Last Saturday saw the annual Cobb Cup (gross) and Regimental Bowl (nett) take place at Tenby Golf Club. A goodly number of 51 entrants were in the original draw, but a late withdrawal left 50 in the field on the day.

The club stewards, Steve and Hilary, were on duty from 6.30 am readily providing coffee/tea and bacon rolls for the players as they arrived. They were kept busy throughout the day and with their attractive young female helpers kept the players and members well serviced for their culinary requirements throughout the day.

A still, warm but cloudy day greeted the players arriving for the morning round. As usual, the course had been prepared immaculately by Chris Jenkins and his team. The greens were slick and even the competitors remarked on how much faster the practice putting green adjacent the first tee was compared with the previous day.

With the conditions so benign and the course as it was, the expectancy was for some low scores being returned in the morning round; however, not too many took advantage of this, reflected in slightly higher scores, than had been anticipated, being returned after the morning round.

With Jim Martin acting as morning starter, play got underway promptly at 7.30 am. The first match was the three-ball of Paul Haley +1, Brian Cramb and Johnny Morris, both scratch; the latter being the defending champion of the Cobb Cup and Regimental Bowl, having won both for the two previous years. Paul sent a lovely drive down the fairway, slightly left of centre, Brian Cramb made an even better one, splitting the fairway in two. Johnny Morris then pushed his tee shot somewhat, but managed to get a birdie four; this was played as the new par five off the white tees, which was something of a novelty for a lot of the players.

Apart from dropping three minutes behind schedule midway through the morning round, due to a couple of lost balls, the last match got off just one minute late, at 9:39 am. Many of the players were enjoying being announced on the tee with a record of their wins achieved this year; in one particular group, after a player's win record was announced, one of his playing partners asked why his wins were not announced. The starter replied: "I went back to page 540 and gave up after that!" to the amusement of the other players.

Most of the drives from the field proved to be very good to excellent throughout the morning from the first tee. Among the higher handicappers, Johnny Ball hit a real rip-snorter, very long and straight down the middle; John remarked that was one of the best drives he had hit off that tee. Not all were so good, although one of the luckiest was Dai Cope. His snatched drive was hooked low, ten feet left of the fairway, opposite the ladies' tee, into the thick rough. The ball bounced into the air right angles to the right and dropped back into the rough two feet short of the fairway, before trickling out of the rough three feet on to the fairway. Hope you did the lottery that day Dai!

First back in the clubhouse was Johnny Morris, setting a tough marker by posting a gross of 70; it could have been a 69. He had pushed his tee shot from the 18th 10 yards short of the first tee marker post. His wedge shot approach from there was just a bit too long, finishing 25 feet past the pin. He was desperately unlucky when his superb putt horseshoed the hole and had to settle for a 70.

Paul and Brian both made mistakes out on the course to return 78 and 80, respectively.

In the second match, Andrew Pouton came in with 76 (74 nett) to take second place on the leader board. The scores after that were all in the 80s, but when Robert Wilcox returned 81 (73) he took second spot on the clubhouse leader board for the best nett. This was eclipsed when 14-year-old David Webb, winner of the May monthly medal a week earlier, came in with a fine 77 (68) to go ahead of John and Robert to lead in the nett and lie third in the gross.

David's gross of 77 was to be last sub 80 score to be posted in the morning's round, with only a total of four players achieving that in the first round. David had an excellent 3-3-3 finish. After a fine drive on the 16th, he put his approach shot just short of the green near the top of the bank and then proceeded to chip in for an eagle three!

Peter Rossi came in with a nett 75 to briefly take fourth spot in the Regimental trophy, before Chris Hughes came in with a fine 80 (71) to take third spot.

With John Morris on 70 gross and nett, the Regimental Bowl leaders were David Webb 68, John Morris 70 and Chris Hughes 71. Despite Richard Ormond making a brave attempt to break into this group, his nett 72 put him in fourth spot, with Robert Wilcox in fifth a shot further back. The CSS for the morning was 74.

With the breeze getting up, the afternoon session proved to be a lot harder to make a good score. Ken Gouldsbrough took on the second round starter duties and the games were all underway with just a couple of delays.

The breeze blew away the clouds and a fine sunny afternoon ensued. Many players were finding it more difficult to hold the line in the gusty conditions and many games were slowed up searching for lost balls.

