Davis in the groove

Men’s golf Ladies’ golf

Paul Davis’s decision to stop being a perfectionist paid off in style as he won his first tournament in nearly a year, scoring 27 points for victory in last Wednesday’s 13-hole men’s Stableford at Canterbury GC.

With holes 10-14 shut due to the terrible weather, 11 handicap Davis’s fresh attitude saw him hole a 14 feet putt for a birdie two at the 2nd and add three point pars at the 4th, 5th and 9th for an outward total of 19.

Another three pointer at the 17th saw him to 27, to win by one from Aston Moy (h15) who held off third placed Nigel Bodell (h23) on countback in a field of 20 players. Davis said: “I think the break due to the bad weather helped. I’ve been up the range, trying to improve my game, not come over the top so much and swing flatter with more aggression.

“But I also decided that in future I was just going to try and enjoy myself out there and stop trying to hit the perfect shot every time.

“I hadn’t played for about two weeks and had no real expectation of doing well, I just decided to swing easy and enjoy it but I was also lucky to miss the heavy rain that affected the later players.” Nineteen-year-old Moy had his best men’s competition round at Canterbury, scoring two pars and 11 bogeys.

Bodell scored 20 points on the front nine despite driving into the trees on the right at the 3rd for his only blob but missed his chance of a win by double bogeying three of the last four holes.

Levi Johnson and Simon Leggatt were crowned as Canterbury GC’S men’s Hallet Cup Winter League champions when Sunday’s final round was cancelled because of the weather.

With the previous round having also been lost to the rain, Johnson (scratch) and Leggatt (h5) were rewarded for a consistent season.

Despite not winning a single round, they totalled 294 points, to take overall victory by three from Liam Holland (h7) and Peter Hilden (h14), who led after three rounds but were pegged back as Johnson and Leggatt recorded a string of high finishes. Waldemar Kalinowski (h8) and Colin Gellatly (h5) were third overall.

Bernard Disneur (h15) was pleased to put a long series of near misses behind him with victory in Monday’s 13-hole seniors’ Stableford, the first for more than a month due to the storms and heavy rain. Disneur ran up 19 points on the front nine and bogeyed his last six holes for a total of 27 to win by a point from Brian Whybrow (h15), who took second place from Tony Wenham (h12) on countback.

Val Binns was the winner of last Wednesday’s nonqualifying medal competition at Canterbury GC.

With only 13 holes open due to the recent heavy rain and with a full handcap allowance, scores were always going to be low. Binns (h12) and Ali Doyle (h12) both finished with a net 51, but Doyle’s double bogey on the 16th cost her first place overall on countback. That left Doyle top of the remaining Division 1 players, with Fran Fearn (h15) scoring a net 57 for second place,

Peggy Ferrett (h24) was first in Division 2 with a net 54, with Sue Jones (h24) one shot behind in second place. Sue Kerr won the nine-hole qualifier.

The Pearson Trophy squad have been unable to play any of their matches recently and are building for a busy schedule through to the end of March and April, weather permitting.