Last year at Glynhir, it was a soaring kite above the trees, this year it was a magnificent eagle. Last week it was a Tenby member, this week it was a Glynhir senior, Colin Gent, who surprised himself on their signature hole, the dogleg 14th. He realised he had hit a good second shot and thought he was through the green. It was Roger Scholfield who found his ball in the hole when he went to remove the flag. Celebrations all round. Well, not really for Roger and his playing partner, Robin Hagley. By this stage they had already lost the match to an in form pair, Colin and Ivor. Although they played well, they were unable to match the prowess, ability and home advantage.

Last week’s eagle champion, Richard Davies, was out this week with Bart Youll and they were involved in an 18-hole tussle against Dorian Hague and Gerald Nilsson. Each pair took it in turn to take a one-hole lead. After 17 holes they were all-square, with the result in the balance and only one hole left. An honourable half seemed likely until the Glynhir partnership found a magic putt to wrest the chance from the Tenby duo.

Results seemed unimportant (really!) as all 32 seniors soaked up the glorious sunshine and welcoming breeze while renewing old friendships. Idwal was back in harness and in form, if the weather was anything to go by.

That form was transferred to the course as he and Stan Hudson took on Emrys Wilcox and Ian Roderick. Stan was nominated ‘Robot Man’ with his consistent chipping and putting on the treacherous greens. It did, however, take him and Idwal two holes to adjust to the speed of the closely-mown grass. They lost the first two holes, re-adjusted, and proceeded to demonstrate how to play this well presented and manicured course. They only dropped one hole on their run in.

The second match out involved groom against best man. Back in 1066 - sorry, 1966, Dudley Williams was the best man at Gerald Davies wedding. so they had much to catch up on. If the banter was anything to go by, the best man’s speech must have been hilarious.

In a match played in great spirit, Dudley, supported by Des, was able to hold Gerald and his partner, Chris Morgan, over the first 10 holes, despite losing the first two holes. Mishaps by both players allowed the home pair to take a three-hole lead which they held on to for another home win.

John Hancock did not fare much better. Exposing his white legs to the bright sunshine might have had some bearing on the result as he and David Rees were competitive enough to be all-square after 12 holes. Then things fell apart as they, also, lost three consecutive holes in a back nine collapse. Unable to recover, they trudged in despondently to report their misfortune to their captain.

Paul Bradley and Mick Whale restored the smile on Idwal’s face as they reported in. Full of praise for the course, they stated that, although they were never behind in their match against Phil Evans and Eddie Bowen, they just could not shake them off. The home pair was snapping at their heels all afternoon, but just failed to catch them.

Like many other pairs, Peter Williams and Alan Jones lost the first two holes, but then regained their composure and adapted to the greens, as well as was possible, as they duelled it out against Terry Gorringe and Arnallt Evans. Steady comfortable golf played in benign conditions allowed them to ease their way home to a three and two result.

That just left the two Brians. Brian Morgan travelled up from Swansea to join forces with Brian Waters and they attempted to overcome the challenge of John Cadwalladr and Andy Poulton. Again, some stubborn resistance in the early stages gave them a vestige of hope, but this was dashed as the opposition upped their game over the second nine holes to clinch it for Glynhir.

