Last Sunday, at Tenby Golf Club, Dan Farmer added to his scratch matchplay title by winning the scratch strokeplay title, or in other words, the Cobb Cup (writes J.M).
He pipped Chris Thompson by one shot with a gross two-round total of 151.
The day started reasonably calm when the first group of John Morris, Dan Farmer and Paul Haley got under way at 8 am. During the morning round of the 36-hole event, though, the wind got up and presented a strong test for the 38-strong field. This was reflected in a lot higher scores in the first round.
In the gross event, the best of the morning round was returned by Jon Bolter who came in with a 74 to lead in the Cobb Cup; playing off five, Jon, with a net 69, also led in the Regimental Bowl for the best net score.
The birthday boy, Paul Haley, celebrating his 40th, was two shots back, lying in joint second place with Chris Thompson and defending champion Andy Pouton, all on 76. John Morris and Dan Farmer both returned 78.
Despite making a complete mess of his tee shot on the first, running up an eight, young Henrik Jaakola recovered well to lie second on net 70 in the net section. Dave Henry played well to finish joint third on net 73 with Nick Allen.
However, many of the field struggled to cope with the windy conditions, with over half returning net 79 or greater, so it was no surprise that the course scratch was two over on 74.
Although the conditions were not much better in the afternoon, the players in general seemed to cope better and adjusted their shots accordingly. This was reflected in the returns being lower.
Jon Bolter, though, was having problems in the second round and, despite leading in the gross and net competitions in the morning, fell away in the afternoon with a gross 82 to finish sixth in the Cobb Cup.
Richard Morton improved in the second round with a fine 75, which was the second best gross in the afternoon; this was good enough to lift him into fourth spot overall.
Andy Pouton ran up too many bogies, to fall away after being in contention in the morning. Andy still put in a creditable performance to finish fifth in the Cobb Cup.
Although playing steadily, Paul Haley was finding problems getting the ball close to the pin on the slick greens; very well prepared by Chris Jenkins, who was on the course at 4.30 am getting them ready for the day.
Chris Thompson maintained his form to return another 76 and finished second on 152 behind the winner Dan Farmer. Dan had a superb round in the afternoon, shooting the lowest gross of the day of 73 to take the strokeplay title on 151; adding this to the matchplay title he won last September on Finals Day.
In the Regimental Bowl for the best net score over 36 holes, Henrik Jaakola completed a very fine recovery in returning a net 72 to take the trophy by two shots from Nick Allen, with a total of 142. Both Henrik and Nick played extremely well in both rounds. Jon Bolter, after a poor net 77, finished third on 146.
Viv James had the best net in the afternoon with the day's best net score of 67, but after a poor first round total of 83, it was not good enough to get him into the top four.
Michael Schooling played very steady golf, returning two net rounds of 74.
A few players struggled in the afternoon and finished well down the field; seven times winner John Morris was one of them.
At the presentation, a good crowd had gathered as Dave Hancock went through his smooth patter in his presentation, greatly amusing all concerned. He gave praise to Steve and Hilary for their unstinting work in looking after everyone from 6 am in the morning. Also, to Chris Jenkins and his staff for their presentation of the course.
Rhys Harry and his staff were congratulated for their efforts. Rhys also had a long day along with Jim Martin in organising the event; between the two of them, they had the cards diligently checked and results presented by 7.45 pm.
Captain John Gillespie presented the trophies to the respective winners, Dan Farmer with the Cobb Cup and Henrik Jaakola, the Regimental Bowl. Both Dan and Henrik gave excellent speeches in their acceptance of the trophies, both reiterating the compliments to catering and green staff, plus thanking the support they had from the their playing partners.
Curtain falls on Chickens
The curtain finally fell on the Chicken Trotters' season last Friday morning, with the annual competitions for the Danny Carew Putter (for under 70s) and the Norman Badham Cup (for over 70s).
Once again the event attracted an impressive line-up of golfers and at the end of the day, sitting pretty on top perch for the Putter was Neil Dickinson, who was as surprised as anyone that his 24 points was good enough to take the highly-coveted trophy.
Tying for second place in this category (and the booby prize as it happened - so no payout) were Steve Cole and Bart Youll, who carded 16 points apiece.
