Hole in one helps Simon Smith to medal victory

The major competition of the last two weeks at Freshwater Bay was the Monthly Medal played on Sunday the 19th in which the CSS rose to 69 for the 43 entrants. Brandon Thompson and Barry Crook finished in third and fourth place respectively both returning net 68s, Kevin Garret took second with a 65 but first place went to Simon Smith with a 63 and he also took home the prize for the lowest gross with his 68 helped out by a hole in one at the 1st hole.

Andy Rann (27) managed to equal Simon’s score of 63 playing in Division 2 of the mid week medal and taking first place three shots ahead of Richard Couse (17) in second and third placed John Herbert (21) on 69. The scoring wasn’t quite so good in Division 1 with Myles Taylor taking the honours returning a net 67 off of 6 handicap, with Richard Frost also playing off 6 in second on 68, John Veal (15) eased Dave Morey out of third spot on count back both players returning a 69.

Two Junior Stablefords were held at the end of the week with typical high scoring in both, Kasey Tuckey (11) ran out the winner of the first with 39 points ahead of Ryan Harmer (14) on 38. In the second event Kasey narrowly lost out to Steven Cooke (13) on the back nine with both players returning very creditable 41s ahead of Conor White (29) in third on 40 points.

At the other end of the age scale scores were even better with Peter Cooper (16) taking the Veterans Monthly Stableford on count back with 42 points leaving Graham Ellis in second place playing off of 25. Third place went to Peter Marsden with 38 points keeping himself in the hunt for the Ogle Tankards with 170 points, three points behind the leader Dennis Smith on 173.

The Better Ball Stableford played on Saturday 18th was also a close run thing with Ian Ball and Gordon Day coming away the winners with 45 pts beating father and son duo Robbie and George Faulkner on count back 27 to 25. Robbie and George had their revenge though, joined by Russell Macgregor they trounced the field in this week’s Sunday Arizona Shuffle with 81 points a full 15 points clear of nearest rivals Tony Keen, Pete Miller and Paul Gardner on 66, third place went to Miles Oldershaw, Richard Couse and Tony Hammonds who narrowly lost out on count back.

40 points was required for first place in both the First and Second Divisions on Wednesday with Gordon Day (16) fighting off John Veal (15) on count back, Paul Gardner (16) took third place ahead of Pete Miller (14) on the back nine with both players carding 39 points. Division 2 was clearer cut with Shaun Clarke (22) in first place on 40 points ahead of Ivan Butt (19) in second on 38 and Justin Clayton (17) third with 37 points.

On Friday 24th the Veterans tried their hand at playing from the back tees with Mike Dowsett (18) holding off Chris West on count back for the prize money, both players returning 35 points in tough conditions.

The weather conspired to make matters worse on the Saturday with the best score of the day being 75 carded by Malc Williams (16) and Kevin Miles (15) with Malc running out the winner on count back.

Thompson lifts two pairs titles.

A busy Easter week culminated in Brandon Thompson lifting two pairs trophies, one with Sammi Keen and the other partnering Kevin Garrett. Meanwhile we entertained over 20 new beginners to the game with instruction in the new covered driving facility and guided introductions to the course, if you know of any prospective members that missed the event and would still like to participate after the event then please contact the Club on 7528955.

The first competition was a mid week singles stableford played on the 8th April with the CSS rising to 68 for the 38 entries. Best score of the day was returned by John Herbert (23) amassing 41 points winning Division 2 ahead of three players on 15 points with second place going to Dave Cooke (19) on count back from Graham Ellis (25) in third and Andrew Rann (25) in fourth all scoring 35 points. Scoring overall was slightly higher in Division 1 with Adam Keen (11) taking first place with 39 points ahead of Hugh Morrison (15) in second on 38 points. Third place went to Kasey Tuckey (11) beating Chris West (12) on count back, both players returning 36 points.

The Stableford on the Saturday saw the CSS drop this time to 67 due to the consistent high scoring from the 41 entries. Round of the day went to Nat Riddett (6) returning 44 points and a gross 67 to take first place in Division 1, second and third was decided on the back nine between two players returning 40 points – Brandon Thompson (5) came out ahead of Gary Cooke (14). Chris Tansley scored 42 points to win Division 2 ahead of fellow 18 handicapper John Sexton in second on 40 with David Hartley (15) finishing in third on 38 points as did Mike Hailes (16) in fourth.

The inaugural Freshwater Bay Lifeboat Trophy was played on the Sunday following being postponed from the Friday due to fog and inclement weather, the American Greensomes event was won by Brandon Thompson and Kevin Garrett returning 45 points ahead of second placed Father and Son pairing of Tony and Mike Black with 44 points. Geoff Smith and Chris West managed to sneak third place on count back from Robbie and George Faulkner in fourth with Peter Cooper and Steve Orchard in fifth all recording 43 points.

Of the 68 players in Ernie’s Two Ball Scramble on Easter Monday Brandon again came out on top this time partnering Sammi Keen to finish 1.5 shots ahead on 57.3. Second place went to Kev Garrett and Kevin McArthur scoring a gross 63, net 59.8 off of their 3.2 handicap allowance to beat Adam Keen and Nat Riddett on count back returning exactly the same gross and nett. The trophy presented to the Club in memory of Ernie Cooke, first played for in 2004, saw a fitting fourth place go to his son Paul partnering Miles Oldershaw to a nett 61.

Three Ball Scramble won by tenth of a shot.

The Sunday Medal saw Nat Riddett (6) take first place in Division 1 with a 66 recording the lowest gross of the day with a 72, second place went to Barry Crook with a 69 off of 12 handicap. Third place was decided on count back with Keith Wright (7) holding off John Veal (15) both returning a nett 70. In Division 2 the top three players tied on 67 with Dave Cooke (20) finishing in prime position on ahead of John Riddelsdell (19) in second and Tony Hammonds (25) in third.

The Saturday Stableford saw Brandon Thompson winning Division 1scoring 41 points off of his 5 handicap, Barry Crook (12) took second with 38 points narrowly easing out James Sanders (7) with the same score. Ryan Harmer (15) matched the Division 1 score of 41 points but 34 was good enough for second place for John Wisker (21) and John Sexton (18) finishing in third place on 33.

On Wednesday the fun three ball scramble was won by Rob Jackson, Richard Couse and Dennis Smith scoring a nett 59.35, a mere tenth of a shot ahead of John Herbert, Gerry Bolton and Ray Cooke in second place on 59.45.