A week of high scoring stablefords

A run of good weather and three stableford competitions in a row have resulted in some excellent scoring over the past week with the highest points coming from Myles Taylor (5) and Peter Dawson (22) in the Mid Week Competition, both players returning 44 points as the CSS dropped to 66. Myles took first place in Division 1 from Chris Edmond-Smith (16) in second on 41 with third place going to Gordon Day (15) carding 40 and pushing John Crosbie (10) in to fourth place on count back. In Division 2 Peter Dawson’s 44 was ample to take first place with Tim Deville (24) in second on count back from Norman Cramp (28), both players returning 40 points, fourth place went to Frank Gregory (25) with 39.

The Saturday Stableford had 38 entries, same as the Mid Week, with John Crosbie returning another plus 40 point round to take first place in Division 1 this time off of 9 handicap. James Sanders (7) also scored 41 points but lost out on the back nine with Steve Ryan (12) on 40. Kev Miles had the best score of the day returning 42 points off his 15 handicap to take first place in Division 2 followed by Cliff Sanders (21) second on 39 and Gary Holmes (16) third with 37.

On the Sunday Jim Whitehead took the honours in Division 1 carding 43 points off of 8 with Malc Williams (16) and Hugh Morrison (14) finishing in second and third places respectively, both players scoring 39 points. Richard Couse (17) finished first in Division 2 with 42 points ahead of Stephen Mew (24) in second on 37 and Chris Tansley (19) third on 36.

Green keepers prevail in spite of hole in one against them!

As September draws to a close the finals of the Summer Knockout competitions have been played at Freshwater with two of our green keepers prevailing in spite of hole in one against them. The pair in Question Tim Harmer and James Sanders won the final of the fourball Matchplay Barton Cup convincingly holding off two juniors Conor White, who had the hole in one on the 179 yard 5^th and Tim Harmer’s son Ryan. In the mixed foursome, Harding Cup, Rick Penn and Joan Martin where gallant runners up to the experienced pairing of Jim Whitehead and Dot Porter. On the singles front Gary Cooke took out newcomer Andy Rann in the final of the McCaul Cup and John Burke triumphed over Junior Captain Adam Keen in the Knill Jones.

In the Mid Week Medal 22 handicapper Peter Dawson came out on top with a nett 71 ahead of Kevin Jones (also 22) in second on 72 and Hugh Morrison (14) on 74.

The major competition of the week was the closely contested Harvey Cup on Saturday 19^th which was open to all members, Steven Cooke (12) ran out the winner on count back with 38 points from second placed Cedric Jones (13) and Kasey Tuckey (7) in third all with the same score. Chris Tansley (17) finished fourth on 37 holding off Malc Williams (15) on the back nine.

The Sunday Stableford saw the best score of the week from Division 1 winner Nick Riby (12) with 41 points, second place went to Ian Ball (15) on 39 points from Mark Debuse (8) in third on 37 points. The scoring was not quite so good in Division 2 with two players tying on 37, Malc Williams (16) coming out on top on count back from Gary Holmes (16), third place was also decided on the back nine with Frank Gregory (25) sneaking ahead of Roger Thomas (18) both players returning 34 points.

KW Stableford, EWGA Medal & County

K.W.Stableford

1st Silver. Liz Morris 31 pts.

1st Bronze. Jan Godden 32 pts.

2nd overall. Joan Martin 30 pts.

3rd overall. Pearl Bryan. 27 pts.ocb

E.W.G.A.Medal.

1st Silver. Elaine Hunter nett 71

1st Bronze. Gail Brown nett 71.

2nd overall. Jan Mew nett 72.

County - Bronze Division Autumn Meeting

Paula Burke, after having such a successful Spring meeting at Shanklin and Sandown, kept the flag flying for Freshwater Bay and carried this score over to the Aggregate Autumn meeting at Southwick Park and came away with both Gross and Handicap trophies. Congratulations Paula.

