With Jordan Spieth’s chances sinking faster than the Titanic, it was left to England’s Danny Willett to pull off a fantastic win at Augusta to claim the coveted Green Jacket on only his second Masters appearance.

There was almost as much excitement with the Farrington Seniors! A Four Ball Better Ball competition brought out the best, as five teams had identical scores and placings were decided on countback. Results: 1st, B. Weeks and N. Savage, 45 pts, 2nd, M. Hedges and P. Michael, 43 pts, 3rd, P. Thompson and E. Nott, 43 pts, 4th, K. Bizley and R. Collier, 43 pts, 5th, M. Ashwin and I. Clement, 43 pts, 6th, J. Bruton and W. Lane, 43 pts. Nearest the Pin on fifth, Kirk Bizley, eighth, Bob Baker, fourteenth, Nigel Savage, fifteenth, Barry Hall. Friendly Home Match result, Farrington Park beat Isle of Wedmore, 5.5/1.5.

Men

Farrington Park’s Avalon team set off on the trip to Cricket St Thomas and returned with a hard fought 8.5 points after a drawn match. Captain Guy Adams’ motivational team talk during the warm-up obviously worked!

Duncan Bratt and Tom Snelling were first out and soon in control and despite a fightback by the home players, secured a fine 4&3 win. Steve Hobbs and Eric Hogg were soundly beaten 8&7. Paul Thomas and Nick Russell were next out and at four down after six holes, they battled back to all square on the eighteenth tee. With a par secured, the pressure was on the home player to half the match with a testing 6’ putt and despite knocking knees, the half was secured. Jamie Rawlings and Dave Jewell were also under pressure early on, losing by a 6&5 margin. The match was levelled when Mark and Guy Adams secured a fine 3&2 win over another strong home pair.

The Lombard Trophy Medal was played on 9th April. In very testing conditions, the first Medal of the season tested the skills of the players. The overall winner was to win a trip to Burnham and Berrow Golf Club with a club professional from Farrington Park. Division One was won by Alan Broadway, with 86–72, beating Seamus Ivory into second place on countback with 84–72 and John Russell taking third place with 82–73. In Division Two, the outstanding round of the day from Eric Hogg, with an excellent 82–67 followed in second place by Alan Clothier, with 88–71 and Phil Button in third, with 89–73. With his great round in the difficult conditions, Eric Hogg qualified for the trip to Burnham and Berrow.

The Sunday Stableford was played on 10th April. It was close at the top of Division One, with Andy Penney taking top prize, with 35 points, beating Lee Bruton into second place on countback and Lee Parkes taking third on 32 points. In Division Two, Ben Park took top honours with 35 points, followed in second place by Ian Biddle on 34 points, beating Simon Park into third on countback.

Ladies

The Biddle Flags, held on Ladies Thursday morning on 14th April, was the first trophy competition for the Farrington Park Ladies in 2016. 42 ladies armed with their flags took part. The idea of the game is to see how far you can you can progress before placing your flag where you have run out of shots. The handicap is added to the course scratch score to give each lady their total number of shots. Most of the flags littered the seventeenth and eighteenth greens and fairways. Fortunately, none were found floating in the seventeenth’s lakes! Only one lady, Gillian Seaward, had shots remaining after the eighteenth. First was Gillian Seaward, second, Angela Hudd, third, Maureen Charlton, fourth, Corrina Bates, fifth, Terri O’Shea and sixth, Jenny Howarth.

Juniors

The Junior March Stableford was played on Sunday, 13th March. Results: Jackson Cary, 42, Jake Russell, 33, Alex Marshall, 26, Tobi Hooker, 25.

On the Junior League front, Sunday, 3rd April saw Alex B, Izzy, Abby, Atley and Alex M travel to Clevedon for the first match. The games (now singles match play) were all very close, Alex B eventually losing out 4&2. Izzy won 3&2, Abby won 2&1, Atley lost 3&2 and Alex M won one up, to give Farrington a 3–2 win. An excellent start to the season away.

The following day, Izzy, Jake and Jackson represented the section in the Alexander Trophy, with the trio massing a solid 74 point team score. Well done!