Prizes aplenty for golfers at Bognor, Chichester and Cowdray Park

Andy Weir won the Bognor GC Autumn Tankard on countback with nett scores of 67 and 66, a seven-under handicap total of 133. Harry Malin was second playing off scratch. Harry Isham came third with two nett scores of 67, playing off one handicap which is also fantastic.

Harry Isham won the 2019 Scratch Tankard with a score of 283, beating Olly Longlands on countback. Isham also took the Len Hodge nett and Len Hodge scratch for the year with Longlands runner-up in both.

Isham’s Len Hodge scratch score could be a record as all six rounds were under-par scores.

A magnificent 84 Bognor seniors played in the very popular Brian Poston Greensomes. He was club secretary for many years up to his retirement in the late 1990s and is still a regular player at the club.

Winners with an excellent score of 43 points were Horace Roberts and Mike Wilson. Second were Oscar Wild and Bob Young with 42, third Roy Kempson and David Standing also with 42. Fourth with 41 points were Richard Hedge and Bill Cronin.

Nearest the pins were awarded to Oscar Wild, Derek Dady, Roger Leverton, Mike Oates, Steve King and John Garnett. Brian’s favourite prize of drive nearest the rope on hole 17 was won by Mike Watts. Brian Poston presented the prizes.

Bognor seniors entertained Southwick Park on a warm day. Bognor ran out worthy 5-1 winners, with excellent wins for Chris Hickling and Sean Francis by 4&3 and Alan Rutter and Peter Fender with 5&4.

A busy end of summer for the juniors involved two competitions, a play-off for the West Sussex League and a hole in one.

The Pittam Trophy is one of the oldest trophies played for by the junior section, started by Jack Pittam and now carried on in his memory by Nigel, one of his sons.

The scoring was fitting for this event with all bar one playing to or breaking their handicap. The winner was Katie Field with 42 points – a two over par 74 gross – putting her just ahead of Joe Flood on 40 points. Harry Malin managed to shoot two-under-par for 38 keeping his fine summer form going. Nearest the pin was a fine shot form Flood finishing just 4f from the hole.

In the Lumpy Cup, played in slightly trickier conditions, most of the field struggled to match their scoring throughout the summer. However in only his second competition ever, Billy Bicknell blew the field away with an unbelievable score of 46 points winning by a margin of ten points from second-place Katie Field. Billy also took the nearest-the-pin prize as well on the fifth to match a memorable day for him.

Bognor juniors had a play-off for the West Sussex League at Worthing GC against West Sussex GC. Unfortunately they proved too strong for Bognor’s relatively inexperienced side. Bognor were runners-up in the league for second year running. They still qualified for the Langmead county finals at The Dyke GC in September.

The two Harrys, Malin and Isham, played in the South West of England championships, both making the cut, with Isham finishing 29th and Malin finishing third in a high-class field form all over England.

Meanwhile Katie Field had her first hole in one with a six iron, pitching past the flag and spinning back into the cup. It was one of many special events for her in recent weeks. She has been part of the winning Sussex girls’ team defeating four other counties, and was part of the ladies’ scratch division one team who defeated Rye to win the event for the first time in the club’s history – winning her match at a key stage – and then went on to win her first ever full ladies competition, scoring a two-under gross 70, nett 64.

CHICHESTER

Good playing conditions were prevalent for Chichester veterans’ Claret Jug. This was reflected in the scores with a quarter of the 58-strong field achieving their handicap par.

Notable achievements were birdies on two of the longer par fours, Mike Harrington’s on the 14th and Chris Penny’s on the second.

Nearest the pin prizes on the par threes were won by Bill Martin, David Galloway, Tim Fisher and Bruce Santer. Fisher and Santer went on to take prizes for second and fourth places, Fisher on 40 points and Santer 39.

Brian Melbourne, known for his successes in Open competitions throughout Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire, also achieved 40 points. Just behind the leaders Graham Probert was pleased to record 11 pars, eight on the back nine.

The winner was Don Phillips with 42 points, adding the Claret Jug to the Remembrance Shield he won last November.

