Gary Cooke takes Warren Cup

A fun 3-2-1 Team Stableford on Sunday finished off the week at Freshwater Bay with Tony Hammonds, Nick Riby and Shaun Clark taking first place with 85 points from Graham Wells, Chris Tansley and John Burke in second on 83 points. Bill Hinchen, Chris West and Hugh Morrison managed to hold onto third place scoring 80 points and beating Chris Boulter, John Meredith and John Riddlesdell on count back.

Kevin McArthur (10) took pride of place in Division 1 on Saturday scoring 38 points in the stableford ahead of Kev Garrett (5) in second with 36 points and Derek Wright (3) in third on 35. In Division 2 Mike Hailes (16) ran out the winner with 37 points beating Keith Kimber (17) on count back, Malc Williams (15) took third place on count back from Kevin Miles and Gary Holmes with all three players scoring 34 points. Nothing changed at the top in this the final round of the Warren Cup with Gary Cooke taking the trophy with 229 points from his son Steven on 227, long time leader Richard Couse finished in third with 226 and Chris Tansley in fourth on 223.

In the Mid week medal Wally Shennan was the only player to break 70 scoring a nett 67 off of his 14 handicap, Keith Kimber (17) came second with a 72 and Malc Williams (15) finished third on 73 on count back from Gary Cooke. In Division Two the best they could manage was 74 nett with the first three places being decided on count back, Ray Cooke (19) first, Brian Whelan (27) second and Bob Godden (20) in third.

Brandon's comeback continues.

Conditions conspired to bring the normally high scoring down this week but didn’t stop Hampshire star Brandon Thompson continuing his come back from knee surgery and winning one and coming second in the other of the two weekend events. Completion of the new covered practice/teaching facility is almost complete and Freshwater will be celebrating with an Free Open Weekend on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th for any one interested in taking the game up – please phone 752955 for further details. So as to involve all Island golfers in the celebration we will be offering 2 for 1 green fees in April for all island residents as well as 2 for 1 menus at Fairways End and 2 for 1 coaching from our PGA Pro James Veal.

Highest score in Sunday’s Stableford was 39 points returned by Mark Debuse (8) to take Division 1 followed by Brandon Thompson (5) second on 37 and Barry Crook (12) in third scoring 35 points. In Division 2 two players finished on 39 points with Malc Williams (16) taking first place on count back from Cris Keith (19), third place went to Dennis Smith on 38.

Also played on the Sunday was the final of Rolies Winter Knockout a better ball Matchplay event with Nat Riddett and Adam Keen running out the winners on the 18th hole after being 3 up 6 play with a somewhat round the houses four from Nat sealing the fate of opponents Gary Holmes and Tony Keen (Adam’s father).

Saturday saw a dreaded Par competition with young Ryan Harmer returning the best score of the day to win Division 2, carding a round of 4 up off of his 16 handicap. Dick Leppard (19) finished second on 2 up and Martin Brett (27) took third place 1 up on count back from John Sexton. In Division 1 Brandon Thompson took the honours 3up playing off 5 handicap ahead of fellow five handicapper Kevin Garrett on 2 up and third placed Stuart Morris on 1 up.

In the Junior Medal Tom Stockley returned an excellent nett 59 to reduce his handicap by 5 shots to 27.

The scoring in mid week Stableford was again slightly lower than usual with the highest score coming from Andy Rann picking up Division 2 with 40 points off of 27 handicap, second place went to Chris Boulter (18) on 39 points and Shaun Clark (22) finished third on 38 points. Thirty seven points was all that Division 1 players could mange with Malc Williams (16) finishing top of the heap on count back from John Mew (14) in second and Chris West (11) in third with three more players finishing a shot adrift on 36 points

Oustanding 58 from Paul Gardner

Outstanding round of the week at Freshwater was returned by 19 handicap Paul Gardner in the Medal on Sunday, a nett 58 that no one could get within 5 shots of was ample enough to give him first place in Division 2. Pete Miller (16) finished in second with a 63 and Kev Miles (15) took third place on 68 easing out James Brett on Count back. In Division 1 the scoring was of a similar standard with Richard Frost and Myles Taylor finishing second and third respectively both playing off 6 and carding 66, pole position went to Tony Keen (10) with a nett 65.

On a some what more light hearted note the Saturday competition was a South African Three Ball Stableford with Geoff Smith, Fred Smith and John Sexton running out the eventual winners on 160 points, Tony Keen, Ian Ball and Chris West finished in second place on the same score by losing out on back nine count back – makes you wonder how they felt after amassing 120 points on the front nine!

