Wedmore Golf Club men’s A team defeated Burnham in the final of the Somerset Bowl.

WEDMORE Golf Club men’s A team played in the final of the Somerset Bowl against Burnham at Weston, while back at Wedmore, the ladies needed to tie with Bristol & Clifton to become champions of Division 3 in the Bristol Alliance League.

Despite losing the first game, Wedmore won games two and three and with a half secured in the fourth, needed just one more win to secure first place.

They achieved this, but only in the penultimate game to finish one point ahead of their opponents on the day, Bristol and Clifton.

Meanwhile, the men were also enduring a tight match. With four games played the match stood tied with two matches won by each side. In the final game, Wedmore were two up with just three to play, but a shortish putt to win was missed on the 16th and when the 17th was lost, everything came down to the final hole.

Burnham had the honour, but drove out of bounds. Captain Tony Ribi hit a safe drive down the fairway and the game was effectively over. Congratulations to both teams and also to the mens B team, who have gained promotion in the Avalon League.

The final open of the season, the Yonex Trophy was won by Mark Cornish, whose 41 points put him just ahead of Bill Lander and Harry Edwards on countback. Steve Cainey won Division 2 with 40 points.

Best score of the day was in the ladies’ competition, won by Gill Jones with 43 points. Catherine Nicholson (36) and Deidre Wheadon (34) took the divisional wins.

There was a fine win in the medal by Diane Miller with a nett 69, but she is too young to win the Vets Vase, which went instead to Sue Tarry whose 74 beat Aileen Robertson on countback. Mention must also be made of senior Gordon Newbery, who had a nett 59 to win the seniors’ medal.

Wedmore men’s A team, winners of the Somerset Bowl.

Wedmore ladies, winners of Division 3 of the Bristol Alliance League.

THE Bert Dunston Memorial Cup is a well-established pairs competition at Worlebury.

The cup is named after Bert Dunston, was with the club when it opened in 1908 and went on to work there all his life, much of it as head greenkeeper (apart from serving in the forces in the Great War).

This year’s competition was a close-run affair with the established pairing of Chris Mannings-Hill and Andy Nicholls winning by a single point; their 61 pipping Barrie Saunders and Malcolm Summers, who took second pace on countback from Pete Nuttall and Phil Stone.

The seniors’ busy season continued with two competitions. Competitors in the monthly Stableford found conditions tricky and only Alan Woolford played under his handicap to win the Division 1 with a respectable 37 points.

Ken Williamson came second beating Frank Hopkinson on countback, both players scoring 35. Division 2 was competitive with 35 points winning and countback deciding the final placings. Fred Toms’s won it with John Taylor and Henri Josling taking second and third places respectively.

The monthly medal was equally tricky with heavy showers making life difficult and affecting the scoring. Tony Foster won Division 1 with a nett 69. Martin Wildman took second place on countback from Mike Amesbury, both having nett 71s.

Frank Woolman had the best score of the day, taking Division 2 comfortably with a nett 67. Henri Josling continued his recent fine run of form taking second place with a 70, beating Roger Clouter by a single shot.

Chris and Andy being presented with their trophy by Worlebury captain, Keith Wharton. Also in the picture (left to right) are Malcolm, Pete and Barrie.

THE Weston Golf Club annual Ryder Solheim fourball betterball golf challenge ended in a draw.

The competition, which was originally started by former captains Roger Magor and Wendy Homer in 1996, has continued to attract a competitive spirit between the two sections of the club.

The men, who won the trophy last year, fielded a strong team led by captain Steve Corrick. With most of the early matches being won by the men, it was the ladies’ who had to dig deep to turn things around.

The tide was turned by Sally Brosnan and Vicki Brewin who were three down after 10 holes, but shocked David Andow and Andy Dibble with a fighting display to halve the match.

The next match was won by the ladies when Zena Balcombe sank a long putt on the final green. In the end the competition was halved, with each team scoring three and a half points, although as holders the men retained the trophy.

