Weston partners battle for the Irlam Trophy

A blustery, but fine day at Weston greeted the competitors for the Irlam Trophy, the husband and wife annual foursomes event, now in its 47th year.

Given by the late George and Eileen Irlam way back in 1969, Sally Irlam has continued to run this popular event for the last 13 years in her husband’s memory.

The course was in superb condition and a fine score of 38 points was recorded by Ian and Tessa Pitt, winning it for the second time, the last was in 1992.

They were clear winners by three points, with Nick and Kath Farrant in second place with 35 and Trevor and Joan Jenkinson coming third with 34. Twos were recorded by Tony and Di Walker and Andy and Zena Balcombe.

The competitors all enjoyed an excellent carvery, followed by the prize presentation made by Sally Irlam and president Gary Homer.

A glorious summer morning set the scene for the annual seniors’ Ray Hammond Trophy. The weather reflected the scores with the top three teams of this fourball betterball scoring 44 points.

This meant a countback was required which led to Terry Whybrow and Ray Harris taking the trophy, with Roger Magor and Maurice Sweeney the runners-up. John Rowsell and Michael Latham were in third place.

There was a good turnout for the Worlebury Seniors’ Championship.

Dave Treleaven was a worthy winner, his gross 76 giving him the Wally Hartree Trophy in a two-shot victory over Pete Gilpin, with reigning champion, Keri Allchurch, third.

Twenty-six handicapper Patrick Balchin returned a nett 64 to win both the Cyril Morgan Cup for the day’s best nett and the Les Marsden Trophy for the higher handicappers. Colin Dale was runner-up in both these competitions with a 67. Jim Birt came third on countback in the Les Marsden beating Bob Saddler.

Mike Parfitt’s nett 68 saw him winning the Malcolm Simpson Tankard, a competition for the over-70s. Countback was needed to separate the other places, with Bob Webber edging out Alan Woolford and Jim Birt.

The seniors’ friendlies continue unabated with matches away to Weston and Tall Pines.

The home game against Weston ended all square and the reverse fixture had the same outcome. Most of the matches were tight affairs apart from one heavy loss and one resounding win by John Hobbs and Barry Warburton. The post match banter and dining were, as always, first class and enjoyed by all concerned.

The visit to Tall Pines was similar in its enjoyment and, as with the Weston outing, most of the matches were very close apart from a heavy loss and a big win for John Langdon and John Rataczak. A close encounter saw Tall Pines record a narrow 3.5 to 2.5 win.

There was large field for the open pairs competition. In contrast to the recent sunny spell, rain fell for most of the day and none of the players escaped a dousing. Despite this, many good scores were recorded.

Low handicappers from West Berkshire, Stuart Harrison and Sam Blyth, were undeterred by the weather and won the competition with an excellent 47 points. Runners-up were Worlebury junior member, Jack Partridge and his guest, Ian Morris, with 45. Pete Wyatt and his guest Marc Bowers were third with 44.

Pete Gilpin and David Mellor came fourth on countback with 43, pipping Jim Skinner and Phil Bowers. Ben Dolbear and Mark Puddy were sixth, one point adrift.

Nearest the pin prizes were won by Paul Hibbard and Kelvin Betts. The visitors were generous in their praise of the event and the condition of the course.

There was a good turnout and birdies galore in the men’s monthly medal. Club champion Simon Dempsey had seven birdies in the round of the day, a nett 67 playing off scratch.

However, this was only good enough to take third place in the Division 1. Ryan Jones, playing off five, came first with an excellent nett 65 in a round with five birdies. Ryan went out in four under, but could not quite sustain his effort on the inward nine.

The experienced Alan Hartree was runner-up with a nett 66. Lewys Charles missed out on countback for third place. His fine round of 67 including four birdies saw him finish fourth.

Seventeen handicapper John Jones had the day’s top score to win Division 2 with an amazing nett 63. The evergreen Mike Amesbury also played brilliantly to miss out by one stroke. Richard Exon took third place on countback from Craig Buck, both scoring nett 67s.

