Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Scott retains Blake Cup
Canterbury Golf Club vice captain Scott Lindsay found a purple patch after a poor start to retain the Blake Cup 5 Club Medal title on Sunday. With groundwork temporarily closing the 12th, all recent competitions have been played over 17 holes.
Lindsay went out in 50 shots but came back in 39 for a net 67 to win on countback from Michael Cunningham, who scored a gross 76 but was left rueing a double bogey on the par 3 11th.
Levi Johnson put together a scorching level par round of 67 with two birdies and two bogeys but his net score of 68 bumped him down to third place. Lindsay also won the Blake Cup two years ago and was defending champion, the competition having been lost to last year’s lockdowns. He said: “I’ve only won one cup at Canterbury before so to win it again was quite a surprise.” It certainly was after his opening seven holes which saw him run up eights at the 6th and 7th after a triple bogey seven at the third before a dainty six iron to four feet for a birdie at the par three eighth started his winning run of two pars and six bogeys, with a double at the 16th. He added: “I didn’t start well. I thought it was finished but then I had a purple patch which really started with the birdie at 8. “I parred 9 and 10 and then, unlike me, I just had steady golf all the way home, I didn’t make a mistake apart from 16.
“I was just delighted. I played on Saturday in the Whitehead Salver and it was wind and rain and to be honest my golf then was as atrocious as the weather.”
Paul Jefferson scored his first victory at Canterbury in 11 years of trying in Wednesday’s Men’s Midweek Medal, on countback from Peter Soutan.
His only blemish was a double bogey on the 13th but five successive closing bogeys brought him victory at last. He said: “It was my first ever win, top ten was my best ever before so it certainly came out of the blue. Consistency was the key, especially in medal play.” Sue Jones made a winning start to the new season, scoring a one under par net 70 to win the Ladies’ Connie Groves Rose Bowl medal competition over 17 holes on a bitterly cold if sunny morning on Wednesday, from a field of 31.
Jones had four sevens on her card but also five pars and six bogeys, to win on countback overall from June Bevan. Claire and Michael Wilson scored 35 Stableford points to win the two ball, better ball Whitehead Salver in cold, rain and increasingly strong wind on Saturday, from 29 teams of two, eight of which failed to return a card. They won by a point from Jacqui and Simon Mount. Patrick Barker surprised himself by winning the first Seniors Medal after lockdown on Monday. He won by three shots from Simon Hayward and said: “I was quite taken aback with this result, it’s not normally in my style to do so well.”
■ The St Stephen’s Golf Society recently competed at Boughton where 17 members including three newcomers attended the first event of 2021.
New member Peter Kenehan (13hc) romped home with 36 points on a cold and breezy day ahead of Paul Sequenza (32 points) and Andy Oxberry (31 points).
Only four points split the following nine players, making it one of the tightest matches for some time. The next event is at St Augustine’s on Friday, April 30.