Weston juniors shine at national final

THREE Weston Golf Club juniors recently represented Somerset in the national finals of the English Golf Union Junior Champion Club at Woodhall Spa.

The team of Sam Fernley, James Browne and Harry Turner had qualified to represent Somerset at the prestigious national event earlier in the year, the first time a team from Weston has achieved the honour.

Organised and hosted by the English Golf Union, the event was played on two days over 36 holes with teams from 34 counties taking part.

On the first day, both James and Sam struggled on the front nine, but Harry played some outstanding golf, at one stage reaching four under his handicap. He faltered slightly on the last two holes, but still posted an excellent 38 points.

Both Sam and James responded over the back nine, with Sam recording 35 points to leave the team in 10th place at the halfway stage.

Harry again produced the goods on the Sunday, once more beating his handicap with an impressive 37 points. Sam and James were not far off, with Sam producing a remarkable finish, with a terrific birdie on the difficult 16th and an eagle on 17th to lift his score to 36 points.

James finished off by hammering his drive at the par four 18th 334 yards into a greenside bunker, but could not match the scores of Harry and Sam.

That meant a combined Stableford team score of 146 points, which was good enough for joint seventh place out of over 30 county teams. The event was won by Whickham Golf Club from Durham, and more details are available from the EGU website www.englishgolfunion.org

? WESTON Golf Club president John Poole hosted a well-attended golf and social event.

Teams of four played in good conditions with a challenging format which included powerplay pin positions on a number of holes. The event was won by the team of Steve Thomas, Wendy Thomas, Dave Garrett and Sue Garrett with a magnificent 99 points.

Ladies’ team winners were Sally Irlam, Sue Andow, Glenda Latham and Wendy Homer; gent’s team winners were David Bates, Trevor Marshall, Dave Snowdon and Glen Taylor and the mixed team winners were Allison and John Whitewood and Di and Jim Brown.

? WESTON lady captain Jacqui Hall-Scott took ladies from the club to Woodbury Park for her away day.

The fun-filled day started with breakfast in the conservatory, followed by a 18-hole bowmaker with prizes for best team scores, longest drives and nearest the pin.

Winners: Alysia Rees, Di Walker, Trina Thomas and Olga Forte; Sue Mardell, Reine O’Reilly, Virginia Rossi and Gay Long; 3rd Jacqui Hall-Scott, Pat Murray, Sue Radcliffe and Carol Harris. Longest drives: Glenda Latham (silver), Kath Farrant (bronze). Nearest the pin: Sue Mardell.

EWGA medal: Kath Farrant (73); Alysia Rees (74); Vicki Brewin (78).

? WESTON Avalon B team were relegated from Division 6 after a 5-0 whitewash at the hands of Stockwood Vale.

First out Steve Blackaller and Dan Hewlett lost 5&4, followed by Gary Homer & Steve Corrick who lost 3&2. Despite three birdies, they only managed to win one of those holes against an inspired Stockwood duo.

The usually reliable Graham Hicken partnering Kenny Dalton lost 7&6 with Chris Homer and Jack Radcliffe just managing to beat that with a 7&5 defeat. The best result was a 2&1 loss for Kenton Simpson and Alan Harris.

? BREAN Golf Club had double reason to celebrate on Sunday as they made their mark in two separate events around the county.

Firstly the club’s first team continued their excellent run in the Somerset Bowl as they won their semi-final tie at Clevedon against Farrington. Hot on the heels of that good news came more in the form that Mike Sutton had won the Category Four County Championship at Worlebury for the second time in four years.

Team Captain Dave Barthram declared all 10 of his Brean players as heroes as they defeated a strong Farrington side 3-2. The honour of holing the winning putt went to Chris Payne as he rolled in a birdie on the 18th and with it secured victory with the final shot in the final game on the course.

They now wait to see who they face in the final in September when they have the chance to end the 21 year wait since the only previous time that the Somerset Bowl has resided at Brean Golf Club.

The Avalon team are also waiting for another result to determine whether they will also be celebrating promotion from Division 3 of the Avalon League.

They tied their final game of the season 2.5 each away at Worlebury, which just edged them back in front of near neighbours Burnham and Berrow in the promotion chase.

If Burnham lose heavily in their final game then Brean could be playing Division 2 golf next season. The other Brean team are also sweating on other result to determine their league status for 2012, but for the opposite reason.

Their final outing of the year ended in a heavy defeat against a relegation haunted Frome side who were on top form in a 4.5-0.5 win. If results go the wrong way, Brean could sink to the seventh division despite having led the table earlier in the year.

Mike Sutton is becoming something of a specialist when it comes to the annual Somerset Category Championships. Following his victory at Stockwood Vale in 2008, he produced another excellent round in breezy conditions at the hilltop course above Weston as his nett 71 saw him crowned champion again.

With all the action happening elsewhere the events at Brean were somewhat low key. One round stood out from the rest over the Bank Holiday weekend though was that of Ian Adams and his superb 44 points in the Super Series.

He strengthened his position at the head of the Super Series points table ahead of Nigel Hodges. Second place on the day went to Gordon Mitchell on 38, ahead of Phil Hodgson who finished in the prizes in just his second competition.

With the course slightly shortened on the Sunday, Trevor Pitt took victory with a card of 42 points, ahead of Paul Jones on 39 in the Pro Shop Stableford.

Tony Tissington led the way in the seniors’ monthly Stableford after a score of 40 points. Seniors’ chairman Wally Pape was close behind on 39 as he was declared the runner-up and Barrie Yearsley rounded out the top three on 38.

? THIS week was an opportunity for the higher handicap ladies to shine at Wedmore with the holding of the James Jug, which can only be won by someone with a handicap of 30 or higher.

The competition is incorporated in the monthly EWGA medal and the winner of the Jug this year had the best nett score of the day.

Ann Read was the winner of the James Jug and Division 2 of the medal and was the only player to play to her handicap with a nett 72. This was just one shot ahead of Jenny Cornwell, who beat Shirley Restorick for runner-up on countback.

The low handicappers fared worse with best score of the day being 74 from Aileen Robertson. This was three shots better than Shirley Turne, who beat Cathy Olive on countback.

By contrast, the seniors’ enjoyed excellent conditions on Monday and produced some good scores. Leading the way was Derek Warn, who produced a wonderful nett 63 to win Division 1. He was closely chased by Keith Thomas on 65 and Ian Robson on 67.

Division 2 produced a close finish with Bob Jackson just beating Jeff Elliott on countback, both scoring 69 which was one ahead of Bob Jepps in third.

There was another excellent score in Division 3. John Bussell’s 65 put him three shots clear of both Eddie Parlour and Dennis Howard, who lost out on countback.

Friday saw two coaches of Wedmore players cross the Severn to visit former professional Graham Coombe at his current club at Palleg near Swansea. Everybody enjoyed the warm welcome from Graham, especially the winning team of Pete and Shirley Restorick with Richard Lane and Steve Seymour.