Cirencester Golf Club

Gloucester & Somerset PGA Medal

Minchinhampton Ladies’ Pro-Am

CIRENCESTER pro Ed Goodwin is in unstoppable form at the moment, winning two tournaments in the space of 48 hours last week, writes Danny Hall.

What he described as a “cheeky little 62” gave him a share of first prize in the latest Gloucester & Somerset PGA Medal at Stinchcombe Hill Golf Club on Wednesday.

Twenty four hours later he led the Cirencester team of Jess Brown, Deb Organ and Sam MItchell to a defence of their title in the Minchinhampton Ladies’ Pro-Am over the Avening course.

Ed is putting up a strong defence of his Total Triumph Order of Merit title in the G&S region despite having to miss a couple of the early medals due to PGA clashes.

The win at Stinchcombe was his second of the new season after his opening-event success at Brean, though he did have to share the first prize with former European Tour player David Dixon.

In his bogey-free round, Ed had four birdies on the front nine, going out in just 29 strokes, and collected two more against par at the 13th and 14th.

He didn’t birdie the closing par 5 which broke the run of 3s and 4s on his scorecard but it all added up to a 62.

“I didn’t miss a fairway nor a green and it was the first time in ages that my hips did not hurt,” said Ed, who has been troubled with injury niggles for some months.

THE Cirencester team will return to Minchinhampton for a hat-trick bid in the ladies’ pro-am next year after completing back-to-back successes last week.

They scored a total of 90 stableford points, with the best two scores from four to count on each hole, and the damage was done on their spectacular front nine.

“In the pro-am all four of us all played well,” said Ed. “The highlights were Deb Organ and myself both eagling the 4th hole which helped us to a magnificent score of 51 points going out.

Fur And Feather

QUALITY shone through in the Fur And Feather stableford on Sunday, one of the final club competitions of the year, with a sparkling victory for three-time club champion Hamish Mason.

Hamish, has hardly taken part in competitions this season, but showed he is still capable of some dynamic golf.

He birdied four of the first five holes, and gained two more shots against par over the three closing holes to shoot a  five-under-par 66 for a terrific stableford score of 44 points off his handicap of three.

Another former club champ, Darren Robison, was left trailing in Mason’s wake, despite himself compiling a fine card of 40 points including three birdies.

Alan Hughes won Division Two with 39 points and Paul Sheen took third place on the podium with his victory in Division Three thanks to his 40-point score.

There were 19 birdie twos in all, a couple of them coming from this year’s club champion Charlie Harraway.

The Fur and Feather is a mixed club competition and it was Kay Fullerton who proved leading lady, her 39 points taking sixth place overall.

RESULTS

Division One (handicaps up to 10.4): Hamish Mason 44pts, Darren Robison 40, Nick J Brown 40.

Division Two(10.5 up to 15.4): Alan Hughes 39pts, Paul Helbrow 38, Rob Simmonds 36.

Division Three (15.5 upwards): Paul Sheen 40pts, Kay Fullerton 39, Dave Allen 38.

John Appleby, winner of the Seniors’ October Stableford

Seniors’ October Stableford

FORM is temporary but class is permanent, they say, and it was the joint-best player in the 80-strong field, John Appleby, who came out on top in the Seniors’ October Stableford.

Six-handicapper John, winner of the 2019 Seniors’ Gross Championship, put together a very tidy card for his 37 points, the highlight being his birdie two on the 13th hole.

In the first competition of the seniors’ winter stableford series, all players seemed to catch some persistent drizzle, which dampened the scores.

John pipped Dave Allen, who posted the same 37-point total, on countback over the last three holes.

Mike Brown, the third player to sign for 37 points, led home Division Two (handicaps 18.5 upwards), beating former seniors’ captain David Lowbridge by a shot.

Gordon Stone was the only other player apart from the winner to score a birdie two, his also coming on the 13th.

RESULTS

Division One: John Appleby 37pts (off 06); Dave Allen 37 (18); Simon Byrne 36 (13); James Gore 35 (17); Charles Reed 35 (17).

Division Two: Mike Brown 37pts (off 20); David Lowbridge 36 (22); Paul Sheen 34 (19); Ray Russell 33 (26); John Landau 32 (28).