Steve Ganfield won Division 3 with a nett 65. Andy Judkins was runner-up after countback with a 66, pipping Adrian Axelsen.

Avalon Royals, having already won their league, consolidated their position with a commanding 4-1 victory at home to The Mendip.

Comfortable wins were recorded by the pairings of captain John Melwani/Will Denyer, Mark Puddy/Craig Young, Leigh White/Martyn Chambers. The pairing of Adi Marshman and Paul White had to fight all the way and eventually prevailed two up.

Surprisingly, the pairing of vice-captain James Marshall and Tom Main, who have been virtually unbeatable all season, suffered a crushing defeat.

The Royals, having won league titles in successive seasons, now move up to League 5 and it will be interesting to see how they fare with the bar raised.

By contrast, Graham Hewlett’s Division 3 side, with one game remaining, finally lost their fight to avoid relegation when they went down at home to a strong Stockwood Vale team by 3.5 to 1.5.

Alex Chandler won the juniors’ Centenary Trophy. His nett 67 pipped Jack Partridge on countback. Five handicapper Jack’s fine round included five birdies, but it was all to no avail. Junior captain Ryan Thrupp came third with a 68.

The ladies won an enjoyable Alliance League encounter with Chipping Sodbury 9-5. Solid performances were put in by Emma Bourton, Amanda Cook, Michelle James, Julie Stafford, Lynne Johnson, Lynn Pope and Claire Bayliss.

Jan Keight top scored to win the ladies’ Division 2 of the monthly medal with a nett 73. Hazel Cox came second with a 74, beating Angie Bagley on countback.

Janet Fear won Division 1 with a nett 75. Maxine Gardiner came second with a 76 and Amanda Cook, third on 77. Marnie Sweet won Division 3 with a nett 75.

Worlebury hosted the Wyvern Trophy, a SGU competition held with the aim of raising funds for the county’s junior section. The SGU expressed their gratitude to the club for hosting the event and were complimentary as to their welcome and the quality of the course.

The winners were the low handicappers team of Jeremy Parrott, Jack Palmer, Martin Stephens (Burnham and Berrow) and Tom Trowbridge (Tiverton) with 91 points.

Second on countback were a team of higher handicappers from Farrington, Phil Thompson, Don Perry, David Millington and Mo Duery.

Third were a team of Worlebury members, Andy Taylor, Paul McAdams, John Horobin and Steve Ledley (Forest Hills) with 88.

It was a good week for Steve Ganfield as he followed up his fine win in the medal with his first hole-in-one. Steve holed out using a pitching wedge on the second. This is Steve’s first season playing golf and his success this week should see his handicap continuing to tumble.

Colin Roberts won a countback to take first place in the seniors’ August Stableford at Brean.

Three golfers returned scores of 41 points and it went down to the back six holes before Roberts could be declared the winner. Tony Roper was the runner-up and Jim McLauchlan had to settle for the bronze position. George Thomas also topped the 40 points mark, but had to be content with fourth place.

Phil Barry led the way in the pro shop Stableford with a 41 point total. He won by four from Mark Jenkins, who in turn was another point ahead of Roger Phillips.

Mark Parsons claimed his first win since re-joining as a member at Brean when he won the Super Series round with 38 points.

He was victorious on countback from Matt Haskins, who made a late diversion back to Brean when the SGU Category Championships were postponed due to the bad weather. Third place went to Stewart Garrett on 37.

Cricket St Thomas husband and wife duo of Debbie and Martin Bargery won the mixed open following a stunning back nine holes.

They won on countback from home pair of Lyn Bird and Trevor Pitt, mainly thanks to a stunning nett albatross scored by Debbie at the 16th adding five points to their score.

Pitt and Bird took second as they were one point clear of another Brean pairing in the shape of Gail and Steve Mason. Dennis Longden won the men’s nearest the pin, while Pauline Hale won the ladies’ version.