Winter double for John O'Gaunt scratch teams

After success in Division 1 of the Beds County Golf Union Summer Scratch League the team recently backed it up in a hard fought campaign to win the 2016/2017 Winter Scratch Foursomes League.

The team’s opponents for the campaign were The Millbrook, Dunstable Downs, South Beds, and Wyboston Lakes. Each team of eight were required to play in four pairs of Foursomes. There were consistently excellent performances producing the following results: The Millbrook (home) won 3-1, Dunstable Downs (away) won 3-1, South Beds (away) drawn 2-2, and Wyboston (home) won 4-0.

The players used in the campaign were: Chris Collin, Carmine Di Salvo, Craig Hawkins, Darren Redman, Graham Anderson, James Edwards, Kevin Diss, Michael Round, Morgan Darnell, Paul Wharton and Scott Armitage.

The Scratch team are attempting a third consecutive year of success in the BCGU Summer Scratch League, having won the opening match 4-1 (3 wins, 2 halves) against Bedford and County.

The golf club have entered a third team in the newly-formed Intermediate Scratch league. This will increase opportunities for low handicap players to compete in a league environment. The new league includes Gog Magog, Peterborough Milton, and Flempton (Bury St Edmunds). The opening match at home to Peterborough Milton provided stiff opposition resulting in a draw.

The Seniors Scratch team successfully defended their County Senior Winter Scratch League title. Beating Aspley Guise by 3 1/2 to 1 1/2 on April 18 in sunny and breezy conditions The Senior Scratch team reached this final by winning all but one of six group matches.

The team included Chris Walker, Tom McEvoy, Kevin Diss, Peter Dobson, Phil White (captain) and Simon Kimber.

The 36 hole Spring Medal for Division 1 players, with handicaps of 12 or better, was played on Sunday.

The morning play saw 75 players compete over the Carthagena course. With conditions suited for good scoring eight players were able to break par. Leading the field was Harry Warmoth, last year’s winner, with a superb nett 64, five under his handicap. Andy Fage, Tom McEvoy and James Cooper were two shots behind with four players a further two shots adrift.

The competition then moved to the John O’Gaunt course and a more testing challenge, with only two players breaking par. A second sub-par round of nett 70 brought Andy Fage home as champion with a nett total of 136, four under par. Harry Warmoth with a nett 75 hung on to claim second with 139. On 1 over par was James Cooper (nett 66 and 75), total 141 in third.

This year’s Grouse Trophy competition held on May Day brought a large entry of 38 pairs of players commencing with a shotgun start at 9am.

The challenge of an 18 hole Foursomes medal was played for in good conditions on the Carthagena course. There were no excuses for sub-par golf and this proved to be the case with a magnificent score of 63, six under course par, the winners being Chris Treadwell and Adams Woods. Just 0.5 behind in second was Ralph Ahern and his partner Joe Carroll, coming in third with a score of 65 were Richard and Simon Kensall.

The Ladies played the annual Coronation Foursomes stableford competition on Thursday, April 27 with 24 pairs of ladies competing.

Only one pair managed to play below their team handicap. The winners with a combined handicap of 27 and scoring 38 points were Jane Cooper and Tanya Willmott. In second with a combined handicap of 22 and scoring 35 points were Pauline Aubigne and Chris Billington while third combined handicap of 23 and scoring 34 was Val Cooper and Penny Fletcher-Gregory.

The winners progress to the Rregional finals.

On Saturday the ladies held a Medal competition. There were 21 ladies in the field and coming in third with a handicap of 15 and a net score of 76 was Amy Strange. In second with a handicap of 1 and a net 76, with three Birdies, was Laura Collin. First with a handicap of 13 and a net score of 71, including 1 Birdie, was Jo Coker.

The Seniors Annual Medal competition, reported last week, also included a Stableford for handicaps 21 to 28 for the Jubilee Trophy. It was won by John Ellary with a winning score of 35 points to pip Seniors captain Fred Williams and immediate past Seniors captain Jim Peacock into second and third.