Moving on to the Norman Badham Cup, early starter Owen Monaghan produced the best score of the day, 27 points, to bag the silverware and first place overall, while Meurig Jones was runner-up and third overall with his 24.
Following him were Richard Morgan, third in the over 70s, Doug Havard, fourth, and Mike Fox, fifth.
Afterwards, everyone toasted the Chickens with a glass of Champagne (thanks Mike), while Chief Chicken Micky Johnston announced that the Trotters would return to action in October. Watch this space!
Clean sweep for Dyfed League team
Tenby Dyfed League team played host to Cwmrhydneuadd, a formidable team from the picturesque parkland course just north of Cardigan. This was the next challenge to step up the league charts with the eventual aim of gaining promotion to the next level of competitive golf in the county. The scene was set for an exciting game of golf on a course that had been prepared to the highest quality by the greens staff and, with the weather remaining dry with a south-westerly wind drying out the greens, putting was going to be the key to victory.
The advantage was with the home team who knew every undulation and judged the pace of the greens far better than the visitors. This proved to be the major contributing factor leaving the Tenby team to claim victory over the visitors by seven games to nil, which has boosted their rankings in the league quite considerably.
The team was rescued at the last moment when the president of the club, Mr. Mervyn Tucker, stepped into the breach to fill the vacancy left when one of the selected members had to withdraw following a fall. The president's presence in the team was supported by the Dyfed League captain, Mr. Chris Beecher, and they went on to win their match 4 and 2.
The other team winners were: Paul Hoyland and Gary McNeilly won 2 and 1; Martin Morris and Dai Cope won 2 and 1; Chris Hughes and Loz Phillips won 6 and 5; Roger Schooling and Peter Rossi won 6 and 5; Andrew Morton and Alan Morton won 3 and 2; Jeff Banfield and Idwal David won 5 and 4.
Special thanks to Martin Morris and Dai Cope who collected the raffle, having lost the toss to Paul Hoyland and Gary McNeilly by carding the lowest winning score.
Everyone after the match was provided with a meal and service which was of an exceptional standard and all were complimentary of the efforts provided by the steward and stewardess of the club, Steve and Hilary.
The festivities were boosted by the great fun provided by Welsh international rugby hooker and rugby media pundit, Mr. Garin Jenkins, who was one of the visiting players from Cwmrhydneuadd. His humour and good nature both on and off the course was very much appreciated by all present.
Congratulations to all concerned, but don't rest on your laurels as there are more challenges ahead before the end of the season and everyone will be required to support the team to achieve their objective.
Many club members have shown a keen interest in playing for the team and your enthusiasm has not gone un-noticed, but please be patient as only 14 can be chosen and the strongest side must be fielded for each match if the ultimate goal is going to be reached.
The next match will be the biggest challenge yet, with the opposition being the players of the Milford Haven Golf Club, who are currently at the top of the league, and to add extra pressure, if any was needed, the fixture is away on Sunday, May 29, teeing-off at 11am. All available players, please put your name on the list in the clubhouse so that the captain can select a representative team of the highest quality.
Tenby Dyfed League team are also entered into a knockout cup competition, The Jeff Harries Bowl, which is open to teams throughout the region and the opponents for the next round are the Machynys Golf Club who will be visitors to the Burrows on Sunday, June 12, with teeing off times to commence at 11.50 am. The format will be a greensome foursome one and there will be 14 team members required. Again the selection sheet is on the wall of the clubhouse, so please enter your name if you are available for selection.
Mixed team succeeds at Carmarthen
On Friday, Tenby's mixed team went into battle against Builth Wells at Carmarthen Golf Club in the second round of the Golf Union Wales Ping Challenge (writes team captain Heather K. Morgan).
The weather had to be battled as well, as squalls of heavy showers rapidly followed one another during the round.
Three pairs represented Tenby. They were president, Mervyn Tucker and Heather K. Morgan, Chris and Carol Beecher, and Fair and John Ball. The format was straight foursomes match-play, so once the shots had been worked out, the matches started in the rain.
Mervyn and Heather won 5 and 3; Chris and Carol won 3 and 1; and Fair and John won on the 18th, 2 up.
A successful match for Tenby, played in good company on a lovely course.
Thanks to Carmarthen for the courtesy given.