Tenby Golf Club held its annual junior open championships recently, and it proved to be another success. Over 50 players from all over the county entered, with four categories of prizes to compete in. In the boys' white box medal round, an early lead score of 73 gross was posted by defending champion Sam Morgan from Tenby, who was looking to retain the trophy. The lead wasn't held for too long before being bettered by fellow club member, Jack Guerreiro, with an impressive gross 72. Local knowledge proved crucial as Tenby took first and second places, with Callum McDougal from Haverfordwest taking third spot with a 79. In the nett competition, David Lewis, of Milford Haven, came first with a nett 64, second place went to Jack Davies, of Cardigan, with a 67 and third place went to Nathan Day from Milford Haven with a 69. In the girls' medal competition, Becky Harries from Haverfordwest took first place with an excellent gross 72, second was Sophie Rees, of Milford Haven, with 87, and third was Emma Guerreiro, of Tenby, with 100. In the nett competition, first place went to Georgia Thomas, of Tenby, with an excellent gross 84 nett 61, while second place went to Emma Jones from Cardigan with a nett 77. In the 18-hole stableford competition, the winner was Meirion Jones from Cardigan with 41 points, second was Rhys Williams with 40 and third was Cieran Slyne with 37, both boys being Tenby members. In the nine-hole stableford competition, Dan Hawkey, of Tenby, took first place with 21 points, Luke Heap, of Carmarthen, was second with 20, on the back six from Matthew Humphries, of Milford Haven, also on 20 points. The boys' longest drive was won by Andrew Arnold, of Milford Haven, while Becky Harries, of Haverfordwest, won the girls' longest drive and nearest the pin trophies; the boys' nearest the pin being won by Matthew Humphries, of Milford Haven. All the trophies were presented by club president, Mr. Ian Bates, who stressed how nice it was to see the juniors coming through the ranks, and complimented them on their excellent conduct. The success of the day was down to the hard work put in by honorary starter, Mr. Ted Martin, Phil Adams, on registration duties, Heather Morgan, on handicaps, Lynne and staff for the catering and Chris and staff for the condition of the course. Thanks must also go to the members for allowing this event to take place and allowing the course closure.
It's hard going at South Pembs.
Saturday's local derby match against South Pembs. in the Dyfed League was played in beautiful summer sunshine, with hardly a breath of wind blowing over the Pennar course. Ground conditions were hard and bouncy, with firm, fast greens, making club selection difficult. First pairing out, Dan Cope and Niclas Thomas (just back from St. Andrews), lost 2 and 1. Next out were Richard Morton and David Schooling, with David being promoted well up the order. However, following a close game, they also lost by a 2 and 1 margin. The third pairing of Dave Roberts and Chris Beecher lost 3 and 2. Fourth pairing were Paul Hoyland and John Stenson, who played some exceptional golf, having five birdies in 14 holes and winning comfortably 5 and 4. Paul stays at the top of the Dyfed League trophy table, remaining unbeaten throughout the season and thanks the captain for providing him with such fantastic partners. The fifth pairing of Neil Lovatt and Geoff Aston lost 4 and 3. The sixth pairing of Martin Morris and Rob Hall also lost heavily, 6 and 4. Next pairing were Gary McNeilly and Dyfed League rookie Steve Keating, both hoping for a bit of Open championship inspiration, having just spent a week there forging close links with drinking buddy Chris DiMarco. But it was to no avail as they lost 4 and 3, with the best dressed prize going to their opponent, Kenny Breaker, who wore a blue Hawaiian number, especially flown in from Bewise! The eighth pairing were the Liverpool duo of Phil Keating and Gary McKeown. Again with recent Open championship television exposure (they were seen having a pint by the ninth green), they were keen for a Tigeresk performance, but unfortunately lost 6 and 4. Last out were Don Sigsworth and Nigel Ayers, who were four down after six holes, but came through to win 3 and 2. This was Nigel's second win in as many games away from home. The final score was 7-2 to South Pembs. Many thanks again to all the players who came in at the last minute to enable Tenby to field a full team. Next game is at home to South Pembs this Sunday, August 13. CAPTAIN M
Tenby at its best
