Shock on the green with semi secured
Brilliant Graham Whatley unexpectedly reached the KO Cup semi-finals after achieving a superb win over Brian Woodford, despite obtaining his best round of the season. Woodford secured an early twohole lead but Whatley fought back to draw level with a birdie on the ninth, with both going out in two under nett par. Woodford skilfully retook the lead with a birdie on the first hole back, but Whatley did similarly on the next hole and then competently parred the remaining holes. Whatley went ahead on the 16th when Woodford failed to get a par and held on to win on the final hole. Malcolm French needed all his fighting spirit to vanquish determined Sue Norris, who took him to the final hole before losing out. Brian Allen made his way to his first final in The Plate with an extrahole win over Reg Morris, leading going to the final hole. Allen won the first two holes back but again Morris fought back to take the lead on the 17th, only for Allen to square the match on the final hole and reach the final on the first extra hole. Malcolm French maintained his winning streak to reach the League Cup semi-finals, but required extra holes to overcome a splendid performance from Craig Jones. Dave Peacey secured a chance of avoiding relegation from Division 1 by narrowly defeating Colin Lee to finish level with two others at the bottom of the table. John Vowles continued his progress towards a promotion spot in Division 2 after a convincing win over Mike Hazel. Tiger Lewis struck his best form to outplay one of the pre-season title favourites, Dennis Crombie, for an outstanding win. The persevering Dave Ferebee had a tough contest with John Sercombe and had to come from behind to finally take the points as well as rising up the table. Nick Parker was in top form, gaining a comprehensive win over Brian Lambern with a two over par round that virtually ensures that he will finish top of Division 2. Lambern fought hard on the front nine to keep his deficit down to three but Parker parred the back nine to put the match out of Lambern’s reach on the fourteenth. Meanwhile, Danny Peel easily won the end-of-season stableford with George Thurston runner up.
■ Lansdown Joe Long has been selected to play for England in the forthcoming Home Internationals at Conwy Golf Club in Wales. Long has had a great season and was runner-up in the English Amateur Championships this year. Mark Bees won the prestigious Chairman’s Putter competition with 42 points - but only on countback from the in-form Jack Belsher. Division 1 was a close affair as Paul Jones edged out Richard Crowley on countback as both shot 38 points, while Mark Cooper was just one shot back in third. The honours in Division 2 went to Steve Brunton, whose 39 put him three clear of Mark Hand and Andy Marshall. Third place in Division 3, behind Bees and Belsher, went to club captain, John Butler, with 36. The latest midweek stableford has been won by Jon Green with 39, which put him four ahead of Mark Cooper in Division 1. Division 2 was decided on countback as both Shaun Morgan and Richard Iles carded 36, while in Division 3 Kevin Thatcher, with 38, was just one ahead of Terry Stacey. The Senior of the Year trophy, the John Alexander Cup, for the best three aggregate medal rounds has been won by Robert Withers with a nett 205, which put him six shots clear of Terry Corbett with Malcolm Payne just one adrift in third. The senior’s open saw some excellent scoring as the Moncrieff Salver for the best nett score was won by Paul Patten with a nett 65, just two shots ahead of Pete Waller with Mike Creamer in third place. The best gross was won by Steve Ashley with a 76, but only on countback from Ken Watson. The Todd Tankard for the best stableford score for players over 65 went to Alan Jones (Broome Manor) with 40 points, two ahead of Adrian Chandler (Kendleshire) and Dave Chapple. The Old Brits had their away day at Thornbury with the trio of Rod Thomas, Ken Woodruff and Mau- rice Filer scooping first prize with 78 points – a mere one ahead of Bill Rose, Roger Snell and Clive Godfrey.
■ Bath GOLF CLUB The men competed in the Famous Grouse Stableford at the weekend. The weather was pleasant and the course much greener after the long hot summer. The greens in particular were playing fast and true, and scoring was very good. Matthew Wordon shot 41 to top Division 1, a point clear of Peter Fox and Anand Shah. A score of 39 won Division 2 for Richard Law, beating Matthew Warman (37) and Mark Daniels (35). But the best score of the day came from Division 3, where Sam Woodman carded 44, a full eight points clear of Michael Roche and Tom Baines (36 points). He has since lost four shots from his handicap. Particular congratulations go to Sam Woodman who has since lost four shots from his handicap. Elsewhere, 37 ladies competed for the Texas Scamble Millenium Trophy. The winners, on nett 67.2, were Angela Trenchard, Jan Scilly and Maron Mcbirnie, whose score was two better than Stephanie Anderson, Ruth Morris and Elspeth Walker. Third were Veronica Creed, Caroline Gilbert and Susan Clamp (69.5). Bath’s men’s 2nd team won promotion to Division 6 of the Bristol & District League with a hard-fought win in their last match against Wells in poor weather. The result went to the last match with the young pair of Liam O’mara and Adam Jolly winning through to secure promotion.