The first day of the Wells Golf Club Seniors’ Championship 2021 was played in difficult, unseasonably cold and blustery weather conditions, which made the scoring generally poor with some people finding it very difficult.

The exception to this was Gerald Ramsell, who led the nett competition with a magnificent 65. Astonishingly, Tony Duffin carded a 69, which included a double digit score up 18. Richard Hole also had a 69.

The gross competition saw ten players within five shots of the leader, Gary Nutt, who shot 80.

Day Two saw a change in weather and the conditions were much more pleasant and favourable, albeit a little humid at times. The lead in the gross competition changed many times throughout the day.

In the nett competition Tony Duffin had another good round to finish fourth on 141. Richard Sheard maintained consistency with 71 + 70 for a third place on countback. Veteran Jim Saint rolled back the years to shoot 68 and a total of 140 and second place.

Gerald Ramsell kept his composure playing in the third last out group to shoot 73, which, with his wonderful first round score, gave him the win with a total of 138.

Despite not being in the final group, 2020 Champion Mike Metcalfe steadily ground his way back into contention. Glen Crocker blew his chances with a 10 on the 13th hole. Martin Barnes was consistent and scored 82+82 for a fourth placed 164. Crocker recovered to finish with 83+81, beating Barnes on countback for third place.

Ian Burr played much better in the second round and his 84+78 earned him second place.

Mike Metcalfe showed his class to shoot 76 and return a 161 total retaining his title of Seniors` Champion.

In a Social Bowmaker recently first with 97 points were Steve Davies, Graham Hall, Ken Mitchell, Mike Bailey. In second place with 91 points were Jim Saint, Richard Birch, Nigel Pring, Steve Clark. There were 16 x 2’s!

The Seniors’ section has had mixed fortunes recently. The team won 3.5 to 2.5 against Wedmore, halved against Filton; lost 5–1 against Farrington Park (where Nick Carter had four birdies) and halved against Enmore Park.

In the Junior Competition Harley Wickham playing on 36 handicap won with a magnificent 46 points. In second place was Freddie Lovell.

Wells hosted Weston in a friendly Avalon league match. Rory Passmore and Nick Poore came up against strong opponents and lost 3&2. Bill McCollum and Ben Barnett had a pulsating match, with the lead changing regularly. They eventually triumphed on the last hole, winning one up.

Debutant Aaron Thurston played with veteran Nick Carter who steered them to a comfortable 4&3 victory. Glen Crocker and Pascal Norman controlled their match throughout winning 5&3.

Paul Cullen and Darren Barnett played as if possessed and demoralised the opposition with a 6&5 win.

Finally, another debutant, Duncan Bratt, joined Peter Cherry and in a closely fought game came out on top 2&1. This meant a 5-1 win for Wells with Weston determined to get revenge in the return fixture later in the summer.

Janice White