The Mendip Men’s Spring Texas Scramble took place with a full entry sheet of four-person teams. With over 140 players on the course and with the competition format, play was inevitably slower than many would have liked.
The competition was very closely fought with only one point separating the top four teams. In fourth place was the team of S. Coate, T. Scriven, R. Gumbleton and B. Rawlings, with net 58.8. In third place were Rick Kefford, Paul Reakes, Dave Burr and M. Honeybun, with 58.5. Runners-up were Danny Middle, Alan O’Leary, Matt Lambert and John Tweed, with 57.9, but winning with 57.8, was the team of T. Logan, J. Phillips, S. Whalen and W. Srawley.
The Men’s Avalon B Team opened their league campaign with a convincing win against Minehead 9½ – 4½. There were wins for Will Waddington and Mervyn Vaughan, M. Tabor and Paul Smith, Shaun Robertson and J. Herniman and a hard fought for half from Team Captain, Ian Stolworthy, partnered by John Brooksbank.
The Ladies held a foursomes stableford event that was well attended on a pleasant sunny day. The Ladies still found the greens ‘challenging’ following the final winter’s preparation work carried out and this in itself kept the scoring low. Winning with 32 points were Fran Davies and Karen Cookson, followed by May Curtis and Chris Olds, with 31 points, beating third placed Anita Butcher and Di Stanton on countback.
Though a handicap event, Mendip put out a strong ladies Rogers Cup Team of all the available low handicap players when playing Enmore in very wet conditions at Wells Golf Club. Despite fighting hard and having to give shots in most games, Mendip went down fighting, just losing out 3–4.
Congratulations to the low handicap pairing of Gill Brown and Aimee Sawyer who had a resounding win against a pairing from Thornbury Golf Club in the first round of the Bristol and District League Scratch Foursomes event. Also to Chris Olds and Chris Williams, who beat a pairing from Lansdown on the eighteenth hole in the Somerset Ladies Handicap Foursomes event.
The Seniors lost their match at home to Sherborne 2½–3½. It was a very close affair with four of the games still to be settled playing the eighteenth. Usually, a ‘home players’ hole, but not on this occasion! There were wins for Bryan Lewis and John Cross, Brian Roberts-Wray and John Whyman and a halved match for Adam Spragg and Keith Gadsden.
There was an improvement in Mendip’s fortunes when Mendip played Knowle away. Good greens, but fairly muddy conditions made scoring difficult, but Mendip came away with a drawn match. There were good wins for Chris Bryant and John Brooksbank and Phil Bendall and Roger Ashton, with halves for Seniors Captain, David Pilbeam and Terry Carter and Merlyn Saunders and Mike Sharp.
The third Seniors match in quick succession saw an away fixture against local rivals Wells. Again, the match was drawn as Mendip Seniors still seek that elusive first win of the season. There were victories for Doug Thompson and Norman Squire, Dave Pilbeam and Pete Rumming and Jamie Harris and Bryan Lewis.
I’m sure all Mendip Members will wish a speedy recovery to Seniors Captain Elect, Henry Banks, who was recently airlifted to Bath RUH following a heart attack. Thanks to the prompt attention he received, he is now at home and recovering well.
Tony Williams