Sunday morning saw the culmination of the Divots Winter League programme with the Tucker Cup competition. The Winter League itself was decided a week earlier, with a closely fought contest between Paul (Jampot) James and Bill Beynon, but more about that later.

The Tucker Cup is a fine trophy presented to the Divots many years ago by Mervyn Tucker and played for on an annual basis to conclude the winter programme, and what a day it turned out to be.

With the weather more akin to the Mediterranean, the participants could have been fooled into thinking that they were on the Costa del Sol... well may be not... but you get my drift? The pairings are based on the normal winter league proceedings, being drawn in the clubhouse and a stableford pairs format being adopted out on the course.

Sadly Merv' couldn't be with us due to an ankle injury, so it's get well soon Merv' from all the Divots.

First off were the Walrus and new boy on the block Neil Moffat, and what a start by the Walrus... a drive all of one foot six inches was followed by a superb wood shot of minus six inches. After calming down somewhat, he managed to pull-hook his third shot into the gorse bushes down the lefthand side of the fairway. It was a good job that Neil ripped his straight down the middle. Poor Neil, but we did warn him before he left the clubhouse. With such shenanigans, it was highly unlikely that the Walrus was going to score on the first hole, yet alone pick up the honours.

Our captain Nigel Ayers was paired with Viv James, who played magnificently and came in with a score of 41 points. Would this be good enough to claim the silverware?

Loz Phillips and Rob Hall fared well with a score of 34 points, but this was not going to be good enough on the day, nor was the 35 scored by the partnership of Jim Moffat and Richard Chapman. The pairing of Roger Schooling and Gareth Phillips also returned a total 35 points, with some excellent work with the Texas wedge by Roger.

The pairing of Richard Morton and Terry Martin went one point better with a score of 36. Rick Lewis and John Stevenson must have thought that they were in with a shout with a fine score of 38, but was it going to be enough?

Bill Beynon and Jampot (Paul James) always play well together and, although they managed to return a score of 40 points, they later found out that their poor performance on the front nine would let them down.

Finally, Clive Law had to wait until his 'blind' partner returned his card to find out that his score tally would be 37 points.

So what of The Walrus and Neil... did they eventually get their game in order? The first tee antics must have been a smoke screen for us all, as they returned a magnificent score of 44 points to pick up the coveted Tucker Cup.

Current captain Nigel Ayers presented the trophy to the delighted pair, who were justly applauded by all the Divots present... well-done lads.

Results were: 1. Walrus and Neil 44 pts; 2. Nigel and Viv 41; 3. Paul and Bill 40; Rick and John 38; Clive Law 37; Richard and Terry 36; Gareth and Roger 35; Jim and Richard 35; and finally Rob and Loz 34.

Winter League conclusion

And so back to the previous week, Sunday morning, March 8, when the winter league was finally decided. The event went down to the wire, with basically what turned out to be a two-horse race between Paul (Jampot) James and Bill Beynon, both fighting for the top spot.

Last year, both had played for the higher handicapped Rabbits Society, and both wanted to leave their mark on their newly-acquired home, the Divots Society.

Paul and Bill had played well through the winter months off their respective handicaps and, with one game left to play, Paul was leading by a solitary single point. Now before we go any further, let's not forget the other participants in this society. This is a pairs competition and the rest of the society has played some excellent golf individually and as pairs through the season.

So just to re-cap, the scoring is an accumulation of the best six games played through the winter months and Jampot's best six prior to the last game were 40, 40, 40, 41, 41 and a 45, giving a total of 247. Bill on the other hand had scored 36, 40, 41, 41, 43 and a 45, giving him a score of 246, so the final game was decisive, and good scores would be needed.

Nine players turned up for this final day, which meant that there would be three groups of three venturing out onto the links, which made matters interesting, as there would be three blind partners making up a total of six pairs.

Now, if you're scratching your head like me, wondering how this all works, perhaps you can write into the editor who can put you in touch with our current captain, Nigel Ayers, who has a professor's degree in Calculus and works out these intricate mathematical conundrums like falling off a log.

So what was the outcome on the day... in reverse order Gareth Phillips scored 31 points and came ninth in the league. Clive Law scored 34 points, ending up in seventh place. Nigel and Roger accumulated 38 points, ending up fourth and fifth, respectively. Viv James and Rick Lewis scored a breathtaking 44 points, giving Viv third spot. Sadly Rick has only played two games this season. (This, however, was the winning total on the day). Jampot, who needed a good score to widen the gap at the top, got what he wanted with a score of 43 points and must have thought that it would be enough to secure him the title. However, his heart must have sank as Bill and Paul Haley returned a score of 41 points, thus beating Jampot by the solitary point.

The Divots Winter League title, therefore, went to Bill Beynon, who received the trophy from Nigel Ayers.

Your correspondent can report that Bill would like to thank all members of the Divot's Society for making his first year an enjoyable one.

The trophy for the highest season's score went to Jampot and Bill Beynon, who returned a score of 45 points. Well done to you both.

Finally, Nigel presented the wooden spoon, which was signed by all the Divots present, to Richard Chapman, along with a prize of a free golf lesson with our current pro' Rhys Harry.

The captain concluded by reminding everyone that this weekend the Divots' winter tour will take place from today (Friday) until Sunday. We will be staying at the Dragon Hotel in Swansea (see their web site at http://www.dragon-hotel.co.uk">www.dragon-hotel.co.uk), and will be playing on two of West Wales' premier golf courses, the Clyne and Fairwood Park Golf Clubs.

LEAGUE TABLE

Hcap P Av Total

B. Beynon 14 13 41.8 251

P. James 22 18 41.7 250

V. James 21 13 40.5 243

N. Ayers 15 16 39.7 238

R. Schooling 8 14 39.3 236

R. Hall 14 15 39.2 235

C. Law 14 12 39.0 234

P. Haley +1 8 38.8 233

G. Phillips 9 15 38.0 228

J. Stevenson 18 13 37.8 227

L. Phillips 10 9 35.8 215

G. Field Thomas 20 12 35.5 213

J. Moffat 6 9 35.0 210

R. Chapman 10 9 34.8 209