Tenby Golf Links was at its challenging best on Tuesday, August 1, as 138 senior golfers lined up to play the course at the Tenby Seniors Open Day, with the added difficulty of a brisk westerly wind. It was much like a conveyor belt with players stepping onto, and guided off, the first tee by starter for the day, Geoff Aston. The conveyor belt was in action from 9 am, with the last group teeing-off at 3 pm, with everything running smoothly in between, thanks to the efforts of Moran Boot and Ken Gouldsbrough in the office. Most of the early starters were Tenby members trying to steal an early march and catch the course in cooler conditions. Such is the popularity of the course that 108 players from 15 clubs across South Wales attempted to meet the challenge with varying degrees of success. Pembrokeshire clubs were represented by Milford, Trefloyne and South Pembs, while there were large contingents from Rhondda, Pontardawe and Maesteg, as well as Glynhir, Neath, Langland Bay and Cottrell Park. Those who didn't quite do themselves justice vowed to return to rectify the situation at a later date. Those who overcame the weather and the rough want to return to show that it was not just a fluke. Whatever the reason, the challenge of Tenby will always prevail, thanks to the excellent work on maintaining and developing the course by Chris Jenkins and his team. The majority of the visitors availed themselves of the hospitality of the clubhouse and the excellent food prepared by Lynn and left with a great feeling of contentment, tinged for a few with a touch of frustration. The course was the winner, with a highest score of the day, achieved by two players, being 36. One of those was a Tenby player, Martin Neilan, and the other was Micky Durward, of Milford Haven, both of whom won their respective category in the under 65 age group. The winners of the B category (65 and over) came in with 35, scored by Des Green, of Rhondda, and 34, scored by Robert Wiseman, of Tenby. Only 24 players achieved a score of 30 or more, with four of the cards returned failing to reach 20. Close behind Robert Wiseman, in the Tenby B category, and also on 34, was David Kaye, followed by Mike Evans and Ron Johns on 32. In the Tenby A category, Des Stone returned 33 points for second place, followed by Brian Waters, 31, and Stan Hudson with 29. For the visitors, K. Eastmond, of Neath, was second in the A category with 33 points, followed by Mike Phillips, Rhondda, and P. Lewis, Maesteg, both with 32. Another 33 claimed second prize in the visitors B category, scored by Peter Jones, of Carmarthen, closely contested by P. Warde, of Neath, also with 33. D Skinner was fourth with 32. Mike Phillips managed to keep his ball on the fairway on the 14th to claim the longest drive of the day, while S. Davies, of Maesteg, was closest to the pin on the sixth hole, ending up 33 inches away. Before announcing the winners, Seniors' captain, Dave Morgan, thanked everyone for the part each played in the success of the day and commended all players for their efforts in trying to overcome the course on such a sunny day. Thanks were extended to Richard Davies for ensuring that all scores were entered onto the computer. The occasion was another success and everyone can now look forward to next year's Open.
Birthday celebrations at Ash
If a birthday occurs on a match week it is a great opportunity to celebrate. Last Thursday at Ashburnham was one such occasion and Seniors' captain, Dave Morgan, led all 40 players in singing 'Happy Birthday' to Brian Morgan, who will enjoy picking up his pension from now on. He was happy enough to celebrate the only Tenby win in this match as the Ashburnham boys exacted their revenge for the defeat at Tenby two weeks ago. He and Alan Yates gelled well in this encounter against Gerald Coles and Alun James. Gerald's comment was: "We were good in theory, but they were good in practice." Brian was pleased with the success he achieved with his three-wood especially with a following wind, which was where he had his success. On the other hand, Alan proved the better player into the wind and so between the two of them they "more than won" this match. Ken Gouldsbrough and Malcolm Arlott summed up the approach by most players when they declared that the principle of seniors' golf was that you win at home and you lose away. With that in mind, they had a very pleasant afternoon and enjoyed the golf played by Ken Gray and Gwylfa Llewellyn, who showed them all the best places to play on the Ashburnham course. Malcolm was somewhat out of sorts because he wasn't sure if he was supposed to play. Someone had inadvertently crossed his name off the list and he had to restore it to confirm he was available. The Ashburnham players had warned us that their rough was worse than that at Tenby and, seeing some of the wanderings, I was put in mind of an elderly Native American, caught in a blizzard, who became lost and disorientated as the snow flurried around him in the forest. He did the sensible thing to conserve heat and energy by walking in a circle, head bowed and hands behind his back, at a slow pace until a search party rescued him the next day. Such was the scene at Ashburnham as senior