Cirencester Golf Club report by Danny Hall.
Seniors’ Championship Medal
JERRY HOMAN-GREEN underlined his status as the leading senior (over 55) at Cirencester Golf Club when retaining the Seniors’ Championship Medal with a gross 77, a shot higher than for his victory in 2020.
Jerry’s record in the event since becoming a senior is now 2nd-1st-1st, and of course he is a serial golf champion having held club titles at Broome Manor and South Cerney (four times).
“I have not played well since we resumed in March, generally having a couple of bad holes which blow the round,” said Jerry.
“Strangely, from that aspect, it was no different on Wednesday but improved putting meant I managed to get five birdies which cancelled out the five shots dropped due to poor tee shots on 14 and 15!”
Runner-up in the Gross Championship was Simon Underwood (78), with seniors’ captain Andy Ponting an honourable third on 79.
The nett championship was dominated by regular playing partners and Division One players Andy Woodward and Paul Freeman, who both shot nett 67s.
Nett seniors’ champion Andy edged it on countback thanks to a trio of pars from 15-17 while Paul took a 7 on the final hole, which was in contrast to his brilliant start when he birdied the 1st and 3rd holes.
The two best gross scores in Division Two (handicap indexes of 17.1 and above) came from George Arnold and Stephen Kaufmann with their 89s.
Stephen and Roy Lipscombe topped the Division Two nett title race with 67 and 68 respectively which left them third and fourth overall.
Keith Hughes had a two on both the 9th and 11th and there were 10 other birdie twos from James Chute, Simon Hall, Steve Sweet, Jerry Homan-Green, John Parsons, Paul Sheen, Andy Woodward, Ken Mills, David Buckley and Trevor Sallis.
RESULTS
Gross: 1st – Jerry Homan-Green (77 off 06); 2nd – Simon Underwood (78 off 09); 3rd – Andy Ponting (79 off 09).
Nett overall: 1st – Andy Woodward; 2nd – Paul Freeman; 3rd – Stephen Kaufmann; 4th – Roy Lipscombe.
Nett – Division One: 1st – Andy Woodward (82-15=67); 2nd – Paul Freeman (83-16=67); 3rd – Dave Jones (82-13=69); 4th – Simon Underwood (78-09=69).
Nett – Division Two – 1st – Stephen Kaufmann (89-22=67); 2nd – Roy Lipscombe (90-22=68); 3rd – George Arnold (89-20=69); 4th – Chris Watson (90-20=70).
IH Smith Foursomes
ADAM COLLINS & Andrew Dickson triumphed in the IH Smith Foursomes, a competition that had to be decided on countback.
Alex Galpin & Harry Styman matched the top score of nett 67 but the very steady golf of the Collins-Dickson duo on the back nine (just three-over par with a run of six straight pars in the middle) turned the tide in their favour.
Third on the podium was the pairing of Darren Robison & Tom Stone who rattled in an impressive six birdies during their nett 68.
Only four twos were recorded in the 28-team event but a special one came on the par four 16th from the team of Mark Bisset & Dan Gregory.
RESULTS
1st – Adam Collins & Andrew Dickson (78-11=67); 2nd – Alex Galpin & Harry Styman (90-23=67); 3rd – Darren Robison & Tom Stone (72-04=68), 4th – Bruce Peare & Nick Peare (78-09=69); 5th – Tom Montgomery & Simon Burrows (83-12=71); 6th – Stu Michaelis & John Appleby (84-14=71).
Chipping Sodbury Seniors 4 Cirencester Seniors 3
CIRENCESTER seniors travelled to Chipping Sodbury and lost a tight match which went down to the final holes.
Winning points were gained by Simon Underwood & Paul Taylor (5&4) as well as past captain Keith Hodgson & Ian Perry.
Current captain Andy Ponting & David Murray earned a battling point in their match with opposing captain Paul Mason & Stan Foyle which ebbed and flowed right until the end.
The visitors birdied the 16th to draw level only for Stan to hole a great putt on 17 to lead going down the last.
A great second shot approach from the Ciren team meant that Paul needed to sink an 8ft putt to hold on to the lead but he missed leaving the match all square.
Howard Jones and Andrew Hugill needed to win the final match to force a draw overall but although their clash went to the final green, a battling half was not quite enough.
Ladies’ Section
BRENDA TAYLOR enjoyed a champagne moment in the ladies’ Silver Division Strokeplay event when posting a hole in one on the 2nd.
A birdie on the 10th helped 12-handicapper Brenda record the joint-best gross score of the day (86) but she still finished five shots adrift of the nett winner Kate Dymoke, who signed for a sparkling 69. Kate also knocked it around in 86 gross.
Jane Muncer finished third with a nett 78, while Angela Woodward won Division Two (for 18 handicappers and above) with her nett 74. Liz Allen secured second with a nett 76 – including a two on the ninth – and Sheila Lowbridge was third with a nett 78.
On the same day, the Bronze Division Strokeplay event was played with Jill Cloughton making hay with the greens running fast and true. Her admirable nett 66 (gross 85) won Jill the Hamill Cup.
Sarah Taylor led the remainder of the chasing 23-strong pack with her nett 71 (gross 94). Mary Dobson, with the same nett 71 was third on countback.
Adding to the fine scoring, Mary Dobson and Erika Brooke both secured a birdie two, Mary on the second and Erika the 11th.
Golf Marathon
CIRENCESTER Golf Club played host to Cotswold Edge GC captain Colin Stokes on the final day of a week-long golf marathon raising funds for the UK Stem Cell Foundation.
Starting out at his home club on Sunday, June 6, Colin’s marathon took him to 12 other clubs in Gloucestershire playing 36 holes a day for seven days.
He arrived at Cirencester for an 8am start on Saturday before completing the challenge back at Cotswold Edge that afternoon with a total of 252 holes played in the week.
With Ciren’s club captain Steve Bishop being committed to other matches on the day, past captain Malcolm Bevan and seniors’ stalwart Gerry Bruton were nominated to play a match against Colin and his vice-captain Richard Davies.
In spite of the busy schedule Colin and his partner dovetailed well and beat Malcolm and Gerry on their home turf 4&3.
Malcolm said: “In spite of losing the match, it was a privilege and a pleasure to have played a very small part in Colin’s marathon effort.”
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