Cirencester golf round-up

Gloucestershire County Championships

THREE Cirencester members – Dan Gregory, Darren Robison and George Peare – made it through the handicap ballot to compete in the 104th Gloucestershire County Amateur Championships for men.

A special note of congratulations to four-handicapper Dan who made the cut and played all four rounds at Knowle Golf Club against the elite players in the county.

Bathurst Cup

THE prolific Peare family have produced another promising young player as Jack came out on top in one of the major trophies of the season, the Bathurst Cup.

In a surprisingly low-scoring competition, 13-handicapper Jack just edged out Kevin Read – this summer’s Queen Mother Trophy winner – on countback with his nett 69, on a day when only six of the 124 entrants finished ahead of their handicap.

Jack had gone close in two pairs competitions in 2019, finishing runner-up (with Archie Day) in the Gillman Salver and occupying the same position in the IH Smith Foursomes with his brother Ryan.

Kevin, off 18, opened with a birdie but a triple bogey seven on the last hole cost him the chance of a second trophy in this shortened season.

The remainder at the top of the leaderboard were all single-figure players – in order home: Gary Clifford, Steve Lamble, Pete Stone and Glenn Skinley.

Down in 20th, Sam Tanner had the lowest gross score with his 73 and there were 10 birdie twos recorded, two of them from Pete Stone.

RESULTS

1st – Jack Peare (82-13-69); 2nd – Kevin Read (87-18-69); 3rd – Gary Clifford (79-9-70); 4th – Steve Lamble (79-9-70); 5th – Pete Stone (74-4-70); 6th – Glenn Skinley (78-8-70); 7th – Rob Walker (90-19-71): 8th – Steve Kirwan (78-7-71); 9th – Archie Day (86-15-71); 10th – Steve Hazelwood (87-16-71).

Midweek Medal

IT WAS Zak Cross first and daylight second in the latest midweek medal.

Zak shot an exceptional nett 65 to beat the field by upwards of five shots.

Tom Shaw (70) pipped Nicholas Brown (70) on countback for the runner-up spot, with Nick having the consolation of recording the best gross score (75).

Kevin Young (71), Luke Pitman (72) and Martin Harrison (72) completed the first six home.

Jonathan Wells recorded the sole birdie two on the 13th hole.

Ladies’ section

FIRSTLY a correction to the results previously given for the Bronze division of the Ladies’ Winter Eclectic.

The winner was Elaine Killick with a nett score of 59.5. Well done vice-captain and apologies for the previous error.

Katie Norton was overall runner-up, on 39 points, in one of Ed Goodwin’s recent daily competitions, missing out on first place by just one point.

Alison Henshaw scored a respectable 36 points to finish 8th.

A day later, Deb Organ played better than her 8 handicap in the day’s mixed competition to score 38 points.

She was pipped for the runner-up spot on countback by Neil Little and Rod Smith.

Sprott Bowl

30 ladies contested the Sprott Bowl with Kath Burbage scoring a wonderful 40 points to triumph.

She was closely followed by Angela Canty on 39 points and in third place was Emma Brereton with 36.

Jill Cloughton was the only lady to get a birdie 2 (on the second hole).

Rabbits Cup

ON the same day, Barbara Grimwade won the Rabbits Cup, beating Tricia Taylor into second place on countback as they both finished with 29 points.

Third-placed Heather Whelan was only one point behind on 28.

Autumn Scrutton

SATURDAY saw 18 ladies tackle the Autumn Scrutton with Emma Collins playing her socks off to win with a nett 67.

Emma Brereton (nett 69) endured another near-miss in second and Karen Pracy-Jennings took third place with a handicap-equalling nett 73.

Seniors’ Stableford

CHARLES REED put together a magnificent round of 79 (gross) to top the leaderboard on 43 stableford points in the latest seniors’ stableford competition.

Charles was just two over par on the front nine and kept his round going with three more pars from the turn.

His victory earned a swingeing three-shot handicap cut from 17 to 14.

“I had some lucky breaks and putts that fell as well as good support from my playing partners to keep me on track,” said Charles.

“I’ve had some lessons from James Harraway so thanks and credit to him for helping me along.”

Two other members topped 40 points off the back tees – seniors’ captain Andy Ponting (43) and Chris Watson (41) – but their fine rounds were only good enough for podium places.

In particular, Andy will rue his ‘blob’ on the 2nd hole because otherwise his ‘best-ever’ scorecard was exceptional with 12 pars and two birdies on the 6th and 11th.

Had he aced the 11th instead of having a six-inch, tap-in birdie, all would have been forgotten.

RESULTS

1st – Charles Reed (45 points); 2nd – Andy Ponting (43); 3rd – Chris Watson (41); 4th – Andy Woodward (38); 5th – Simon Byrne (38); 6th – Emrys Williams (38); 7th – Jeff Salter (38); 8th – James Chute (38); 9th – George Arnold (38); 10th – Rod Smith (38).

Goddard Cup

ANDY WOODWARD credits his playing partners for keeping his challenge on course to win the Goddard Cup presented to the player with the best aggregate of points from their best three rounds (of five qualifiers) in the seniors’ summer stableford series.

Andy held a vulnerable one-point lead going into the final round and knew he would have to improve his total despite a handicap cut from 19 to 17.

“I was on 29 points on the 16th tee and had some encouragement from the boys to hit driver and go for it,” said Andy.

“I sank two good putts on 16 and 17 and then played 18 in regulation with a tap-in par!”

The three closing pars (and nine points) saw Andy beat all the 38-point shooters on countback to finish fourth in the stableford and, more crucially, hold off the hard-charging Charles Reed by two points in the overall standings.

RESULTS

1st – Andy Woodward (38, 38, 42) 118 points; 2nd – Charles Reed (34, 37, 45) 116; 3rd – Duncan Cairns (34, 38, 43) 115; 4th – Dave Braithwaite (35, 39, 40) 114; 5th – Andy Ponting (34, 37, 43) 114; 6th – Bob Allen (37, 37, 39) 113; 7th – Mike Brown (37, 37, 39) 113; 8th – Danny Hall (36, 36, 40) 112; 9th – Eamonn Cuthbert (36, 38, 38) 112; 10th – Tony Killick (36, 37, 39) 112.