With only seven weeks left before the Divots winter season ends, it's all to play for at the top of the table.

And, with the accumulation of the best six stableford results counting towards the final points tally, every remaining weekend is an opportunity to get rid of your lowest score and replace it with a higher one.

The question for those at the top who have already amassed some high scores is... 'Is there anything left in the tank?' Can they pull off another high score to replace one that may be only marginally lower? The draw for pairs is all-important in order to maximise your opportunities.

This week, the first pairing saw the Walrus and Jampot teamed together. Now there is a phenomenon known as 'sod's law', which I understand from those in high places could soon be changed to the Field-Thomas effect. Now the Walrus always seems to influence his partner for the worse and, believe it or not, the norm continued on Sunday. The Walrus and Jampot arrived back at the clubhouse with a score of 28 points. This was not what Jampot was hoping for. He needs to replace one of his 38 points with a higher score.

The partnership of Rob Hall and Gareth Phillips must have been thinking the same thing when they returned with a total of 35 points. Great for Gareth, who increases his tally by one, but Rob needs a 38-plus score to catch the leaders.

The next pair saw John Stevenson and Richard Chapman return a score of 30 points. Not bad when you think how fierce the wind was blowing. That aside, the 30 points did nothing for their league status.

Loz Phillips, on the other hand, entertained all those present on the first tee and left us in fits of laughter as his drive ploughed into the mound that is normally used as the yellow tee box some 30 yards in front. Failing to pass the ladies' tee is punished with a £1 fine. It's no wonder that Loz doesn't play that often... it's costing him too much. But Loz and his partner Viv James played well, returning a score of 34 points, which lifts Loz into 11th place.

Captain Nigel was the odd player out with no partner and as such had to pick a blind partner from the remainder of us. He did reasonably well with a score of 33 points, but this again was not sufficient to increase his league status, as he needs at least 36 or better to add to his points tally.

Not so for this week's winners, as for the first time this season Roger Schooling was paired with Bill Beynon, which turned out to be a fine combination as they dovetailed their games amazingly well. When one scored, the other didn't, and vice versa. Now when this occurs, silly things happen, like returning a score of 40 points in a gale force wind, which was just what the doctor ordered for both players, as Roger moved from sixth to fifth in the table and Bill closed the gap between himself and league leader Jampot to one point.

It's getting very exciting, as anyone who returns a half decent score can win this league. Even those halfway down the table can leapfrog into contention by replacing a previous point tally of say 28 with a 40-point round. Those 12 additional points can do some serious damage to those above you.

LEAGUE TABLE

P Av Total

Paul James 12 40.3 242 Bill Beynon 10 40.2 241

Rob Hall 10 39.2 235

Nigel Ayers 11 39.0 234

Roger Schooling 10 38.5 231

Viv James 8 37.8 227

Paul Haley 6 37.3 224

John Stevenson 8 36.3 218

Gareth Phillips 10 36.0 216

Gavin F-Thomas 10 35.0 210

Loz Phillips 6 34.5 207

Jim Moffat 7 34.3 206

Clive Law 7 34.0 204

Richard Chapman 6 32.5 195

Gareth Rees 2 27.0 54

Steve Davies 1 22.0 22