The seniors’ matchplay tournament reached its conclusion with a fine win for Tony Barry, who beat Roy Schubert in the final. The losing semi-finalists were Eddie Langford and John Morgan.

Weston seniors’ fourball betterball produced some superb golf with 12 pairs scoring 40 points or better. It was Colin Dixon and John Morgan who won the competition with 44 points, a point ahead of Steve Strange and Brian Whiddett.

It was a great performance by the winners who had a shaky start, but played the last 15 holes in level par.

Weston captains Steve Corrick and Di Walker with the players

WORLEBURY ladies played a Texas Scramble in benign conditions for lady president’s day.

This is Jean Beat’s last year as president, and Pam Burnell paid tribute to her hard work for the club during the years that she has been at Worlebury, describing her as wonderful ambassador for Worlebury ladies’ section.

Jean presented the prizes to the winners of the competition. First was the strong team of Pam Burnell, Megan Cochrane and Jenny Cumming with a gross 56. Second were Lisa Griffiths, Rita Tooley and Ann Blannin with 58, and third were Ginette Baker, Trish Smith and Eunice McAdams with 59.

Some early risers played in the Cockrow competition which is run by Marianne Nute. Everyone teed off at 6.30am on different tees and watched the sun rise as they played the first holes. The winner with an excellent 42 points was new member Jenny Cumming, second was Janet Jamieson with 37 and third was Sylvia Cook with 36.

Pictured are the winners of the Worlebury lady president’s Texas scramble with Jean Beat.

PHIL Aspinall led the way in the monthly medal at Brean.

Playing in the first group out, he scored a stunning nett 63 to win Division 2 from Alec Bateman who had a 67. Paul McLanaghan took the Division 1 honours with a 65. Runner-up was another Bateman in the shape of Steve, who scored 68.

Another early starter in Kevin Davies led the Division 3 scorecharts with his 66. A countback was needed to decide the ladies’ event with Sheila Rouse making it a win double as she edged out Debbie Windmill on the back nine.

Andrew March and David Haines started their G&S PGA winter season by taking part in the Wormald and Partners G&S PGA matchplay championship at Chipping Sodbury.

They both won their first round matches with Haines posting an impressive 4&3 victory over the host club’s Robin Goodey. March was up against former Brean assistant Shane Kaye and in a close game just edged it by one hole.

In the quarter-finals in the afternoon, Haines met his match against number two seed Giuseppe Licata from Bristol Golf Centre and found his interest ended by mid-afternoon.

March however, was in control of his game from the start against Daryl Kelley from Filton and closed it out by 4&3 to set up a tie with Haines’s conqueror the following morning.

Following a short fog delay he made a steady start but a couple of loose shots gave his opponent a lead he would never relinquish and March also suffered defeat at the hands of Licata by 4&2.

Licata went on to win the championship for the second time, beating Ed Goodwin in the final in the afternoon. Next Wednesday sees the start of the new Total Triumph Order of Merit when the professionals will be tackling the challenges of Brean. Please feel free to come along and watch.

Barrie Tucker produced another sub par round of golf as his nett 66 won the seniors’ medal. He beat another Barrie in to second spot as Barrie Yearsley handed in a 67. Charlie Hastie was third with 70.

Bill Griffin won the seniors’ Chairman’s Cup with a 38 point total. This was one point better than both Pete Douglas and Ken Ponter with the countback favouring Douglas for second spot.

The annual charity open at Brean in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer saw a close result. Eight-one points was the winning score handed in by later starters Chris Stephens, Mark Elvins, Don Blackwell and Peter Searle. Just a single point behind were the quartet of Kevin Davies, Mats Mattsson, Tony Higgins and Roger Vaughan.

They in turn were a single point ahead of the third-placed team which consisted of Mel Brown, Tony Groves, Nigel Ellis and club captain Brian Read.