The Wright Way To Win The Men's Open

In spite of a small entry the scoring in the Medal played on Wednesday 21st May was of a high standard, Pete Bryan took first place with a nett 65 playing off 19 while Dave Morey (15) picked up second place beating Mike Dowsett (18) on the back nine with both players shooting 66.



Saturday the 24th May saw the Men’s Open comprehensively won by home player Keith Wright and his brother Brian, who used to be a Freshwater player before defecting to Osborne a few years ago, with a useful 41 points. Second place was taken by Steve Sargeant and Pete Miller on 39 points closely followed by Gary Holmes and Pet Bryan with 38 points and fourth place going to Chris West and Geoff Smith on 37. Chris also featured in the prizes with nearest the pin on the 14th, although his entry on the marker sheet stated the distance as a long way away! The prize for best away pair went to Richard Daniels and Malcom Prouten of Westridge.



One of the other Wright brothers featured in the frame for the stableford on Sunday 25th May, this time it was Derek playing off of 4 handicap returning 41 points to take first place in Division 1. Second was John Crosbie (8) with 38 points while Les Mew (13) took fourth place scoring 36 points but losing out on count back to Keith Wright (6) who took third.



In Division 2 Richard Couse (19) took pride of place with 39 points, despite not scoring on two holes, second place went to Richard Leppard (18) on 35 points and Dave Cooke (20) finished third with 33.

Stephen Cooke wins EGU Gold Medal

The May Monthly Medal played on Saturday 17th included the qualifying round for the English Golf Union Gold Medal where the winner goes forward to the national final played at Woodhall Spa and competes to be England’s Handicap Golfer of the Year in front of the Setanta TV cameras. This year the Freshwater representative will be Steven Cooke who returned a nett 64 off of his 24 handicap, the rest of the scoring was tight with the next five players all within two shots of one another, John Crosbie (9) took second place with a nett 65, David Hartley (19) was third on 66 whilst fourth place went to Malc Williams (16) on 67 – beating Jack Ince and Kasey Tuckey on count back.



John Crosbie was in good form earlier in the week as well where he returned the best score of 31 entries in the Mid Week Stableford on Wednesday 14th May, second place in Division 1 went to Barney Barnes (16) with 37 points one point behind Crosbie’s 38. Third place was secured by Keith Brown on 33 points holding off two of the Wright brothers (Keith and Derek) on the back nine with the same score.



Division 2 was won by Pete Bryan (19) scoring 37 points and piping Dave Richards (20) on count back, Dennis Smith finished third scoring 34 points from his 20 handicap.

LCM Systems continues Sponsorship of Freshwater Bay Juniors.

Pictured are the Freshwater Bay Junior Squad resplendent in their red shirts with Club Captain Bill Hinchen at the back, LCM Systems Steve Sargeant in front of him and Junior Organiser Kevin Garrett kneeling front right.



At their second league match of the season there was a formal presentation of Freshwater Bay Golf Clubs Junior match shirts provided as part of the continued sponsorship from LCM Systems. The junior side unbeaten so far this season with a 2-2 draw away from home at Cowes and 4-0 victory at home against Westridge turned out in force for the event which was also attended by Club Captain Bill Hinchen, LCM Director Steve Sargeant and Junior Organiser Kevin Garrett.



In his speech Junior Captain Nat Riddett thanked Steve Sargeant for his company’s sponsorship saying how proud they are to wear the shirts while representing the Club and how much they are looking forward to competing more in mainland events this year thanks to the support of LCM Systems.



Freshwater Bay Juniors have already got the season off to a flying start with Brandon Thompson representing Hampshire, Sammi Keen beginning to make her presence felt on the Ladies scene, Ryan Harmer winning the Island Wee Wonders tournament and progressing through to the regional final, whilst Steven Cooke beat all comers (regardless of age and handicap) this weekend to qualify for the EGU Gold Medal National Final at Woodall Spa.



If you are under 18 and interested in taking up the game Freshwater PGA Professional James Veal runs coaching sessions specifically for Juniors on Wednesday evenings while new adult members are catered for on regular Monday evenings, with a specific FREE instruction for anyone interested in taking the game up during the two week period from Monday 26th May to Sunday 8th June. Please call the Club on 752955 to book your free place.

12th May 2008

The week started off with a Better Ball Stableford hotly contested on Wednesday 7th May with first place going to the pairing of John Veal and Dennis Smith amassing 48 points, in second place Gerry Bolton and John Herbert on 46 points a single point ahead of Chris West and Mark Pearce on 45.

