I could have written this week's report before the Divots had even met on Sunday morning, if I'd only known two things. Firstly that Gareth Rees was missing again and therefore the numbers would be up. Also, with Steve Davies playing once again this week, it was only a matter of knowing who his partner was on the day to be able to announce the winners. Martin Morris made his Divots début of the season and was lucky enough to be drawn with Steve Davies. With Martin's strong game and Steve's shots, the rest would be battling for second place. With 23 points on both the front and back nine, including five points on the two new holes, the job was done. No single points and 10 three-pointers could not be matched. Second place was won by the big man himself and Viv James. The Walrus and Viv put up a good challenge for the leading score, with four-pointers on both the 12th and 13th holes. Unfortunately, the good work was undone with single-pointers on four of the holes. A total of 41 points may have challenged normally, but not on the week the best score of the year so far was recorded. Tied third with 40 points were the pairings of Loz Phillips and new regular, Rick Lewis and captain, Clive Law playing with Rob 'Corbett' Hall. On countback, Loz and Rick would have taken the honours, but with a cash prize for first only, who cares? Loz and Rick found the new ninth hole tough, failing to score... and they wouldn't be the only ones! Another returning Divot was Andrew North. With family and business commitments, he has been unable to join us for some time, but it was great to see him and hopefully not for the last time this year. Andy was to be drawn with old friend Nigel Ayers. The two have played together on many occasions in both the Divots and during their time in the Rabbits many handicap shots ago. It was a rusty start for Andy, having to rely on partner Nigel for the first few holes to bring in the points. Twenty-three points on the back nine was a great fightback after only 16 on the front. The low handicapped pairing of Adam Joseph and Richard Morton would have to blitz the course with only nine shots between them. A total of 38 points was a great effort, with three-pointers on six holes and no blobs, but single-pointers on four holes was disappointing after working so hard for their score. Chris Davies found himself drawn this week with John Stevenson. The pair dovetailed well, sharing the scoring, but failing to do any better than level net par of 36 points. Once again the damage was done on the front nine, with problems again on the two new holes, where they only managed two points. Others to struggle were the experienced pairing of Richard Chapman and Ron Johns. Only 13 points on the front nine, while the new ninth was one of the holes on the front where they dropped some valuable points. Unlike some of the others, the two were unable to make up for the dropped shots and only managed to post a back nine score of 16 points. Thirty the total helped push Richard into a position for one of the league prizes - unfortunately, it's not the sort of prize you want to pick up! Results: S. Davies and M. Morris 46 pts; G. Field- Thomas and V. James 41; L. Phillips and R. Lewis 40; R. Hall and C. Law 40; N. Ayers and A. North 39; A. Joseph and R. Morton 38; C. Davies and J. Stevenson 36; R. Chapman and R. Johns 30.