In other news from Chi vets, Paul Compton has a 90 per cent strike rate in matches against other clubs while Rob Arcus and Mike Snuggs will meet next month in the summer singles final.

COWDRAY PARK

Bramley seniors visited Cowdray but the match was disrupted towards the end by thunder and lightning. Cowdray were hoping for a home win having been beaten 6-2 in April at Bramley.

As it turned out three matches had to be abandoned (and halved) because of the storm and torrential rain. Match manager Graham Evans playing with Jonn Fife won 3&1, finishing as the thunder started.

Michael Cardiff and David Wickham also managed to complete their round, winning 3&2. Thereafter the heavens opened. Luckily Cowdray were sufficiently up in the remainder of the games and notwithstanding the need to walk in, they were able to record a number of wins.

Michael Holden and Ian Gunn received a concession as they were three up with three to play. Christopher Hutchings and Brian Simmons had won 6&5 and Mark Chabrel and Alan Gormley had won 6&4.

The abandoned matches were recorded as halves, although Cowdray were up in all but one. Despite the dreadful conditions, Cowdray managed sufficient victories to avenge the defeat with a 6½-1½ win.

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Richard Burden was organiser for the Cowdray seniors’ invitation and chose a hot air balloon ride as first prize. A total of 26 pairs took part in the Stableford better-ball competition with glorious sunshine showing the course at its best.

Guests came from 30 different clubs and all enjoyed the excellent golf. Scoring reflected the favourable conditions.

Overall winners were Mike Holden (Cowdray) and John Bundy (East Sussex National) with 45 points and they win the prize in the sky. Second were Robin Phillips and John Miles (Goodwood) with 44 and third were Dave Balfour and Andrew Matthews (Burhill) with 42.

Many thanks go to the day’s organiser and helpers.

Cowdray seniors went to The Dyke GC. In the first match, the Cowdray pair of the reliable John Newman and Tony Pike prevailed 3&2. Mike Cardiff & Brian Symonds also won two up. The Dyke won 4-2.

Hindhead Stags visited Cowdray looking to repeat their narrow home win in June. The return match was very close with six of the eight matches going to the 18th green.

There were Cowdray wins for match manager Dave Wickham and Justin Chuter (7&5), Mike King and Robin Philips (3&1) and Ian Heustice and Colin West (1 up). Two further halved matches meant the match was drawn 4-4.

* Some 52 seniors enjoyed fine weather for the third round of the Captain’s Prize. There were some excellent individual rounds with 44 points for Steve Tkaczynski, 42 for Sid Dormer and 41 for David Cornthwaite. Michael Colban scored a hole in one on the par three 17th.

The final and fourth round of the Captain’s Prize will be played next week (Sep 19) and the leading contenders are John Hall and Chris Hutchings with 110 points, Mick King and Paul Owen with 108s, Richard Burden with 105 and Brian Symonds with 104s.

Farnham seniors came to Cowdray hoping to add to their convincing win at Farnham. While the visitors usually travel well, they came up against a resolute Cowdray side, led by vice-captain Terry Adsett. There were home wins for opening pair of the reliant Robin Phillips and Justin Chuter (4&2), Dave Balfour and Nick Upjohn (one up), Bill Brownlee and John Wheelhouse (3&1), Allan Gormley and Richard Burden (3&1) and Mark Chabrel and Peter Beckingham (one up). One match was halved and two lost to give Cowdray a 5½-2½ win.

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The semi-finals and finals of the ladies’ Morrice Foursomes were played at Cowdray Park. Some 44 Sussex clubs took part in the annual knockout, starting in spring. The semi-finals were Highwoods v Willingdon and Cottesmore v Royal Ashdown Forest.

Matches were close, Willingdon and Royal Ashdown making the final.

Cottesmore beat Highwoods to take third place, while the finalwas won by Royal Ashdown.

Thanks go to Sandra Barber, Cowdray lady captain, and her members for ball-spotting and organising. The club was thanked for putting this event on.

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