Worlebury final produces nine birdies

THE final of Worlebury’s winter competition, the Glover Cup, pitched close friends, club chairman Keri Allchurch and former captain, Martin Green, against one another.

Keri went off like a train recording five birdies in the outward half. Green, was no slouch either and his round produced four excellent birdies.

The highlight of the match was Allchurch almost holing his tee shot on the second, only to see Martin nail a 50-footer for a half.

With respective partners Russ Bourton and John Flannigan playing their part, this was a final of the highest quality. Three down at the turn, Martin and John chipped away at the deficit, but Keri and Russ held on to win a highly entertaining encounter 2&1.

Worlebury’s tradition of fundraising was amply demonstrated with two contributions recently by junior Jack Partridge and staff member Adele Purdy.

Jack, who is this year’s junior captain, along with two playing partners, entered the British Heart Foundation Junior Golf Championship at Chevin Golf Club, Derbyshire, and came third.

As a team they raised more than £1,000 which will give them the chance of meeting Ryder Cup player Lee Westwood, who is the principal supporter of the event, later in the year. Jack’s contribution was £460.

Adele ran the London Marathon, finishing in a creditable 5.23.45 seconds. She raised more than £700 to be divided equally among the three captain’s charities at the club.

The majority of the monies raised came from Worlebury members and both Adele and Jack wish to thank everyone concerned for their generous support.

IT has been a hive of activity for Worlebury Juniors as of late.

The Commsplus Trophy, which was established several seasons ago, was won by Alex Chandler on countback from Henry Court, both playing well to come in with 43 points. Alix Kew was third with 38 points.

The club are indebted to Steve Collard of Commsplus for his continued generosity in sponsoring the event.

The Easter medal also produced excellent scores with Ryan Thrupp prevailing with a nett 60, followed by Jack Butterfield with a 64 and Davina Xahn (66).

Under the captaincy of Jack Partridge, the juniors have made a promising start to their league campaign. Two home wins have been recorded - 3-1 against Enmore and 4-0 versus Weston.

Against Enmore, there was a win for Partridge in the singles, while Alex Chandler/Jack Butterfield and Thrupp/Harry Rac won the pairs.

The Weston match saw wins for Partridge and Matty Blackman in the singles, with Thrupp/Rac and Mikey Nicholls/Ryan Tate winning in the pairs.

The next fixture is a tough one away to Burnham, where they will have to do without Partridge and Blackman, who are on first team duty.

WORLEBURY Golf Club mixed section held the Fred Crawford Trophy competition in fine weather.

The betterball competition was won by Sam and Graham Hewlett with a score of 41 Stableford points, winning on countback from runners-up, club president Keith Wharton and Lynne Johnson.

THIRTY-six Weston players got together for a mixed bowmaker competition.

On a beautiful spring day, the course was at its best and some excellent scores were recorded.

In third place with 78 points were Gary Homer, Dave Garrett, Ann Tancock and Joan Jenkinson. Runners-up with 83 were Derek Cook, Andy Skinner, Alysia Rees and Sue Garrett.

In first place with an excellent 84 was the lady captain’s team of Tessa Williams, Mick Mantell, Steve Corrick and two nine-hole lady members, Sarah Stoker and Olga Forte, playing nine holes each.

The Avalon A team took on Stockwood Vale at Weston in challenging conditions. Andy Skinner and Glenn Taylor had a magnificent 7/6 win and the only other pair to come through were Steve Welling and Andy Balcombe.

In similar conditions the following day, Weston A beat Weston B 11-4.

BURNHAM & Berrow Golf Club teams took full advantage of the difficult conditions and playing at home to make a clean sweep and conceded just one point in three separate matches.

The first match was the ladies Bristol & District Alliance League match against Orchardleigh. This year, fixtures have been arranged on weekends for the first time to enable some of the younger and lower handicap ladies the opportunity to represent the club.

With handicaps ranging from four to 11, the ladies proved too strong for the visitors winning all seven matches for a 14-0 victory.

Following the ladies was the gent’s Avalon League team who completed a 5-0 victory over Windwhistle, who struggled in the strong wind which picked up during the afternoon.