Played alongside on the Saturday was the Junior Stableford in which three competitors managed to slash their handicaps by a total of seven shots, Sammi Keen (14) romped home with 46 points ahead of George Faulkner (35) on 43 points and Ryan Harmer (16) on 41.

Earlier in the week a Two Ball Scramble was staged with Bill Hinchen and Hugh Morrison taking pride of place on 60.8 substantially ahead of Chris West and Chris Tansley in second place scoring 65.0.

Nat Riddett holds off comeback king Brandon Thompson in Monthly Medal

The Mid Week Stableford on 4th March saw the CSS drop to 66 following some solid scoring from the 38 entries, with best score of the day going to Division 2 winner James Brett returning 40 points off of his 18 handicap, Dave Richards (21) took second on 38 and Paddy Hodgson (18) third. In Division 1 Gordon Day (16) finished in first place with 38 points closely followed by Dave Wilkins (15) in second on 37 with 7 handicap Keith Wright in third losing out on the back nine.



Friday 6th March saw similar scoring in the Veterans Stableford following a short delay to let the frost clear the main greens with Peter Marsden (21) taking first place ahead of Keith Brown (18) in second on 37 and Jim Payne (23) with 36 points in third beating John Mew (14) on count back. After four rounds of the Ogle Tankards Dennis Smith still retains the lead on 137, John Mew in second on 133 followed by this months winner Peter Marsden on 132 points.



The Monthly Medal played on the Saturday saw some ferocious scoring from the 39 entries with the top twelve breaking par, Nat Riddett (7) ran out the overall winner with an excellent nett 63 and sharing the honour of the lowest gross with second placed Brandon Thompson (6) with both players returning 70’s. Quite a feat for Brandon as this was his first competitive game following two knee operations to rectify a football injury. Chris West (12) finished in third on 65 easing Richard Couse (17) out on the back nine, Miles Oldershaw (9) took fifth place on count back from Paul Gardner, both carding 66’s.



Tougher conditions prevailed on Sunday for the Stableford competition with the CSS rising from 68 to 70; best score of the day coming in Division 2 from Paul Gardner returning 37 points off of his 19 handicap. Dennis Smith also off 19 shot 36 points for second place ahead of Tony Hammonds (25) on 34, with Frank Gregory in fourth losing out on the back nine. In Division 1 Chris West cut to 11 handicap from the day before still managed to pick up first place with 35 points, ahead of Ian Ball (13) in second scoring 34 points, Miles Oldershaw finished fourth on 33 points losing out to Graham Wells (10) on count back

Fine weather brings players out in force

Good weather combined with main greens in fine condition brought the Freshwater Bay members out in force this week with 42 entries in the Mid Week Medal, 54 in the Saturday Stableford and the Sunday Medal lagging behind slightly with 32 competitors.

The Medal played on Wednesday 25th February saw some fine scoring in both divisions with nett 64 being the overall best of the day shared by Keith Wright (7) and Chris West (13), Keith managed to take first place in Division 1 on count back. Kasey Tuckey carded a 65 off of 11 handicap to take third place, with Derek Wright (2) returning the lowest gross of the day 67 and taking fourth place with nett 65. Commiserations go to Dave Morey who also finished on 65 but didn’t figure in the prizes losing out on the back nine.

Division 2 was almost as closely fought with Chris Tansley (18) also bringing home a 65 to take first place from Andy Rann (28) in second on count back, while Peter Cooper (16) sneaked third place from Ray Cooke (19) with both players scoring 67.

The card play back system was again bought into play for Division 2 of the Saturday Stableford with no less than four players tying on 38 points, Shaun Clark (22) came out on top with John Riddelsdell (19) in second, John Sexton (17) in third and lastly in fourth place Gary Holmes playing off of 17.

Division 1 was a little clearer cut, at least for the first three places, with Frank Ing returning 40 points from his 13 handicap to take first place ahead of James Sanders (7) on 39 and Bill Hinchen in third on 38 also playing off seven. Bertie Everson (13) managed to sneak fourth spot on the back nine from Richard Frost, Hugh Morrison and Nat Riddett all scoring 37 points.

These scores go through to the final month of the Warren cup with the lead being held by father and son, Gary and Steven Cooke tied on 227, Richard Couse third on 221 and Chris Tansley fourth with 215 points.

Sunday the 1st March saw a Medal Competition with scoring of a similar caliber especially in Division 2 where 65 shared all three places, 14 handicapper Gary Cooke taking first place on the back nine from Ian Ball also off 14 and David Hartley (18) in third. Division 1 went to John Burke (12) with a 66 ahead of Chris West (12) on 67 and Kasey Tuckey (11) in third place with a 68.