Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Lessons paying off as Adams ends drought
Chris Adams thanked Canterbury’s head teaching professional Richard Wallis after chalking up his first win since 2019 in the men’s February Stableford on Sunday. Adams scored gross 80, net 66, for 41 points to win by two from new member Tom Mcneil in a field of 75.
It was Adams’ best gross competition score since he won the club net championship Victory Shield in 2019. He beat his personal-best net score by one and his best Stableford return by five.
He said: “I’m just relieved that I’m back playing steady golf again thanks to Richard Wallis’ lessons.
“It’s been nearly four years since I had a win. Basically, I stagnated for a couple of years and, last year, I think I played 28 competitions and nearly every one of them was a disaster! “I just totally lost my game, I was at the stage of either jacking it in or having lessons. “So, in October, I started lessons with Richard and he sorted me out.”
Adams was out in five-overpar for 20 points from a birdie at the fifth, four pars, three bogeys and a triple at the sixth and came back in four-over-par for another 21.
Mcneil started at the 10th and made 19 points on his first nine and 20 on his second but wrecked his chance of winning with no-scoring triple bogeys at the 14th and first holes. Derek Horne scored 16 on the front nine and then covered the back nine in one-over-par for 22 more to take third on countback from John Shiel.
Sunil Samarasinghe achieved his maiden Canterbury win as an adult member in last Thursday’s Club Midweek Stableford. Samarasinghe scored 38 points to win by one from Anthony Dance in a field of 37. Dance was out in four-over-par and back in five-over for 37 to take second place on countback from Ian Cooper, who birdied the 17th, and fourth-placed Caroline Collins.
Collins had successive birdies at the eighth and ninth in a oneover-par outward haul of 22 points but dropped nine shots on the back nine to prevent her winning for the second successive day. Samarasinghe was a regular winner as a junior member at Canterbury but then played only society and social golf before rejoining in October 2021. He said: “It’s my first win at Canterbury as an adult and I feel excellent. Hopefully, it’s the first of many but it’s great to get that first one.
“The target this year was to establish myself as a singlefigure handicapper and try and win a first tournament, which I’ve now done and it would be nice to get on the board in the clubhouse at some stage. “Lately, I’ve been scrambling quite well but the back nine made the round really, scoring 22 points after going out with only 16.
“I must admit I was really surprised to win, though!” Alyson Wreford took half the round to sort out her short game and then dropped only six shots on the back nine to win Sunday’s ladies’ February Weekend Medal on countback from Jacqui Mount with a net 75. Wreford had double bogeys at the first and fourth and a triple at the par 5 seventh in a frontnine 12-over-par 48. Mount was out with a sevenover-par gross 43 but tripled the 10th and doubled the 15th for an eight-over-par 43 coming in. Fran Fearn scored 96, net 77, for third position in a field of 10. Wreford said: “That wasn’t my best start ever.
“My front nine was pretty much rubbish but, once I got my short game sorted out, on the back nine, I was away.” Caroline Collins played through a “pear-shaped” midround to record 34 points for victory on countback from Sarah Wetherell in last Wednesday’s ladies’ February Stableford.
It was her first individual win since September 2021 and she said: “I haven’t won anything for ages so it was really nice to be able to put together a decent score despite it going pearshaped in the middle.”
Jen Rutherford birdied the last to total 33 points and take third place on countback from Di Florence in a field of 19. John Dawson scored his first win for almost two years when he totalled 41 points to win Monday’s Seniors Stableford. Dawson scored 91, net 66, to win by four points from Ian Florence, who held off Chris Gay on countback in a field of 62. Harry Andrews changed his coach, changed his swing and scored a whopping 48 points to win Saturday’s Junior Stableford in only his second competition of the year. Andrews, 12, was so down about his golf last summer he stopped playing but he was revitalised after a course of lessons with Canterbury’s Enzo Avery.
Andrews scored 24 points on his outward nine with four-point bogeys at the sixth and ninth and further high-scoring bogeys at the 15th, 16th and 18th helped him to a further 24 coming in to win by 12 from Lexi Donohue. Callum Ferrett scored 34 points for third on countback from Brinley Foster in a field of 11.
Andrews said: ‘’I’m very, very chuffed.
“Today’s performance makes me feel, if I go out and play in a competition every week, then the more I play the more consistent I’ll get, and the more fun I’ll have.”