Seniors open at Burnham

A LARGE field of senior golfers took part in the West of England Seniors Open at Burnham & Berrow.

The 36 hole scratch competition attracts players from all over the UK. This year, the event was won by David Niven of Newbury & Crookham with a gross score of 149, seven over par.

In second place was last year’s winner, Stuart Pond, with a score of 151, having achieved a hole in one on the ninth hole in his second round. Stuart is a member of Worksop. In third place was Douglas Arnold of Copthorne with 152.

Burnham seniors played their first round Somerset Bowl match against Bath at Clevedon.

With the recent heavy rain, the course was a bit soggy, but the team emerged 3-2 winners. The match was finely balanced and the result hinged on putts being made on the 18th green to seal victory.

Fortunately, the final two Burnham pairs managed to single putt and avoid the need to go to extra holes. The next round will be against Taunton & Pickeridge at Cannington.

The picture shows Somerset Golf Union president, Stephen Butterfield, (left) presenting David Niven with his prizes.

WORLEBURY Golf Club held a mixed open competition with players from both the local area and nationally entering.

The event, a Stableford pairs format was played in warm conditions. The winners on the day were Hux and Sue Rees from Thornbury with 44 points, second was Spencer Farr and Warner Booth from Windwhistle. Close behind on 43 were Jo and Shaun Carter from Farringdon, with Worlebury pair Barry and Cheryl Saunders taking fourth on 41 points

Two other Worlebury players, Pam Burnell and Trevor Smith took the prizes on the nearest to the pin competitions on the sixth and 12th holes.

Mark Burland’s Avalon side travelled to Orchardleigh near Frome for their first match of the season, but came away with a 4-1 defeat against a good home side.

Despite the adverse weather conditions, Worlebury seniors held a Stableford competition with last year’s drainage work to the greens again holding up well during the endless rain

Results – Division 1: John Jones (36 pts); Dave Brimfield 35; Dave Treleaven 33. Division 2: Barry Hodson 35; Charles Hart 34; Kenny Yam 33.

Worlebury Golf Club has been designated as one of the collection points for Weston Hospicecare’s ‘The Big Drop’.

The week-long charity event is running from May 16-23 and anyone wishing to donate any unwanted clothes, gifts, books, CDs etc can leave them at the club.

Further information on this event can be found on www.westonhospicecaregroup.org.uk/support-us/shops/the-big-drop/

THE Division Six Avalon League team from Brean Golf Club ended up on the wrong end of a whitewash on their visit to Wells.

It spelt the end of the unbeaten start to the season enjoyed by both Brean teams up until this point. The defeat was compounded by the need for one of the Brean players having to leave the course partway round due to feeling unwell, which ended up in an overnight stay in Bath hospital, but thankfully he is now recovering.

Two rounds of the Super Series were the ‘dish of the day’ at Brean over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Phil Aspinall took the first win after a solid round of 38 points in trying conditions as the course was still very wet following the recent rainfall. Second place went to David Hunter on 36, ahead of Steve Jones on 34. Aspinall topped up his winnings by recording the only two of the day at the 17th to scoop the entire pot on offer.

Sunday turned out to the best day weather wise for some time and the scoring was also much improved with the 40 point barrier being broken. Mats Mattsson was the man to do it with 41 points giving him a comprehensive four point winning margin.

Second and third place was decided on countback with Roy Baker edging out David Bidgood on the back nine after they both carded 37. Again, only one two was scored and Steve Bateman was the grateful recipient of the pot on this occasion.

The seniors had a blank week as firstly their home match with Fosseway and then their Hall of Fame qualifier were victims of the wet weather.

FOR most players in the monthly Stableford at Wedmore, it was a relief just to be out on the course after the storms had wiped out several competitions, including the ladies’ open.

Considering the weather the course was in excellent shape although. This kept scoring down to reasonable levels, but there were the usual crop of better than par scores.

It turned out to be a particularly good day for the Barwell family. In Division 1, Ben Barwell came in first with 40 points, the best score of the day ahead of Don Edmondson on 39 and David Eley, who beat a clutch of other players on 37 points on count back to take third place.

Meanwhile, Ben’s son Josh was taking second place in Division 3. He tied with Andrew Davis on points, both scoring 38 points but Davis just won out on count back. Third place went to John Vowles, who also scored 38.

There was a clear winner in the second division where 39 points from James Gray put him two points clear of the second and third placed players. These were Rob Davis and Charlie Woodard, with Davis just claiming second place on count back.

The ladies struggled on the heavy going but there was a good round of 34 points from Shirley Turner to just hold off Chris Simpson who finished on 32.

WESTON seniors defied bad weather to compete in the annual Foursomes Plate.

In a tight finish, David Andow and Jim Blackhurst won on count back from Tony Hynam and Nigel Jillings.