Weston start the league season with two victories

WESTON men’s first team enjoyed two league wins in a week to make an impressive start to the new Bristol & District League season.

Firstly, up against a strong team from Mendip Springs, they had a fantastic 4-1 win and then beat hosts Chipping Sodbury 3-2.

The annual fixture against Tewkesbury Park was played in beautiful weather. Weston were beaten 5-2, but a great day was had by all.

A beautiful day with the course in superb condition and fast greens was the setting for the seniors’ Workman Cup. The result was, however, close run with Ray Harris shooting 40 points to just beat off Nicholas Walker who closed with 39. Third place went to Nick Palmer on 38, whilst three more players finished with 37.

The SLCGA past captains team event at Donnington Valley was played over two days. The Weston team of Sue Andow, Alysia Rees, Sally Irlam and Diney Costeloe had great success on the first day, coming top of the field of 35 teams and winning the best gross score on par threes.

On the second day, they were pipped into third place overall, losing out by one shot to the winners.

The ladies’ Barlow Cup qualifier was won by Jade Cope on 39 points, reducing her handicap to two. Alysia Rees came in second and Sally Brosnan third.

The Rogers Cup ladies’ team played their first round of the county knockout matches against Orchardleigh. Playing on neutral ground at Burnham and Berrow, Weston won 5-2 taking them on to the next round at Wedmore.

Twenty members travelled to Stover to play a club mixed friendly match. Weston lost 4.5-5.5, but thoroughly enjoyed the course and the warm welcome they received. They celebrated the day with Zena Balcombe, who achieved a hole-in-one on the seventh.

THERE was a good turnout for the May monthly medal at Worlebury, with the top score, fittingly, being returned in Division 1.

Seasoned campaigner Stuart Lock’s nett 66, won the division by two clear shots from Jim Walton, with Pete Cornish’s 70 taking third place, pipping John Melwani on countback.

Division 2 was a close-run affair with Tim Barden winning it on countback from Julian Claydon, both scoring nett 67s. Dave Collard came third with a 68.

The higher handicapped players in Division 3 found the going tough and Andy Judkin’s nett 72 won it, followed by Ray Collick and John Yates who carded 73s.

The seniors faced difficult weather conditions when they held their monthly Stableford and this was reflected in the scoring. Division 1 was won by Pete Cornish with 38 points. Dave Treleaven came second with a 37 and Dave Green third on 35, beating seniors’ captain, Mike Williams on countback.

John Yates returned the day’s best score to win Division 2 with 40 points, beating Clive Mealing into second place with 39 and Bob Saddler third a further point adrift.

The home leg of the long-standing annual challenge with the Minehead Warreners was held in pleasant conditions with Worlebury taking a 4.5-1.5 lead to the away leg in August

The summer competitions are well underway with members fighting for survival in a quest to reach the finals. Two members, Lee Jones and Jamie Crandon faced up to each other and fisticuffs resulted.

Thankfully this was off the course when they met in the boxing ring, both doing the Zero to Hero challenge. The pugilists were drawn to spar against one another in the build-up to the event next weekend with honours even and reputations intact.

Things looked bleak for reigning club champion Josh Freeman, partnered by Mike Amesbury with them two down on the 16th tee against Dougie Woods and Steve Taylor.

In very windy conditions, Josh holed his tee shot to halve the deficit before going on to par both the 18th and the first extra hole to advance, with Mike, to the next round.

THE main event of the week at Wedmore was the seniors’ open, sponsored by Butcombe, which attracted over 100 players from around Somerset and beyond.

The visitors took their fair share of the prizes but, in beautiful conditions, the overall prize was fought out between two local players with John Sims eventually taking the trophy on countback, after both he and Ian Hollands finished on 39 points.

Hollands had the compensation of winning Division 2, ahead of Chris McGowan on 37 and David Jordan from Crediton on 36.

Division 1 was dominated by visitors who filled the first four places. Mike Bailey led the way on 38, which won the Visitors Trophy, leaving Peter Ramsey on 37 the divisional winner.

He finished a point ahead of Andrew Lovering from Oake, with Clevedon’s Bob Anderson third on 36. In Division 3, Stuart Meyrick led with 38 points, but he took the Over-70 prize instead, leaving three home players to take the divisional honours.

Alasdair McDonald won with 36 points, one point better than both John Hogan and event organiser Malcolm Timmis, who organised himself into third place.

The seniors also played their annual competition with the ladies for the Friendly Bowl. With a few of their lower handicappers missing, the ladies struggled, even with the support of a few men who crossed gender to help out.

The seniors ran out comfortable winners by 612 points to 560. Best score from a seniors’ pair was 45 from Gordon Summers and Alasdair McDonald, while Sue Tarry and Vera Ireland were the best ladies’ pair with 43.

The seniors progressed to the second round of the county scratch competition with an excellent 3.5-1.5 win against a strong Bath team at the Mendip, while the club team beat Fosseway to reach the second round of the Somerset Bowl.

JOHN Cullinan was a late addition to the winning trio in the Brean open bowmaker.

He joined the powerful duo of Steve Bateman and club captain Stuart Wills and the team won by the narrowest of margins. They scored 136 for the 18 holes in breezy conditions, but it was only declared the winning score after a countback decided over the closing six holes.

They relegated Ian Adams, Roger Philips and Barrie Tucker into the runners-up prize position and Cullinan’s birdie two into the wind at the par three 17th proved crucial.

Third place went to Ron Vine, Tony Romeo and Steve Martin on 137, who also won a countback for that spot, with visiting trio of Keith Cooper, John Delacherie and Chris Mogg from Taunton & Pickeridge, having to settle for the final prize on offer.

Director of golf Andrew March hosted his annual pro’s day and he introduced a new format for the event, a Las Vegas scramble.

This involved teams of four and the rolling of a dice to decide which tee shot they would play. March played alongside his assistant Dan Keitch, Dan’s father Martin (former Taunton Vale pro) and former Brean pro David Haines, who made a return for the event.

The pro’s quartet, aided by some expert dice rolling by Dan, shot a gross 56, 14 under the card to just about beat all the other teams.

Club captain Stuart Wills, captain-elect Andy Thomas, Steve and Alec Bateman ran them close though, ending with a net 57.4 and took the shield for the leading team excluding the pro’s. Behind them came Dave and Duncan Lockwood with John Mardon and Tony Groves on 58.5.

George Stratford was the inaugural winner of the John Heath Memorial as he carded 38 points. The runner-up was decided on countback, with David Benjafield edging out Dai Wood on 35 points on the back nine.

Brean played the home leg of their annual two-legged friendly matches against Caerleon. They enjoyed a comfortable 7.5-0.5 win over their friends from over the bridge. The return leg will be in September at the now Celtic Manor owned course near Newport.

Eric Jones won the first completed midweek Stableford of the year with a 40-point card. He beat Wayne Barrett by one point and headed third placed Pete Barton by two.