Keith Wharton, this year’s new captain at Worlebury, started his term of office with the traditional drive-in.

THE captain’s drive-in is the traditional way the captain starts his term of officer at Worlebury.

This year’s captain, retired firefighter Keith Wharton, arrived with his vice-captain, Paul Gardiner, in unorthodox fashion. The dynamic duo were dressed as Batman and Robin, much to the amusement of the large crowd of members who had gathered there to support Keith, who was carrying out the role for a second time.

Keith has chosen Weston Hospicecare for his charity and on arrival he was welcomed by a group of lady members aptly dressed in pink.

It was then down to the serious business of the drive-in. The captain achieved a respectable distance from the tee, followed by the competition for members.

The competition winners were Daryl James and Graham Griffiths with an excellent score of 43 points. They were followed by Max Pitcher and Barry Stone 41; Tom Blackett and Alan Johnson 41; Nathan Talbot and Dave Collard 40; Dave Blackhurst and Stuart Brown 40.

WESTON seniors held their third Alan Holt qualifier of the winter on a rare dry day.

The greens were in good condition, despite the snow and torrential rain over recent weeks.

Nigel Jillings and Eddie Langford qualified for the summer knockout finals on countback after five players came in with creditable scores of 70.

Results: Nigel Jillings 83 (13) 70; Eddie Langford 79 (9) 70; Colin Dummett 81 (11) 70; Gary Homer 79 (9) 70; Terry Holden 82 (12) 70; Rick Fowler 86 (15) 71; David Andow 82 (11) 71; John Morgan 84 (13) 71.

BURNHAM & Berrow are through to the second round of the Mail on Sunday National Golf Club Classic after a tight match away at Tickenham Golf Club.

Things didn’t start well for Burnham when one of the five singles matches had to be conceded as one of the team didn’t arrive on time

Two big victories got Burnham the start they needed when Glyn Petrie, giving one shot to his opponent won 5&4, Symon Clifford, giving two shots, won 8&6. Robin Griffiths found giving seven shots a few too many, eventually losing two down.

With the match now tied at 2-2 and only one match left on the course, Neil Darby, giving 11 shots to his opponent, managed to secure a half to take the tie to a sudden death play-off. Anchor-man Symon Clifford secured victory at the first extra hole with a solid par.

In the January medal, Richard Nuttall’s fine 75 (5) 70 edged out Stephen Seymour 82 (12) 70 and Peter Amos 78 (8) 70 on countback. Division 2 was won by Andy Holley 88 (16) 72, ahead of Ian Moreton 88 (15) 73 and Jon Marshfield 90 (16) 74. Standard scratch on the day was 73.

The Stableford competition was won by the in-form Andy Fisher with 35 points ahead of Neil Folland with 34 and Geoff Clifford with 33. Division 2 saw Stephen Reading win with 31, beating Larry Summers and Barry Hall on countback.

IAN Adams had the leading score of the day of 39 points in the February monthly Stableford at Brean.

This was compiled over a composite nine hole layout which was played twice as some parts of the course were still too wet for play.

He won by three points from Phil Hodgson with Dave Benjafield another two further back in third spot. Russell Shaw was the victor in Division 1 as he notched 38 points. He also enjoyed a three point winning margin from Andy Thomas. Thomas just shaded a countback with Murray Parsons who had to settle for third.

The biggest winning margin came in Division 3 as Roger Philips handed in 37 points. This was seven better than his nearest challenger in Bob Masterman and Jim McLauchlan was third.

A VERY wet course and the threat of more rain encouraged the seniors at Wedmore to reduce their competition on Monday to just a nine-hole Stableford.

Playing the front nine in level par gross was only good enough to secure Tony Glover 22 points and third place. Steve Lawrence must have been convinced he had won with 24 points, but in the end finished up in second place.

He was just squeezed out by Terry Stew, who played seven shots below his handicap to win with an amazing 25 points.

The ladies also chose to reduce their greensomes competition to nine-holes, but even so there were relatively few brave souls who completed the course.

Foremost amongst these were Sarah Mathews and Gina Falcon who finished with a respectable 18 points. This put them just one point clear of Jennifer Kellaway and new vice-captain Ange Webber, who in turn were just one ahead of third placed Alison Dodkin and Claire Biggs.