Portlaoise International Golf Tournament
On Sunday, May 13, a 12-strong contingent from Trefloyne travelled to Portlaoise, Ireland, for the annual Portlaoise International Golf Tournament (writes J.C.) This is a well attended three-day qualifying doubles competition, with the final 20 teams playing the finals at The Heritage Golf Course in Killenard (a Seve Ballesteros designed championship course). Teams from Ireland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales all attended
The first round was held at Portarlington Golf Course, a very demanding parkland course, with water involved in most holes. Trefloyne's top pairing of the day were Muerig Evans and Martin Yates, who came in with a good 35 points.
Day two was played at The Heath Golf Course, again a very tight parkland course, with very fast greens and lots of gorse. Yet again, the best Trefloyne pairing was Muerig and Martin with a score of 36 points and in real contention for qualifying for the finals at the Heritage.
The last day of qualifying took us to Portlaoise Golf Club, a short but very difficult course, with lightning fast greens. Again Muerig and Martin led the field with an outstanding score of 40 points, which took them through to the finals in 10th position overall with 111 points. Unfortunately, the pairings of John Calleja and Robin Lloyd and Ben Price and Alan Brown missed out on the qualifying total by one point!
On finals day, Muerig and Martin were supported by the rest of the team and played well to come in with a good score of 35 points. However, this was not quite enough on the day, as the winners came in with an unbelievable 45 points!
Meurig and Martin did enough to be in the prizes, winning 'Best Overseas' - well done both for representing Trefloyne with some exceptional golf.
Unfortunately, Trefloyne were missing the late Brian Anderson, who was an ever-present at the tournament, but our friends in Ireland held a memorial trophy for Brian alongside the three-day qualifying rounds. The Irish team won the trophy by a narrow two-point margin and hold the trophy for now!
Some great memories with some great friends - see you all again next year.
Brian Anderson Trophy
A beautiful sunny evening saw a good turnout for the nine-hole roll-up. The front nine was played this week, which meant teeing off into the sun on the first and second holes, making ball spotting very difficult.
The points winners this week were: 1. Josh Hawkes 19; 2. Nick Johns 18; 3. Dean Rawlings 17.
Alan Chapman Trophy
The second round of the Alan Chapman Trophy took place on Thursday and with some of the stronger golfers away in North Wales, there was a chance for some of the lesser mortals to grab a place in the final.
Those that took advantage were John James 36 pts, Dennis Holloway 35 and Jack Zeraschi 34. The next round is on Thursday, May 31.
Saturday Pro shop Stableford
Once again there was an excellent turnout in glorious sunshine, which aided some good scoring. The winner was Jason Palin with 39 points after countback from Jack Lawrence and third was John Broomhead with 38.
Paddock Inn Pairs
Three matches were played over the weekend and the results were: Graham Longster and Dave Crowley beat John Perrott and Steve Jones; Simon Arthur and Dereck Jones beat Rob Evans and Mel Beeley; Greg Palin and Billy Truman beat Nick Johns and Stuart Mills.
Alice Shapcott Mixed Doubles
Heather and Adam Thorne beat Mike and Pauline Allan by 3 and 2.
Sunday Swingers
There was a good turnout, boosted by the return of some of the Irish travellers - although some were still too hung over to make it! The winner of the swingers and stableford was Gill Thomas with a creditable 39 points.
Mail on Sunday Competition
Having reached the fifth round of this singles matchplay competition, the ladies were drawn at home to Pontardawe Golf Club. Pontardawe brought down a very strong team as the tightness of the results show.
First off was Rita Collins, who won with the last putt on the 18th to go one up.
Liz Crockford was next to tee-off, but it was a very short game, as she was beaten 7 and 6, so it was all square.
Next away was Lind Coward, who came in with a 2 and 1 victory - one up to Trefloyne again.
Heather Thorne was the penultimate player away and she was narrowly beaten by 2 and 1 - back to all square.
It all depended on Ann Dassen, who was last away, and after another close match, she came in with a 2 and 1 victory to give Trefloyne a 3-2 match win. So it's on to the unchartered territory of the sixth round, good luck ladies.
Junior Stableford
The juniors were out on Sunday afternoon for their stableford competition, which was won by Billy Truman with a very good 39 points. Harrison Duckett came second with 37, George Taylor third with 36 and Morgan Duckett fourth with 28.
The Trefloyne junior spring meeting and academy presentation will soon be upon us. Olly and James will be in touch with all concerned via e-mail to give more details.
Week Ahead
Tomorrow (Saturday) - club championships, day one.
Sunday - day two of the club championships.
Tuesday - ladies day, Glenda Pearce, Pro Shop stableford.
Wednesday - Brian Anderson Trophy, tee-off 5.30 pm.
Thursday - Seniors home to South Pembs Golf Club, tee-off 12 noon.