At one stage, Idwal thought it might be possible to earn an honourable half, but it was not to be. He made up for his disappointment with a well sanitised joke to match the one told by the opposing captain, Emrys. We may not have won the golf, but we continue to scoop the raffle prizes. This week Paul Bradley and Mick Whale went home as happy winners.Seniors Centenary Challenge2007 was Carmarthen Golf Club’s centenary anniversary and as part of their celebrations the Seniors’ section invited all other clubs with a hundred year pedigree to compete for the Centenary Challenge cup. That first competition was held at the Carmarthen Golf course on September 17, with Carmarthen, Tenby, Haverfordwest, Ashburnham and Cardigan all fielding a team of 16 players.Ashburnham have since declined to enter a team and their place has been filled by Glynhir. The venue rotates around each club and the competition has moved to an earlier date in the calendar, this year returning to Carmarthen on June 11. Tenby fielded a team of 16 seniors, four of whom played in that inaugural event. They were Richard Davies, John Hancock, Paul Bradley and Des Stone. That first competition was won by the home club, with only one Tenby pair scoring a win. Tony Ranoe and John Cook won by five and four.Idwal worked his magic, in conjunction with the Carmarthen captain, so everyone enjoyed some glorious sunshine tempered with a cooling breeze. Last year at Haverfordwest the rain poured down all day making for a lot of abandoned matches. Unlike that first challenge, Tenby fared a little better this year managing to win four matches with one halved. Unfortunately, Idwal’s magic didn’t extend to the match he played. Partnered by Stan Hudson, they fought out a close match against a Carmarthen pair and ended up three and two down.In this shotgun start, two Tenby pairs were matched against two of each of the other clubs and each winning pair scored three points for their club, with one for a half. Joining Idwal in the ‘nil point’ section were the pairings of Peter Williams and Steve Sutcliffe, stumbling over the last hurdle to end up two down. Veterans John Hancock and Paul Bradley enjoyed each other’s company again, but failed to work their magic, ending up three and two down.One better were Chris Beecher and Ross James, establishing at least one point for the team with their half. Allen Watts was back in action and with a little help from his partner, Des Stone, brought a smile to his captain’s face with a three and one win. Also faring well with a resounding six and five victory against Cardigan was Richard Davies and David Rees. Keith Hubbard and Steve Cole scored their win against Glynhir with a two and one victory. To complete the set, Barry Frayne and David Blackmore came in with a four and three victory.That gave Tenby Seniors 13 points, but it was not enough to win the trophy. Home advantage and some great golf enabled Carmarthen to win all but one of their matches to achieve a score of 21 points, enough to regain their original trophy on home turf.Six points behind in second place was Haverfordwest on 15 points. Glynhir fell in behind Tenby with five points, while the wooden spoon went to Cardigan on four points. Congratulations are extended to Carmarthen for the excellent organisation and great hospitality. Everyone now looks forward to the next Centenary Challenge which will be hosted by Glynhir. The cup continues its circulation.AJO Memorial eventDon’t forget, there’s still time to get your name down for the AJO Memorial. This year, there will be just one leg which will be held at Tenby GC on Saturday, June 23.As usual, members of both Tenby GC and Trefloyne GC are very welcome to participate. There will be gents and ladies competitions.The tee-time sheet is in the foyer at Tenby GC and competitors are encouraged to enter their names asap.Gents Monthly MedalA total of 75 players entered the Gents Monthly Medal on Saturday, when several took advantage of the superb course conditions to post some excellent scores.Leading scores and prize winners were as follows:Division One: 1. Kyran Lewis 73-8-65 (medal plus (£40.50); 2. Harrison?Duckett 69-3-66 (£30.50); 3. Vivian John 77-9-68, on countback (£20.50); 4. Roger Schooling 75-7-68 (£10).Division Two: 1. John?Stevenson 85-19-66 (medal plus £40.50); 2. Gary McKeown 86-16-70 (£30.50); 3 Colin Went 89-17-72 (£20.50); 4. Ross James 93-20-73 (£10).Twos: David Cope, Harrison Duckett, Kyran?Lewis, 2, Vivian?John, Andrew Pouton, Richard Prout, Michael Anthony, Ian Jarvis, John Stevenson (£7.50 each).Bag draw: H. Phillips, P. Ellis, C. Smith, S. Nicholls, G. McKeown (£14.80 each).Pro Shop draw: Chris Beecher (Glenmuir Eltham top).Changes to handicap: Richard Cope 7 to 8; Brian?Cramb 3 to 4; Cameron Jnr Davies 20 to 21; Robin Hagley 17 to 18; Ian?Jarvis 15 to 16; Vivian John 9 to 8; Gary McKeown 16 to 15; Hugh Phillips 27 to 28; John?Stevenson 19 to 17.Rabbits go bang!Last year’s Three Counties Rabbits runners-up, Tenby, travelled to near-neighbours South Pembs hoping to maintain the only remaining unbeaten record in the Summer League for 2018/19, writes our links reporter, Warren Hacker, but the home players pulled out all the stops and the visitors had to return home eastwards with their ‘lost column’ in the league table now showing ‘one’.Off first were Steve C and Wyndham (making it the ‘C Section’) and despite knocking in their fair share of pars they came off second best as their opponents were victorious and they shook hands on the 15th with the home team winning 4/3.Next away were Rees and newly-reduced John Stevenson, but John admitted after that even his ‘lost two shots’ wouldn’t have helped them as their opposition dovetailed well to carve out a 3/2 success for the homesters.Third on the tee were the unbeaten pair of Ian J and Chris, but ‘the Saints’ didn’t come marching in with a win, so bang went their record and they succumbed to a 5/4 defeat.The other unbeaten Tenby pair - the Watkins’ duo of Steve and Grant - were next to tee-off and despite going into an early lead they couldn’t maintain it and their record also went bang as they lost 2/1.The fifth pair to play were Phil and Adrian and they were another Tenby duo to come up against an in-form home couple and the sequence of South Pembs victories was extended and the 5/4 win meant the home team led by 5-0.The ‘T Boys’ - Shaun and Peter - were next off and they looked like they were going to buck the trend as details emerged that they had actually got themselves into a three up lead, but it was not to be and a lost 18th hole meant the match was halved - but at least it wasn't going to be a whitewash!Captain Paul decided to lead from the back and he chose John Ball to accompany him as they were the last to enter the fray. They found themselves a few down, but they dug in and with contributions from them both, they were able to claim the only Tenby victory with a 2/1 success.So the visitors’ unbeaten tag had been smithereened and all they had to show for their efforts was a half a point (only the first six games count for bonus points) to move up to 10.5 after their three away games and the home team gained 8.5 to move up to 38 points in the table after eight games.Captain Paul has now used 17 players in the three games and in the Mick Gillet Trophy for Summer League points, Chris, Grant, Ian J and Steve W stand on eight points, six have four, the T Boys are the only ones on two, with five yet to get off the mark. Plenty of time left yet lads.The next Rabbits League match will be in Aberystwyth on July 8, with the Three Counties Rabbits Open Day at Milford Haven being the next Rabbits outing tomorrow (Saturday). Come on you red-shirted wonders!