Worlebury Golf Club seniors had a busy week with the first medal and social match of the season.

THE seniors’ season at Worlebury is beginning to take off with the first medal of the season and the first social match took place against Shirehampton.

In wintry conditions, Worlebury struggled against their opponents and went down 5-2, their only win coming from the pairing of captain Gerry Miles and former captain, John Taylor. There was a crumb of comfort with vice-captain, Brian Book, winning the nearest the pin competition.

The medal was a close run affair with Barrie Hodson recording the best net score of the day with a 68 to win Division 2. Both Roy Brown and Charles Taviner had net 71s with the former taking the runners-up spot on countback.

Division 1 was won by Frank Hopkinson. Playing off five, he had the best gross score in the competition. Frank’s net score of 71 pipped John Jones on countback with Brian Matthews third with a net 72.

In the men’s section, the PGA national competition was cancelled and replaced by a Stableford. This was due to winter greens being in play because of the frosty conditions.

Division 1 was won by Stuart Fawcett with 37 points, beating Richard Godwin on countback. Alan Hatree was third with 35 points.

The Second Division produced the highest net score of the day from Dick Gorton. His 41 points beat David Blackhurst by one, with Tony Westren taking third place with 37.

Finally, Division 3 was won by Dave Cousins with 40 points, comfortably seeing off Stuart Brown on 36 and Peter Hill with 35.

ALED Davies, a Paralympic gold and bronze medallist will be opening the new pro shop and teaching studio at Weston Golf Club on Saturday.

He will have his medals and be available for pictures and autographs. Come and see the new look pro shop and teaching academy and meet Aled between 10am-4pm.

CHARITY events made a start this week at Wedmore, despite the cold conditions.

The popular Childline event pairs together seniors’ and ladies’ and raised over £700 for the children’s support charity. Vera Ireland and John Russell were clear winners on 45 points, with Ann Adams and Brian Kidd runners-up with 42.

The following day, the ladies held a coffee morning which also involved a sale, plus golf for visiting ladies brave enough to go out in the cold. Thanks to the efforts of a large number of ladies, but particularly captain Deidre Wheadon, the event raised about £1,000 for the captains’ charities.

The ladies were back again playing golf with a nine-hole bowmaker. Winners were Claire Biggs, Alison Dodkin and Jennifer Kelloway with 32 points. This put them one point ahead of runners-up Cathy Olive, Aileen Robertson and Ange Webber, with the team of Jenny Cornwell, Esme Gulliver and Winnie Burkhill another point back in third.

Rich Vowles had the outstanding performance of the day to win the club medal at the weekend. His gross 72 gave him a net 64 to win Division 1 by four shots from David Eley, with Dominic Smith a further couple of shots back in third.

In Division 2, the first three players all scored 67. First place went to Dom Channon on countback, which included a one under par finish over the last five holes. Mark Higginbottom edged out Rob Davis for third place by the narrowest of margins over the last three holes.

The clear winner of Division 3 was Kevin Osman with 67, four ahead of Pete Beavan on 71 with Nigel Young third on 72. Only three ladies braved the chill, but these included an excellent net 70 (gross 79) from Marlyn Jackson.

Photo shows winners of the Childline Charity event with club captain Tom Bennett, runner-up Ann Adams, organiser Sue Tarry and ladies’ captain Deidre Wheadon.

BREAN’S winter league champion is Russell Shaw as he converted his position as top qualifier into first place overall on finals day.

He returned a solid card of 36 points (plus five bonus points) on the day and ended up as the clear champion. Runner-up was Tony Richards with his 38 point haul that was just a single point in front of Roger Phillips with his 36+1 total.

The winner from two years ago Pete Dunn took fourth after adding his four bonus points to his 31 he scored. Graham Foy edged out the defending champion Tony Romeo for the last spot in the prize money in fifth.

Gordy Wheelaghan failed to make it into the top 20 qualifiers, but he did have the best score in the finals day Stableford. He carded 39 to win the top prize ahead of Richards. Last year’s captain Stewart Garrett matched Richards score of 38, but missed out on countback and ended up third. Vince Ford also on 38 took fourth spot.

Andy Thomas produced an excellent round of golf to take the Good Friday Stableford. He handed in 44 points on a day when the stiff breeze made scoring tricky. Russell Shaw was second on 39 and Eamonn Wynne was third on 37.

David Benjafield was the winner of the re-arranged seniors’ medal. He ended the day with a nett 67, which was three ahead of three players on nett 70. Roger Phillips had the best back nine of the trio as he relegated club chairman Tony Roper and Charlie Hastie to third and fourth place respectively.

TEAMS are invited to enter Brean Golf Club’s captain’s charity day on April 12.

The event will be raising funds for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and will be a Stableford event, with a shotgun start at 10am.

Cost will be £130 per team and includes bacon rolls and coffee, 18 holes of golf, with carvery, prizegiving and a charity auction to follow. Also, sponsor a hole for £25.

For further information and entry forms, contact Brean Golf Club on 01278 752111 or email golf@brean.com