Debuse takes Monthly Medal with 65

Both divisions of Freshwater Bay Golf Club’s Mid Week Stableford, played on Wednesday 9^th September, where won with 37 points. In Division 1 John Davies (16) held off Dave Wilkins on (16) on the back nine with Derek Wright (3) three points behind in third place with 34. Graham Ellis (25) won Division 2 with the aforementioned 37 points ahead of Peter Scott (21) on 35 in second and Richard Couse (17) in third on 33 points beating Richard Leppard to 4^th on count back.

In the Saturday Stableford 37 points was again a key score but not good enough to take first place from Kevin Garrett (5) with a useful 39 points. Second place went to Kasey Tuckey (8) with the magic 37 on count back from both Hugh Morrison (14) in third and Kevin McArthur (9) in fourth.

Division 2 players scores were slightly lower with Steve Sargeant (15) finishing first on 36 points and John Sexton (16) in second returning 35, Malc Williams picked up third on the back nine with 33 points from fourth placed Richard Couse (17).

Played on the same day was the Captain v Vice Captain Match in the form of a team aggregate stableford with a true Captain’s innings from Barry Hunter and partner Fred Smith opening up a 14 point lead in the first group out, with the Vice Captain’s team only managing to reduce the deficit by 3 points by the end of the match.

The Monthly Medal played on Sunday was won by Mark Debuse (8) with a nett 65 followed by 5 handicapper Richard Frost on 67, John Riddlesdell (19) shot nett 68 to take third on count back from fourth place Derek Wright playing off 3 shooting the lowest gross of 71. In the afternoon the Club President, Peter Sheard, hosted a three sixes stableford competition for mixed pairs followed by tea. Forty one points was good enough to win with Richard and Maureen Couse taking home the Presidents Salvers from Bob and Jan Godden in second place, with the two pairs only being split on count back on the last 12 holes.

Mike Black's "Half Decent Round" Takes Seely Cup

The week at Freshwater Bay started with a three ball scramble on Bank Holiday Monday which was open to all members, first place went to Sammi Keen, Lucy Burke & Kev Garrett with a net 55.9 proving that the fairer sex can play scrambles. In second place with nett 58.55 was Russell Macgregor, Gary Holmes & Robbie Faulkner, while third place was filled by Paula Burke, James Burke and Tony Jones a mere 0.35 of a shot behind.

The Veterans Stableford played on the Friday saw only one player beat par and the competition being declared Reductions Only with the CSS rising to 70, John Whitehouse (24) was rewarded for his 39 point win by having his handicap slashed by a full two shots. Four players finished on 34 with count back deciding the final order; John Mew (14) second ahead of Richard Couse (17) in third with Chris West and Les Joyner finishing out of the prizes. With the scores from this monthly event going forward to the Ogle Tankards sees Peter Marsden increasing his lead by 4 points to 210 whilst Jim Payne and Dennis Smith stayed put on 205 and 204 respectively. Previous winner Ray Cooke has begun a late charge moving from 11^th place to 4^th - nicely poised on 203 points.

The major event of the week was the Seely Cup on Saturday which is restricted to players of 20 handicap and lower, out of the 30 entrants Mike Black (15) ran out the winner with a nett 64 beating 11 handicapper John Burke on the back nine. When Mike was asked after his round how he had got on he replied he had had a “half decent round” – can’t wait to see a decent one then! Third place was closely contested with Steve Orchard (10) finishing third on 66 ahead of Dave Morey and John Sexton on count back. Played in conjunction on the same day is the Rentawelder Trophy for handicaps of 21 and above, but very unusually there was not a single entry!

The week was completed with a fun four ball scramble on the Sunday with the winning team of Miles Oldershaw, Tony Keen, Ian Ball and Sammi Keen scoring a nett 52.75 ahead of second placed Kev Garrett, Bill Hinchen, Nick Punter and John Sexton on 54.