Greetings dear reader. After an enforced absence due to: A. - an accidentally mangled forefinger resulting in amputation, and: B. - a weekend spent glued to the TV watching Rory play magnificently to claim the Claret Jug, I am returned to frontline journalistic action once more - and thank you for the hundreds of 'phone calls and emails from four or five readers wishing me well, together with the three-fingered golf club from captain Tony and the bottle of wine and nine grapes from Idwal David! - The art of generosity is not dead! Welcome, then, to Tenby links on Tuesday, July 22, the scene of what could easily be described as a 'warm up' for the British Seniors Open at Royal Porthcawl later in the week. Porthcawl enjoys the services of huge resources provided by the PGA and the R and A, around 80 ground staff, literally hundreds of volunteers and a six-figure budget. Here, the event was planned, organised and managed by the seniors' committee headed by secretary Roy Morgan, captain Allen Watts, vice-captain Bart Youll and the ever-helpful Bob Parsons. Trusty greens staff Scotty, Stewart, Rhys and Michael presented the course in splendid condition and from the Pro Shop Rhys and Tom provided invaluable assistance. Compiling and collating the final results was a mammoth task and our match and handicap First Lady Irene Gilman deserves a huge and sincere vote of thanks - Irene, aided by Stan Hudson, laboured until past 9 pm to ensure that the statistics were absolutely accurate. Finally, the senior section provided lots of willing volunteers to carry out all the necessary but non-glamourous tasks, to provide raffle prizes and to support the event and reduce the drain on our three-figure budget - so hardly any difference at all then! There is definitely a unique atmosphere on an open competition day when lots of visitors fill the club. Tradition plays a great part in these events, particularly the tradition of the mandatory bacon 'butty' and coffee pre-match, while on the occasion of a senior event, the presence of performance enhancing compounds such as Phylosan, Ibuprofen and Horse Liniment is equally traditional - one could smell the gents locker room in Inverness! There was a massive 162 entrants for the Open Day, many of them long-time supporters of the event, and we welcomed a lot of old friends and opponents to the links. This is obviously a prestige fixture - Roy Morgan was receiving bookings as long ago as January this year! The field required 58 tee times starting at 8 am and continuing until 3.36 pm, and included seniors from some 30-odd clubs - ranging from Tenby to Hong Kong! - keen to compete in the 18 hole Yellow box Stableford tournament. The weather was kind, if a little hot and humid, and a light breeze which started around midday served to cool the perspiring golfers. Emulating the famous Ivor Robson, our two volunteers, Geoff Aston and John Hunt shared the starting duties all day and did a fine job, while our senior ball spotters must have saved the competitors dozens of golf balls due to their eagle-eyed locating. You will appreciate that with a field of this size the event ended quite late, consequently many of our guests had to depart before the prize-giving - but the following lists show the successful players: Visitor prizes, Certificate A - age under 70: 1. Stuart Reynolds (38) Beauchief GC, 2. Mike Griffiths (38) Mond Valley GC, 3. Ken Davies (38) Machynys GC and 4. Malcolm Ward (38) Prudhoe GC. Visitor prizes, Certificate B - age over 70: 1. Clive Powell (35) Neath GC, 2. Mostyn Davies (35) Morlais Castle GC, 3. Tony Iafrate (32) St. Mellions GC and 4. J Godfrey Rees (30) Pennard GC. Home player prizes, Certificate A - age under 70: 1. Brian J Jones (40), 2. Robin Hagley (39), 3. David Blackmore (38) and 4. Chris Beecher (38). Home player prizes, Certificate B - age over 70: 1. Brian Waters (37), 2. John Hancock (36), 3. Alan Jones (36) and 4. Newman Vincent (36) There were 17 twos recorded, one on hole 5, nine on hole 6, two on hole 12 and six on hole 17. There was a magnificent hole-in-one on the 17th hole, scored by the devilishly accurate John Swinglehurst from The Rhondda GC. The prize for nearest the pin on hole 17 was scooped by our own Des Stone, while the eventual winner of the nearest the line award on hole 14 was Vic Townsend - also from The Rhondda GC - very accurate these Rhondda boys! And that would seem to be that. A really enjoyable day on the links and a truly popular event. Captain Allen ('Limpy') Watts wishes to re-iterate his sincere thanks to everybody who gave their assistance to this event, it literally would not work without the help of all concerned. And finally, I want to take this opportunity to give a little advance publicity to the forthcoming Tenby Golf Club Gentleman's Pairs Open, to be held on the links on Tuesday, September 16, this year - details from the club or on Master Scoreboard. It would be nice if Allen and I could play - 'Limpy and Stumpy' has a nice ring to it!

M.F.