Golfers share out the silverware at Selsey, Bognor and Cowdray

Selsey ladies played for many of their cups and trophies during June and had friendly matches against Southsea and Rowlands Castle. Selsey lost both matches, but everybody enjoyed the days.

The Bronze and Rabbits Cups were played and the Rabbits was won by Eddie Williamson, with Sue Bywater the runner-up. The Bronze Trophy was won by Gill Hill and Meg Mearns was runner-up.

The Buxton Knight Championship ended with Gill Hill being this year’s club champion with a gross score of 93 points. Meg Mearns was runner-up with 99 points. The Handicap prize went to Meg Mearns, who came in with a nett 74, narrowly beating Gill Hill, who came in with a net 75.

The Elizabeth Perkins Prize played on 19th June was won by Gill Hill and Judy Sharpe was the runner up.

On 25th the first stableford this month was played, this was the Queen’s Jubilee Trophy and this was won by Rita Green and the runner-up was Eddie Williamson

The ladies also enjoyed one of their annual ‘fun’ games, The Flag. It was won by Rita Green who got as far as the halfway down the 17th before running out of shots.

The ladies played the Edward Jones Cup, a singles par competition. This was won by Rita Green and the runner-up was Judy Sharpe.

For the men’s section, the Wentworth Taylor Foursomes was won by John Shepherd and Nigel Hillier with 42 points. Dan Russell and Martin Kay, also with 42, came second on countback.

The Captain/Pro Team Challenge involved 14 teams including two mixed teams where two of the ladies teamed up with the men and two juniors, who teamed up with past president Keith Homer and his partner and a team representing the ladies.

This was the first time this competition was opened to the whole club, in the past having been played only by the men.

This was a great competition enjoyed by all who took part. The day was very warm and sunny and the course played well.

The winners were Terry Stevens, John Bateman, Dan Fern and Colin Dowdswell with 120 points; second were Martin Kaye, Peter Hartard, Leigh Treanor and Jason Arnold, again with 120, and third were Keith Homer, Roger Cawte and the two junior entrants Lloyd Hughes and Luca Alonso with 122.

* The junior section’s junior group have started training again for the summer period. Girls and boys of all ages and experience are welcome. Contact Selsey professional Gary Hughes for more information.

Group training takes place on Wednesday evenings from 5.30 to 6.30pm. There is no joining fee for juniors, just a small charge for insurance.

A few years ago the club had a strong junior section and it is hoped this will be the case in the future.

* John Mustoe, Richard Surrage, Kevin Holder and Terry Varney, all members of Selsey Golf Club, joined in with the mationwide golf fundraising event to raise funds for the Macmillan cancer charity. These four Musketeers played 72 holes in one day. They have raised more than £2,000 and money is still being collected.

They started at 5am and played 27 holes before sitting down to a substantial breakfast in the Selsey club restaurant before playing the rest of the holes.

They completed the final 18th hole round about 6pm.

Selsey Golf Club bosses congratulated them on their efforts.

Liverpool legend heading to SussexBOGNOR

What a fantastic few days for Bognor Golf Club as they had the honour of holding the Sussex amateur championship.

The event was held over three days, with the opening day a 36-hole medal competition, with the top 16 players progressing to play two days of matchplay, culminating in the semi-final and final on the last day.

All in all the finalists had played 108 holes of golf in three days, under extremely hot conditions and were still delivering magnificent golf over the last few holes.

The feedback received from players, caddies, supporters and county officials has been overwhelming. Every single person commented on the outstanding condition of our golf course and in particular the greens. The excellent catering and welcome from the front-of-house staff also received extremely high praise.

The welcome members gave to visitors was second to none. There were 25-plus volunteers on Friday helping with all sorts of jobs from ball spotting to running the practice ground. Members also drove buggies to give lifts to players that were starting their rounds on the ninth tee.

All these things were noticed by the players and county officials and comments were heard about Bognor hosting one of the best-run amateur championships ever.

Every single volunteer deserves a massive thank-you – there are too many to list but the board of directors and the county officials have passed on their gratitude.

The new Sussex amateur champion for 2018 is Tom Thurloway from Chartham Park, who played some exceptional golf on his way to winning the title.

He won the final one up against Josh Davies from Sedlescombe Golf Club. It was an excellent match, watched by around 50 spectators.

Davies battled hard but couldn’t quite do enough, but deserves lots of praise for some tremendous golf over the three days.

Thurloway made the course look like a pitch and putt at times; on Saturday he drove the fourth green, 350 yards, driving it into the middle of the green, and in the final he drove it over the back of the eighth green, 390 yards from the tee, and he was within 20 yards of the 12th green, 390 yards from the tee. Full results are at www.sussexgolf.org

Bognor had 11 members playing the 36-hole qualifying event but only one made it to the last 16, Andrew Field. Rounds of 75 and 69 for a total of 144 were good enough to see him qualify in 12th position; an excellent achievement.

He then played Ashley Rees from East Sussex National in the round of 16 and with Ashley off a plus-one handicap it was always going to be a tough match. Field had a couple of bad bounces at key moments in the game and it led to a 4&3 loss.

The result aside, it was a fantastic achievement to reach the last 16 of the county championship and to fly the flag for Bognor

Head greenkeeper Rob Brown and his team worked extremely hard to present the course in exceptional condition. He even arranged for extra staff from other clubs to help over the weekend.

Club professional Matthew Kirby worked tirelessly to ensure outside areas were clean and tidy. The food and bar manager and his staff worked hard to serve a huge number of players, officials, supporters, spectators.

Every single member of staff went above and beyond to ensure the club was presented perfectly and club manager James MacLean was very proud and grateful to all of them for their hard work. MacLean also qualified to play in the tournament.

He thanked members for being accommodating.

Now the club are hopeful they won’t have to wait another 129 years to be asked to host the event again.

COWDRAY PARK

Cowdray hosted their club championships, the double round event split over two days. The course was in superb condition, despite the recent intense heat, with many positive comments made.

After the first round, it was close with five players separated by just one shot. After the second round Cowdray had a new winner of the Presidents’ Putter for the club championship in the form of scratch handicapper Steve Mitchell.

His two-round total of 143 (71, 72) was enough to win by two shots from next year’s captain Shaun White on 145 (71, 74).

Last year’s champion Matt Hill finished third with 147 (72, 75) on countback from another past champion Todd White.

The handicap version, the Bowyer Cup, was won comfortably by White with nett 133. Second was his 11 year old son Oscar who had the round of the weekend with a stunning second-round nett 63. His two-round total of 136 was enough to beat Hill in to third on 137, beating first-round leader Chris Jenkins on countback.

Mitchell was congratulated by club captain Ken Chapman.

* Cowdray ladies played the Wakeham Trophy, a two-day medal competition.

Jo Fife won the event with a combined nett score of 145. Second was Sue Smith (148) and third Solveig Burton (149).

Scores - Round 1 - 1st Jo Fife (72), 2nd Sue Smith (72), 3rd Lina Cullen (76). Round 2 - 1st Anne Chuter (71), 2nd Solveig Burton (71), 3rd Jo Fife (73).

The Cowdray seniors’ Stableford was won by Graham Evans playing off his 19 handicap with a great score of 42 points. Second was Dave Coombes with 41 points and Colin Tebbutt was third with 40.

A brilliant score of nett 67 playing off an eight handicap brought the Ted Norman Trophy home for Chris Strudwick, Cowdray’s very own steward.

Second was Cowdray captain Ken Chapman with a nett score of 70 and third was Trevor Challen playing off four with nett 71.