golfers wandered in circles searching for a ball. Dave Morgan was held up in traffic and so did not arrive in time for first tee-off. That honour went to Des Stone and Jim Martin, who were up against Dave John and Tony Parsons. There were a few balls lost in this match and subsequently much fruitless searching. No one played particularly well, yet each player in turn had a few good shots. Jim started well by being the only player on the green on the first hole. He was amazed to see Tony's chip come to rest only two-feet from the pin for a gimme! Dave then used his shots effectively and putted well to provide an early lead. From then on it was an up and down game, with only one hole in it. Jim hit a wrong ball on the ninth and both he and Des lost balls on the 15th to put them three down. They won the 16th and Jim chipped in close to the hole on the 17th, only to watch Dave putt out, using the last of his shots, for the match. Alun Clement suggested that Dave Morgan was embarrassed playing off 17 - a fact firmly denied by the Seniors' skipper, who was supported this week by Geoff Aston. Theirs was a great game, with Geoff enjoying an eagle on the par five 10th hole. They were three up until the 14th, which they lost, followed by the 15th and 16th. A recovery on the 17th put them in pole position, only for the Ashburnham captain to scramble an honourable half. John Cook and Bob Howse started well in their match against Brian Millett and Meyrick Richards, winning the first hole. Unfortunately for them, this galvanised the Ashburnham pair into action and Brian proved a handful all afternoon, only missing one putt on the 18 holes. Bob and John reckoned that he must have played to eight or nine handicap on the day. The Tenby pair dug in and provided some stubborn resistance, but were unable to make any dent in the opposition's lead, even though Bob won the 15th with the extra shot he acquired after the Seniors' Open at Tenby. John stated that he played well, but it didn't look like it. Roy Davies was the thorn in the side for the Tenby pair in the match against Hywel Probert and Brian Temple. He more than played to his handicap by only dropping one shot after 10 holes and only two after 14 to put this match well out of reach, despite some good golf by Hywel and Brian. "We were thumped by two low handicappers who showed us around the course!" was the comment from Jack Hasdell and David Kaye. There were no highlights - only low lights, as they were behind from the start and could only watch in admiration as the gap got bigger, with Keith Thompson and Howard Thomas inflicting the pain. Masterman was the master golfer in the struggle between Derek Bath and John Hancock. That was Eric, aided and abetted by Brian Williams, who was on the green for two on the par five 14th. JBH was a bit out of sorts in this match, but still managed to hit the ball down the middle, while Derek reckoned that as he neared the clubhouse, so his golf improved - I wonder why? Martin Neilan, fresh from his victory at the Tenby Seniors' Open, and Doug Havard opened up a four- hole lead after five holes. A commanding position which they then proceeded to squander until they found themselves all-square after 13. Sam Withey, with the help of Glan Richards, led the charge and he and his partner used their course knowledge to great effect through the middle part of this match. Demoralised, the Tenby pair had to concede on the 17th. A modicum of pride was salvaged by Stan Hudson and Roy Gundry as their struggle against Alun Killa and Mal Williams ended in stalemate. They were three down after four holes and after a recovery slipped again to a three-hole deficit after nine. In what they described as a mediocre match, they managed to win enough holes to give themselves a slender lead, but still needed a putt on the last to halve the match. Alun conceded a three-foot putt to achieve this - well he felt obliged to, since Roy had hold of him by the throat. The competitive spirit is still alive! It will be noted that Brian Waters was not in this week's line-up. He lost his tie at Neath and didn't want to face all the comments by turning up without one. Fortunately, it came to light - when he unpacked his bag. Results: D. Morgan and G. Aston halved with S. Hill and A. Clement; D. Stone and J. Martin lost to D. John and T. Parsons 2 and 1; J. Cook and B. Howse lost to B. Millet and M. Richards 2 and 1; H. Probert and B. Temple lost to R. Davies and D. Howell 4 and 3; D. Havard and M. Neilan lost to G. Richards and S. Withey 2 and 1; J. Hancock and D. Bath lost to B. Williams and E. Masterman 4 and 3; S. Hudson and R. Gundry halved with A. Killa and M. Williams; D. Kaye and J. Hasdell lost to K. Thompson and H. Thomas 3 and 2; B. Morgan and A. Yates beat G. Coles and A. James 6 and 5; M. Arlott and K. Gouldsbrough lost to K. Gray and G. Llewellyn 5 and 4.