Finally, the juniors made it a hat-trick of victories for the club with a 3-1 win over Worlebury on a wet Sunday afternoon. Taylor Stote and Tom Barker had excellent wins in the top two singles matches, while the two four-ball matches were both halved.

It was also a successful weekend for Miles Richardson, who won the junior Spring Cup in the April medal the previous day.

With the back nine at playing straight into a strong southerly wind, players had to battle to hang onto a good score. Jocelyn Tomlinson coped better than everyone else scoring a net 68 off 11 handicap to win Division 1 of the April medal and a three-shot margin over Peter Faragher (71)

Club chairman Harvey Sampson was third with a 72 and club steward Jack Palmer, who plays off a three handicap, fourth with a 74, all respectable scores in the conditions.

IT was a week for trips away, but also arrivals this week at Wedmore as 90 players and supporters from the club set out for Woodbury Park in Devon for the captain’s weekend.

The not entirely unexpected arrival came on Saturday morning when captain Brad Ruddick’s wife Anna was rushed off to Exeter hospital for the arrival of their second son, Henry.

Thereafter, Brad split his time between golf course and hospital with ladies’ captain Ange Webber and vice-captain Mike Garbutt ably filling in when necessary.

All this gave a novel twist to an exciting weekend enjoyed by all, despite some mixed weather. The individual Stableford saw wins for Claire Biggs and Alan Chambers who scored an impressive 38 points on a tough course. The better-ball saw another win for Biggs, this time in partnership with Jim Crick.

The winning men’s pair was Jim Vearncombe and Andy Flavell. Flavell was again in first place in the winning mixed bowmaker team alongside Cathy Olive, Saybria Sims and Geoff Fisher.

Winners of the men’s competition were Rob Davis, Harvey Piper, Terry Simpson and Peter Rowntree.

The seniors were also away at the Vale of Glamorgan for their spring trip and struggled on an unknown course with early season greens. Best score of the day came from Tony Glover, who took the overall trophy with 34 points.

He was closely chased home by Frank Denniston, who was rewarded with the Over-70s trophy. Divisional wins went to Martin Easton, Phillip Springfield and John Taylor.

The ladies stayed at home for their competition which was a qualifying Stableford. They produced some satisfyingly good scores and a close finish with Margaret Rogers just edging out Judy Brooking-Clark on countback after both had finished with 39 points.

Alison Buckton was just a point back in third place. Liz Hill was the best of the silver division players with 36 points, giving her fourth place on countback from Sue Spink. Linda Roberts was a further shot back in sixth.

STEVE Jones and Phil Cooke produced a storming finish to take the top prize in Brean Golf Club’s president’s day.

The second staging of the popular event saw the players battling a strong wind and the course was again prepared superbly for the competitors by Robin Williams and his team.

Jones and Cooke, who plays at Wedmore, totalled a homeward betterball score of 23 points, which crucially gave them the edge over three other pairs who also returned 38 points and they received the Presidents Trophy, in memory of Bert and Marie House, from club president Richard House.

Second place went to club chairman Tony Roper and his guest Steve Thomas, ahead of former Brean captain Andy Towens and his partner Andy Harriott. The final 38 point card came from Rob Price and Tony Smith as they collected fourth prize.

Another close finish ensued for the final prize on offer as another three pairings handed in 37 point efforts. The best of these came from Andy Thomas and his guest Stuart Taylor.

The seniors hosted the Minehead Warreners at home for the first of their two annual matches. Brean ended up as convincing winners by 4.5 to 1.5 and no Brean players ended on the losing side as three games were halved.

Captain Allen Fellingham singled out George Thomas and Dai Wood as his pair of the day following their 5&4 victory.

Two games in two days it was always going to be a tough ask for the seniors as they faced up to Woodspring the following day. They ended up going down by the same scoreline 4.5-1.5. Dave Bradley and Tony Higgins were the captain’s team of the day as the only winners, although Bob Hurrell and Tony Roper also avoided defeat with a half.

Steven Eley has certainly hit the ground running since he joined Brean Golf Club as he chalked up another win in the Super Series Stableford with 41 points. He led the rest by two points with Roger Phillips taking second place on countback from Wayne Barrett.