saw more than one pair decide enough was enough and walk in.

They won by two points from Murray Parsons and Russell Shaw who battled their way around a soggy back nine for 42

They were one clear of fellow later starters Chris Payne and Richard Triscott on 41, who took third. Mats Mattsson and Kevin Davies were fourth with Mattsson scoring the only two of the event as well.