Chris Boughton's Golf Round-up: Rio crowned U15 regional champion
The Suffolk Golf Club’s rising junior star Rio Everitt returned gross scores of 81 and 82 to become England’s Eastern Region Under-15 Girls Champion, for 2019, at Newton Green.
Gusty winds interspersed with showers and warm sunshine made for tricky conditions despite a well-prepared course, but she played impressive golf.
Rio has had a summer to savour also winning the club’s Ladies Championship and representing Suffolk County in team competitions.
Ben Tyrrell is another rising Junior golfer at The Suffolk GC.
On Wednesday, he scored a stunning nett 64 to win the club’s Midweek Medal – six shots better than runner-up James Edgar. Two years ago, Ben took part in the Golf Foundation’s GolfSixes programme and was part of the Suffolk Golf Club’s squad that won the Suffolk league that year.
After four rounds of the Midweek Order of Merit, James Edgar has a commanding lead at the top of the table on 32 points followed by Ivan Snelling and Brian Wiltorn who both have 20pts.
GolfSixes
Bury St Edmunds maintained their position at the top of the West Suffolk division of the Junior GolfSixes league after winning the latest round of the competition, held at Newton Green.
With two matches remaining Bury have 19 points followed by Newton Green and the Suffolk, who both have 12.5pts. Haverhill are in 4th place.
Purdis Heath lead the Ipswich division with 22pts, followed by Felixstowe 19pts, Stowmarket 11pts and Stonham 8pts.
Kingfishers head the East Suffolk division with 19.5pts with Halesworth on 15.5pts lying 2nd, Ufford Park 3rd and Seckford in 4th place.
Bury St Edmunds Golf Club
Bury staged the prestigious Geoff Challenor Trophy last Saturday in fine weather conditions on a well-presented golf course.
There was a big turnout with more than 100 members taking part in this Medal competition in memory of Geoff who was club captain in 2008.
The lowest nett score was carded by Shane Barnes 80-16-64, followed by Robert Duncan 80-14=66 and Anthony Poole 89-22=67.
Thetford Golf Club
The Needham Davis Cup is one of Thetford Golf Club’s major competitions and after a four-way tie with nett 70s the winner was decided on countback.
John Tapp, playing off 19, returned a very steady back nine of four pars and five bogeys to snatch the title as the unfortunate Jason Huggins paid a heavy price for a double bogey at the 18th. He was level par as he left the 17th green but a six at the last left him in second place.
The other two players to return 70s also had one bad hole which proved costly – five-handicap Gareth Mills had a double-bogey five at the 11th and 16-handicap CJ Clark had a triple-bogey seven at the 12th.
The Needham Davis is the penultimate competition in the club’s inaugural Order of Merit, which concludes with the Club Championship on Sunday.
It is tight at the top of the Scratch table with Dean Scott (107) holding a one-point lead over Matt West (106).
There are double points at stake for the Club Championship so it is all down to the last event.
In the Handicap table, Jason Huggins leads with 54pts, three more than Gareth Mills and Dean Scott.
The Hanworth Trophy is for players with handicaps above 20 and Mark Leeder ran away from the field with a terrific round of 87-23-64. Chris Lock (21hcp) and Norman Hargreaves (20hcp) both had nett 70s and James Tebbit also bettered his handicap with 92-21-71.
Thetford’s bid for the Myhill Trophy, Norfolk’s top inter-club knock-out event, ended at the semi-final stage with defeat by the narrowest of margins against Costessey Park.
Playing on a neutral venue at Sprowston Manor, Thetford led by five holes at lunchtime but lost that advantage in the afternoon.
The team were one down when the penultimate pairing halved the 18th, and when a brave birdie putt from the final pair – which would have tied the overall score just missed – it was all over.
Team captain Paul Pearce praised his team and after 144-holes of keenly-contested golf the final margin was just two holes in favour of Costessey.
The Thetford pairings were Dean Scott & Matt Harben, Gareth Thomas & Josh Chamberlain, Paul Pearce & Mark Henfield and Jason Huggins & Rob Taylor.
Sue Pitcher won the Margaret Ashcroft Trophy with 38pts off her handicap of 12.
Two-handicap Jess Dixon had an excellent round of one-over-par 75 for second place with 37pts. Sheila Spreadborough came third.