Saturday the 10th May saw two competitions a match between a team of Past Captains and a team chosen by the current Captain Bill Hinchen. The Past Captains fought well under the leadership of immediate past Captain Gary Holmes managing a very respectable total of 265 points to be beaten by a single point by the Captains team, the twenty eight team members were joined by non playing Captains and guests for a sumptuous beef dinner.

In the Medal played on the same day there was some excellent golf played with Derek Wright taking pride of place in Division 1 (0-14) scoring a two under par gross 67, his nett score off of five handicap was an unbeatable 62 four shots clear of Richard Frost (6) on 66 and Frank Ing (13) in third place with a 67.

Division 2 scores were almost as good with first place going to Paul Gardner (20) beating Malc Williams (17) on count back with both players scoring nett 66, third place went to Barney Barnes (16) with a 69 beating Steve Sargeant on the back nine.

The Stableford on Sunday had more modest scoring, Barry Crook winning Division 1 (0-16) scoring 38 points off his 13 handicap, Les Mew (13) finished in second with 37 and John Ing (12) third on 36. Division 2 (17 – 28) went to John Riddelsdell (20) recording 37 points and beating Shaun Clark (25) on the back nine, Steven Cooke (24) took the final place with 36 points.

The Seniors Section under the Captaincy of Ray Cooke entertained a team from Hamptworth on Monday with excellent summer like weather, the visitors found the course well to their liking but ran out in second place 4 ½ to 1 ½. Pictured are the triumphant Freshwater Seniors team.

Malc Williams Wins Cheverton Cup

The first competition of May was the Veterans Stableford on Friday the 2nd with consistently high scoring from the 28 entries bringing the competition standard scratch down to 66, Peter Scott ran out the winner with 40 points off his 21 handicap. Second place went to Mike Dowsett (18) with 38 points followed by Steve Goodman (20) in third with 37 points beating Ken Bebbington, Derek Worsley and Gerry Bolton on count back all with the same points.



This marks the halfway point of the Ogle Tankards with Frank Gregory still retaining the lead with 196 points but with Ray Cooke (the current holder) moving menacingly into second spot with a solid 36 points cutting Frank’s lead from 14 to a mere 4 points the competition is stepping up not to mention John Mew lurking ominously in third place.



Saturday saw a club match against mainland Wellow with the Freshwater team victorious five games to one, this subsequently reduced the entries in the medal to only 26. Scoring was however still impressive with Gary Cooke (16) returning the best round of the day to take first place in the Division 2 ahead of two players on 68, Cliff Sanders (19) taking second place from Michael Black (18) on the back nine.



In Division 1 the scoring was almost as good from the single figure players; Keith Wright (6) shot a net 66 and the lowest gross to finish three shots clear of second placed Steve Orchard (8) on 69 with third place going to Simon Smith (5) on nett 71.



An excellent turnout of for the Cheverton Cup on Sunday 4th May saw 59 entries in the men only 20 handicap limited event with additional ladies playing a fun competition and nearest the pin prizes as well, overall winner of the trophy was Malc Williams playing off 17 handicap and returning a nett 65. Lowest nett of the day went to Steven Cooke (25) carding a 64 for first place in Division 2, second was Malc Williams with his 64 and in third place was Dennis Smith (20) on 69 on the better back nine from Peter Cooper (16) and John Riddelsdell (20). Sixty nine was the best score that big guns of Division 1 could manage; first place on count back went to Keith Wright (6) from second placed Kevin Garrett (6) and Miles Oldershaw (10) in third all scoring the same nett.



Young Steven Cooke put another good round together on the Bank Holiday Monday, partnering his father Gary and fellow junior Kasey Tuckey they finished first in the Yellow Ball Stableford with 81 points. Second place went to the team of Chris West, Kevin Garrett and Dennis Smith only two points behind on 78.



Results of the Winter Competitions show a good spread of members with Kevin Garrett and Club Captain Bill Hinchen beating Stuart Morris and Cliff Sanders in the final of the four ball better ball knockout. A worthy mention goes to the losing semi final pairings of John Burke and Chris Tansley, as well as Graham Wells and Keith Wright who lost to the eventual winners.



The winter eclectic was a close run thing with Dave Wilkins (14) coming out the eventual winner with a nett 59 off of half handicap. John Riddelsdell (20) finished second on 60 beating Steve Sargeant on count back with Dick Downes and Richard Couse narrowly missing out on prize money each with a nett 61.



Pieter Sheldon won the singles knock out Jacom Trophy beating Nick Punter in the final, losing semi finalists were Myles Taylor and Adam Keen.