Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Rutherford edges Bowl victory
Canterbury Golf Club
A near-immaculate round of five-underpar 66 by John Coupe was only enough to secure second place in Canterbury’s Ickham Bowl on Sunday.
Two-handicap Coupe, the club’s East Kent League captain, carded six birdies on his way to a net 64, the sole blemish being a bogey at the 16th.
But it was to prove critical when, after an hour at the head of the leaderboard, Coupe was displaced by improving 19- year- old Max Rutherford, who matched his 64 but with a better back nine.
Sunday’s victory provided the latest milestone in Rutherford’s progress since he joined the club as a 10-handicap player two years ago.
A succession of sub-par scores, plus victory in the Lipscomb Volvo Individual Stableford in last year’s Open Festival, has brought about a steady reduction in handicap.
And the six- handicapper’s fourbirdie gross 70 represented his best performance to date.
Starting at the first, Rutherford, who embarks on a three-year golf business degree course at Birmingham University next month, saw an opening birdie wiped out by a dropped shot at the short second.
After a second bogey at the next parthree, the 5th, he got back to level par with a birdie at the 7th and completed the first nine in regulation. A bogey at the tough 10th launched the inward nine but that was the last shot Rutherford was to drop as he went on to make birdie at the 13th and capped an excellent performance with a final birdie at the 18th.
Coupe had started almost an hour earlier from the 10th and promptly ran up a run of six pars before making bogey at 16.
He immediately made amends with birdies at the closing two holes of his first nine and went on to make it three in a row at the first.
Three more birdies – at the 4th, 7th and 8th – brought him home in four-under 32 for a gross 66.
Bert Whyte was relegated into third place with a net 66, a score that on many other occasions would have ensured victory. The 11-handicap player dropped only three strokes by the turn from a first-tee start.
And although he suffered a doublebogey at the 10th and dropped consecutive shots at the 12th and 13th, Whyte picked up a shot at the 18th with a birdie.
In joint fourth place, one-handicap Dean Danton carded five birdies plus an eagle three at the 18th to help him to a gross 68. Leading scores 64 M Rutherford (h6), J Coupe (h2); 66 B Whyte (h11); 67 D Danton (h1), B Whybrow (h17); 68 G Tottman (h8), G Stockwell (h20); 69 C Gellatly (h5); 70 J Macdonald (h3), D Tottman (h12), J Shiel (h7); 71 M Lambton (h7), M Bidwell (h5), L Tidy (h6); 72 M Rabenda (h14), M Scott (h11), Peter Johnson (h6), R Holmes (h12), B Hart (h13), P Stewart (h12), P Blake (h11), A Bundock (h11), J Isherwood.
Canterbury Ladies turned out in force to contest three trophies over the past week.
The Jubilee Cup was won by Val Binns, who is the new club handicap champion after carding the lowest combined round of a net 138, three ahead of runner-up Nicola Hart.
The cup was donated to celebrate King George V’s Silver Jubilee in 1935 by Mr Carol Powers, the headmaster of the Junior School at St Edmunds.
The Jubilee Trophy – awarded to the player with the lowest individual score in either of the rounds – went to Catherine Hinds after scoring a net 67 in the first round.
The trophy was bought by the ladies’ section in 1977 to mark the 50th anniversary of the club’s existence.
The Sillars Cup – awarded to the lady with the best gross score over the two rounds of the Jubilee Cup competition who is deemed to be the club champion – went to Alison Kingston with a combined round of 158 gross, with Binns the runner-up.
The prize is a beautiful bowl donated by the Sillars family who owned the land on which the old Ickham Golf Club was formed.
It was transferred to Canterbury in 1928 when most of their members joined the new Canterbury Golf Club.
The nine- hole competition that followed the Jubilee Cup rounds was won by Wendy French, with Ann White second and Sandra Wigg third.
The Ladies’ August Medal was won by Sally Tatton (h24) with a net 71, two ahead of Maxine Field (h23) in Division 2.
Catherine Hinds (h22) won Division 1 with a net 74, with Andra Barney (h18) second with nett 75.
Gillian Bailey (h28) topped Division 3 with net 75 on countback from Doreen Whiting (32).
The nine-hole competition that day was won by Kathleen Taylor, with Geon Norman second and Sue Kerr third.
The Ladies weekend August Stableford was won by Jenny Rutherford (h12) with 41 points with Rosemary Cardy (h27) second with 38.