Weston golfers beat the storms

The Easter Monday Texas scramble was played at Weston in the aftermath of Storm Katie, but even after nearly two inches of rain, the course was in fantastic condition.

Forty-four players took to the links in teams of four, with at least one lady per team. The winners were Chris Homer, treasurer Steve Corrick, ladies vice-captain Mel Rossi and Steve Dowden with nett 54.7. Second place went to club captain Scott McKechnie, ladies’ captain Julie Ward her husband David and new member Mathew Dicks with 56.5.

Third place went to Matt and Sally Brosnan with Ian and Pam Hudson (57.3), followed by Carol Harris, Roy Schubert, seniors’ captain Dave Snowden and Tessa Williams 57.7.

The Weston clubhouse was filled with spring flowers for the lady captain’s end of year party. Julie Ward handed over the reins to Reine O’Reilly in a celebration supper following golf.

Entrants were drawn to play either for the captain or vice-captain’s team in singles match play and the captain’s team were triumphant with the final score on the board 11-6.

Social members joined the ladies for an excellent meal followed by speeches and presentation of the blazer and badge of office. Reine thanked Julie for an excellent year and announced in her speech that Melanie Rossi is to be her vice-captain.

The ladies’ section is very active with many social events throughout the year as well as great golf. We wish the incoming captain and her committee a happy and successful year.

Worlebury’s Avalon A team continued their build up for the new season by taking on the club’s Royals, who are three leagues below them.

Storm Katie was an unwelcome visitor bringing strong winds and squally showers, which may have given the more experienced A team the edge.

The first four games resulted in two comfortable wins for each team, leaving the result hinging on the outcome of the final match.

The A team’s hopes were pinned on the partnership of captain Graham Hewlett and Paul Marsh and they did not disappoint, holding their nerve in a close tussle, to beat Leigh White and Dale Rendall, one up.

The Fred Crawford Trophy attracted a good field and while the weather had improved, the stiff breeze made scoring tricky. In a close finish, Tony Westren and Angie Bagley pipped Sue and Merv Kinch on countback, both pairs scoring 42 points. Claire Bayliss and Dougie Woods came third with 41.

The ladies held a hi-med-lo waltzing bowmaker which resulted in a comfortable win for the trio of Michelle James, Ginette Bright and Cheryl Saunders, their 83 points easily seeing off the challenge of Janet Jamieson, Lynn Pope and Marnie Sweet, who were five points adrift. Lynne Johnson, Judith Nicol and Sue Sokol came third on 76.

The Easter weekend witnessed several competitions at Burnham & Berrow Golf Club. Starting with the Cave Cup on Friday, competitors played a medal with the leading four players qualifying for a matchplay knockout on the Bank Holiday Monday to decide the winner.

George Cawse led the qualifiers with a nett 69, with Roger Marshall, Kevin Dodd and John Whitcutt taking the other spots in the knockout stage.

Unfortunately George could not replicate the form he found on the Friday and in blustery conditions went down by 4&3. In the other semi-final, Kevin Dodd came out on top beating Roger Marshall by one hole.

In a close final, both players held the lead at one time. Whitcutt was one hole ahead at the turn, but trailed by one after losing the 11th and 12th. Whitcutt won the 13th to square the match again, but lost the 15th to trail with three holes to play.

However, wins at 16 and 17 gave him a one-hole lead going to the last. Dodd could not get the win needed to take the match into extra holes, giving Whitcutt the title.

Adam Turrell defied the tough conditions into the wind on the back nine to win the Holt Cup on Saturday with a nett 68, giving him a two-shot victory over Tim Bowden (71) and six shots ahead of James Rowles in third place.

Competitors also struggled with tough conditions on Sunday in the open mixed foursomes. Mike Wilde and Sheree Dove-Wilde from Goring & Streetley Golf Club and Camberley Heath Golf Club in Surrey successfully defended the title they won last year with a gross score of 82, two ahead of Gordon Ross and Louise Sims.

