Juniors lead after first round of Championship and Afton Down.

Last weekend at Freshwater was the Men’s Championship which got off to an inauspicious start when the first round on the Saturday had to be postponed to the following week due to low cloud coming in mid morning making holes 6 to 13 unplayable. But considering the persistent precipitation there was not too many complaints from the sodden souls who had made it to the turn.

Although dry on the Sunday the wind direction made the course play its hardest with not one of the sixty five players managing a par 4 on the 18^th! Leading in the scratch at the half way point was Brandon Thompson on 72 from Derek Wright on 73, Nat Riddett placed in third on 74, while rank outsider Kevin McArthur lies in joint fourth place with defending champion James Sanders on 78.

In the Afton Down handicap event, which is limited 20 handicap, Ryan Harmer (13) is in pole position going into the second round with a net 66 a shot ahead John Burke (12) on 67. In third is scratch leader Brandon Thompson (4) tied with Kevin McArthur (10) on 68, these four being the only players to break the CSS. That is with the exception of Tom Stockley (26) who returned an excellent nett 64 to take the best round of the day but had to play off 20 handicap for the main competition.

Recent events at Freshwater have included the Men’s Open Scramble which was won by the Club Captain Barry Hunter’s team with a net 54.5; the other members were Fred Smith, Chris West and Tony Jones. Second place went to the Teaching Pro James Veal’s team consisting of John Veal, Nat Riddett and Ryan Harmer a mere 0.2 of a shot behind. Robbie Faulkner, George Faulkner, Russell Macgregor and Tom Stockley finished third on 55.2 whilst not even a hole in one on the fifth from Gary Cooke could get his team of Steve Cooke, Barry Crook and James Brett anything better than fourth place.

The Stableford on Sunday 28^th was won with an immense 46 points from John Meredith in Division 2 playing off of 21 handicap, Chris Griffiths (19) came second with 37 and Frank Gregory third on 36. Division 1 went to James Sanders (7) scoring 40 points from Mike Black a point behind playing off 14 and Nick Riby in third on 38.

The first competition of July was a Stableford with Keith Wright and Gordon Day finishing on 40 points in Division 1, Keith finished first on count back and third place went to Hugh Morrison on 37. Martin Harris took the honours in Division 2 playing off 22 and scoring 42 points. Chris Griffiths (19) managed to hold off Tony Hammonds (26) for second place with both players returning 37 points.

Scoring in the Veterans Stableford was not quite so good with Trevor Philcox (18) in first place with 39 points beating Ray Cooke (19) on count back with the same score. 34 points was good enough for third place for Peter Dawson playing off of 21.

Immense scoring in the par Monty Cup saw 14 handicap Simon Fisher sneak the trophy on count back from Richard Frost (6) and Ryan Harmer (13) all returning +5, Hugh Morrison and John Sexton finished in joint fourth on +3.

In the Sunday Stableford on the 5^th July, only the day after, the scoring was substantially lower with Malc Williams (15) beating John Sexton (17) on count back for first place in Division 1 wit both players returning 39 points. Third place went to James Sanders (7) on 38 which would have been good enough to take Division 2 from Dave Cooke who also returned 38 points finishing ahead of John Riddlesdell (19) on 37 and Russell Macgregor (18) in third on 36 points.

The mid week Stableford saw close scoring in the first Division with Les Mew (14) in first place on 38 points ahead of three players on 37. Hugh Morrison (14) came out second from Dave Wilkins (16) and Malc Williams (15) in second and third respectively, Division 2 winner was Dennis Smith (20) with 42 points, John Herbert (21) finished second with 40 points and Tony Hammonds (26) held off Richard Couse & Cliff Sanders on count back to finish in third on 38.