GROVE
TOP driver Tony Allen is the new Senior Section king of the Winter Order of Merit at the Grove.
Though Allen only finished third last week in the 10th and final leg of the winter-long competition, it was enough to move him on to a winning aggregate total of 227 points in the category for players up to the 17-handicap level.
He took possession of the Winter Plate by 10 points from Neil Jones while Tony Jones on 211 points took third spot on a better final round score.
The Peters Plate for handicappers 18 and over went to Derek Bines via 181 points.
His winning margin was 21 points over Viv Morgan with Robert Trainor third with 153 points,
The final leg of the competition went to former Porthcawl Town Cricket star Norman Rand, who just about bowled everyone else over in a superb round that yielded 42 Stableford points.
He finished seven points clear of Keith Davies while Tony Allen motored into third spot on a countback 34 points.
Yesterday (Tuesday) Grove Seniors were due to contest the Dave Jones Trophy.
Senior Section treasurer John Thomas was down to send out a team to take on Senior Fixture Secretary Stuart Rees.
The competition was set to be followed by a warming bowl of Porthcawl cawl ahead of the presentation ceremony.
However, last week’s club match at St Athan was postponed, as the Vale of Glamorgan golf course hadn’t recovered from being trampled on earlier in the month by the “Beast from the East”.
The contest at St Athan will now be staged on June 25.
Meanwhile, the 19th leg of the winter-long Leon Warne Order of Merit competition - that will bring golfers back to the Grove at the end of the month –was won by Ceri Windos with a sparkling 44 Stableford points.
His winning round included a two and the victory was by four points over three players.
Countback then favoured Joseph Muir ahead of Nicholas Morgan and Donald Knight.
Four other twos were registered, and they were on the cards of Steve Channell, Philip Evans, Nicholas Morgan and Ged Rave.
One more Order of Merit contest will be staged this Saturday ahead of the climax on March 31 – the clubhouse Presentation Ceremony (2pm).
A Texas Scramble is being held during the morning with a Shotgun start that’s open to all members. from the East” struck, mild conditions greeted competitors out on the Llwyd Joseph ultimate golfing experience.
Wooster took the honours on countback from Brian Channell and Cefn Cribwr starlet D G Hopkins.
The Wooster card contained a two on hole 14; further birdies on the 11th and 16th greens along with a magnificent seven pars.
Runner-up Channell personified steady golf, and this was reflected in 11 pars and seven bogeys.
Third-placed Hopkins gained a miraculous birdie on the 13th hole, and also entered five pars on this sizzling card.
Two points in arrears was former Maesteg star Derek Pitt while Andrew Colquhoun rued on blob on the home hole in a 33-point return for fifthplace honours.
Two players then entered Uncle Tom’s Cabin with 32 points – George Kinsey and big gun Nicky Walters - and on the 29-point mark were Wyn Richards and Bob Hazzard.
Cliff Morris got 28 points, as did David Burridge who got the only other two on the day over the trees on number five.