COED-Y-MWSTWR
NIGEL Phillips got 40 points off an 18 handicap to triumph in last week’s Senior Stableford event at Coed-y-Mwstwr.
His winning round was boosted by a two on the 11th green while matching par on eight occasions also boosted his score.
However, he still required countback to see off Brian Austin who motored up the leaderboard on the back of six pars only to card a costly noreturn up the hill on the 14th.
Russ Morris got six pars on a 38-point card, and on the same mark was fourth-placed Peter Beynon along with the winner from the previous week Steve Clift.
It seemed for all the world as if Clift would make it back-to-back wins only to botch-up the home hole and card a blob.
Three players signed for 37 points – Tony Powell, Dai (Maesteg) Thomas and Dave Roderick – while par rounds of 36 points came from Andrew Cox and namesake Byron Cox.
Besides the two from winner Phillips, there were five others, and they were on the cards of Senior Captain David B FordWilliams, Gerald Howe, Jonny McEachen, Tony Powell and Philip Weston.
Last Saturday, Ben McAndrew mounted the victory rostrum after lifting a final April Stableford event.
His winning score was 40 points and despite the 24-handicapper failing to score on the 11th, it was countered by four pars.
Second-placed Andrew Goss shot nine pars in 39 points and Michael Green matched the score.
Stephen McAllen, Gareth Summerton and Wayne Williams were all on 38 points – one in front of Peter Roberts, steady Eddie D Taylor, Lloyd Dowling and Julian Rudd.
Par 36 points was on the cards of Craig Davies, Simon J Slennett, Alex North and Steve Williams.
In the Betty Hicks Bowl for mixed pairs, victory in a qualifying tournament went to club director of golf Gareth Summerton and his wife Jackie with 36 points.
Clive Tremlett and his wife Caroline were next best with 33 points and on the same level were Meg Allen and Stephen Morgan.
The fourth qualifying spot went Peter Ashman and his wife Gaynor, who entered the Sam Bevan snug with 30 points.
There was also a victory for Gareth Summerton in the Winter Pairs Scramble.
Playing alongside Elliot Williams, they gained a 6 & 4 victory over Sammy Slennett and Richard T Commander.
Summerton and Williams were on fire – going seven under par after 14 holes – on the back of the toasty putter of Williams that was borrowed from the Sam Bevan snug.
Turning to the Halletts, who have enjoyed plenty of success in recent times, they opened their season with a 3-1 victory at Llantrisant.
The Bryn Road boys adapted well to tight fairways - akin to landing a ball on concrete - and got their campaign off to a flying start. Kevin Budge went down to a 3 & 2 defeat.
Meanwhile, the winner of last week’s Cynffig Range Bogey event was Michael Howe, who finished with +15 and was two in front of Mark Thomas.
The divisional winner for players with handicaps over 20 was John Budge with +12.
In club midweek fixtures, Grove Seniors lost 5.5 – 2.5 at home to Vale Resort, and suffered a 5-3 setback away to the Parc club in the Cardiff suburbs.
However, the destiny of the ParcGrove Cup is still not settled, as Parc visit the Grove for the return match on June 29.