However, the lead game of Haley, Cramb and Morris fairly scorched round the course. In just under three-and-a-half hours they were playing the 16th green, while the second match was only on the 12th green, with the rest of the games stretched out behind them!

On the final tee, John Morris hit a fine drive. Brian Cramb, although by now feeling a bit tired, belied his 64 years and got away a good drive. The best one, though, came from Paul Haley, who hit a superb drive to five yards short of the path; from there he played an exquisite lob wedge to 10 feet from the pin. Paul sunk this for a fine birdie three. John continued to suffer on the 18th. Like his morning finish, an even longer approach putt lipped the hole which would have been a birdie three.

All three players returned 78 in the second round, which were to be the only sub 80 scores returned for the afternoon. Both John's playing partners remarked that he had some luck out on the course, but like the great player he is, he took full advantage of that.

As the day wore on, the breeze subsided and a fine late afternoon was enjoyed by the players and spectators' alike, with many of them sunning themselves in front of the clubhouse as they watched the games come in.

Many of the players were shooting higher scores in the second round, but there were some who made notable moves with a lower score, especially among the later matches. Michael Schooling improved his score by two with a nett 75, as did John Gottwaltz on 76.

At this stage, both these players were lying second and third in the nett, behind John Morris. In the gross, John had an unassailable lead of eight shots over his nearest rival, Paul Haley. However, in the nett, the later players were also returning some better scores to move up the field, among them Peter Rossi, who mirrored his morning round of 75, but he was overtaken when Gareth Phillips returned a nett 74.

In the meantime, young David Webb, despite scoring a quadruple bogey seven on the 12th, still posted a nett 75, which was good enough to give him top spot in the Regimental Bowl.

Chris Hughes slipped back down from third to fifth, returning a nett 79 in the second round. Two other players worthy of mention are Chris Davies and Dai Cope, returning 75 and 76 nett, respectively. The CSS for the afternoon of 75 reflected the trickier conditions.

There were 18 twos scored over the two rounds. Two players, Martin Morris, got two in the first round, and John Gottwaltz, got two in the second round.

On a fine Pembrokeshire evening, club captain, Idwal David, rose to announce the results. He first announced, his words, the most important one and that was the bag draw won by Brian Cramb, Phil Goodridge and Idwal David...mmm!

The captain then got serious to announce the results, but not before he gave thanks to Chris Jenkins and his team for preparing the course so well. He also thanked Jim Martin and his team of Kevin Pullen, Richard Reed and Ken Gouldsbrough for all their efforts in organising and running the event.

He went on to thank Steve and Hilary and their ever-present staff for looking after everyone's catering requirements.

He then announced the leading scores in the Regimental Bowl, before announcing and presenting the trophy to the winner, David Webb. His nett score of 143 was five shots better than second placed John Morris. This is the first major trophy young David has won in the club and was a well deserved reward for all the hard work he has put in. It augurs well for the club with emerging talent such as David, along with Sam Jaakola, who failed to produce his recent good form on the day.

Finally came the presentation of the much coveted Cobb Cup for the best medal gross score over the 36 holes. Captain Idwal David was pleased to announce that John Morris had won it with a gross score of 148; in second place was Paul Haley, eight shots back on 156.

This was a record third consecutive win for John and a record fifth time he has won it.

John responded by thanking his playing partners and all of the competitors for they participation and support. He, too, thanked Chris Jenkins, Jim Martin and the stewards for all their efforts. Although he did not achieve his initial aim to win both trophies, John was delighted to heap praise on David Webb for his fine rounds and a worthy holder of his trophy.

Leading Results

Cobb Cup (best gross): 1. John Morris 70-78-148 ( cup and £57); 2. Paul Haley 78-78-156 (£42); 3. Andy Pouton 76-81-157 (£27); 4. Brian Cramb 80-78-158 (£15); 5. John Gottwaltz 81-80-161 (£9) - better second round than David Webb.

Regimental Bowl (best nett): 1. David Webb 68-75-143 (bowl and £57); 2. John Morris 70-78-148 (£42); 3. Gareth Phillips 76-74-150 (£27) - better second round than 4. Peter Rossi 75-75-150 (£15) - better second round than 5. Chris Hughes 71-79-150 (£9).

Full results can be seen at the Tenby Golf Club web site; http://www.tenbygolf.co.uk/results">www.tenbygolf.co.uk/results.

J.D.M.