The Old Kennard Cup on Monday was won by Robin Graham and Bryn Jones with a nett score of 78 in the foursomes medal format.

Results - Cave Cup semi-final: J Whitcutt bt G Cawse 4&3; K Dodd bt R Marshall by one hole. Final: J Whitcutt bt K Dodd by one hole.

Open mixed foursomes: M Wilde & S Dove-Wilde 82; G Ross & L Sims 84; R & S Stephens 89.

Holt Cup: A Turrell 68; T Bowden 71; J Rowles 74; M Sly 77; A Harriott 77.

Old Kennard Cup: R Graham & B Jones 78; J Marshfield & M Milverton 87.

Spring returned to Wedmore with play back on all grass tees and plenty of run on the fairways.

The seniors played a waltz bowmaker with one, two and three scores to count on successive holes. Despite the good conditions players still struggled to post any outstanding scores.

Best of the day came from the team of John Russell, David Bates and Mac Hargraves with a score of 72 points. This was just one better than runners-up Ivor Monelle, Phillip Springfield and Dennis Howard.

Third place went to Roy Peck, Brian Crosby and Tony Glover on 70, followed by David Hollingdale, John Hogan and Steve Lawrence on 69, with the final prize going Graham Hayes, David Dams and Barry Royal with 68.

The outstanding moment of the midweek Stableford was a hole-in-one on the second from Francis Rabbitts. This still did not get him anywhere near the lead which went to David Myers with an excellent 44 points, followed by Derek Kelly on 40.

There was no such excitement in the ladies’ medal, but two excellent sub-par rounds. Best of these came from Wendy Lucas with a nett 68, thanks largely to a strong front nine. Margaret Rogers was just a shot back in second place, a strong back nine not quite enough to catch the leader.

There was a little gap then back to Eunice Bond on 72. Cathy Olive had the best gross score of the day to be fourth on nett 73, followed by Jenny Cornwell on 75.

The newly-promoted Avalon Brean team made their bow in Division 5 against Wheathill.

They travelled to the mid-Somerset course and faced the same opposition the Somerset Bowl team had beaten just six days earlier at Mendip Spring. Their hosts were just too strong for them on this occasion as they went down 3-2, but this did accrue the team six useful league points to open their account.

Back at Brean on Easter Saturday, Mike Porter won the Pro shop Stableford with a score of 40 points. In the blustery and sometimes damp conditions, he held a two-point advantage over Roger Phillips and also saw his 17 handicap reduced by a stroke thanks to his success. Stewart Garrett was third with 35.

This year it was decided to give the players some competitive match practice the Division 2 Avalon League team would have a match against the Division 5 side.

This was arranged for Easter Sunday and as you can imagine the banter started between the two squads very early for this tie. The result of the match was a 4-3 win for the Division 2 side led by Steve Bateman to give them bragging rights over the side led by Mike Carter.

All of the Division 2 wins were by sizeable margins which secured them the overall win with the Division 5 side winning a trio of close matches to keep the final scoreline tight.

For those not in the Avalon encounter, there was an Easter Sunday Super Series Stableford which was won by Tony Higgins. He scored 39 points to win by three from Ron Vine as the new layout proved to be far from easy to score around. Third place was secured with 35 points by Mats Mattsson.

A quest to win Europe’s biggest pro-am begins for Joseph Joyce and his Worlebury PGA professional Gary Marks, when they tee up in a forthcoming Lombard Trophy regional final at Bovey Castle Golf Club on June 23.

They will be up against 64 other clubs with the winning pair going through to compete in the 36-hole final at Portugal’s luxurious Pestana Vila Sol Golf & Hotel resort on the Algarve in September.

Joyce, aged 24, landed a chance to have a tilt at qualifying for the grand final when he won his club qualifying event. He has been playing golf for eight years and plays off a handicap of 13.

Gary Marks (57), has been a professional at Worlebury for 28 years. He is a previous PGA play-off champion, winning the title in 2006.