Mottram Hall course defies the big freeze
WITH many courses in the local area closed and with horrible weather before the competition, the Manchester Alliance officials and players were surprised and delighted as Mottram Hall provided them with an excellent and challenging course for another full Alliance field in their final competition before the mid-winter break.
Chorley assistant professional Andy Palmer, just a few days before his wedding, shot a fine one-underpar 37 points to win the individual professional section from Graham Cox (Lymm) and Kieron Gaskell (Westhoughton), both 36.
The top assistant pro with 34 points was Jamie Howarth of Davenport.
Davenport also featured in the pro am prizes as former Captain Chris Bamford partnered Graham Cox (formerly the assistant pro at Davenport) to a fine haul of 42 points to lead in from Ben Stanier (Wilmslow) and Chris Turner (Tytherington) 41 and Grant Hamerton (Pike Fold) and Vinny Doyle (Leigh) who won a cpo on 40 points from Alistair Waddell (Styal) and in-form Gary Brown (Marple) and their amateur partners.
Top of the am am section were the formidable and dynamic duo of Lee Warren (Northenden) and Jimmy O’Reilly (Swinton Park) with 42 points from Marcus Corfield (Swinton Park) and Dave Smith (Ellesmere) who won a cpo on 40 from John Kilner and Duncan Bullough (Ellesmere).
John Dowd, after thanking Rob Warrener of Mottram Hall for their great hosting of the competition, wished all of the players a happy festive season as he and his co-officials looked forward to welcoming them back for the second half of the season which begins at Houldsworth on January17 2018.
Mottram’s men played a ‘Bring a Prize, Take a Prize’ Stableford and getting the top picks were Ajay Jain 42 points, Sam Lynch 38 and Craig Watson and Andrew Gibson, both 36.
Davenport ladies showed their skills in a nine-hole, three clubs and a putter Stableford with Dee Green in firm control with 20 points from Liz Southern, Danuta Silva and Gwyneth Fielding, all 16.
A singles Stableford for Shrigley Hall ladies was won by Lynn Heathcote with 16 points, one more than Sheila Cassidy and Sally Trussell.
A Thursday Stableford for Shrigley’s men had Peter Whitehurst out on his own with 33 points from Martin Hill and Peter Will, both 30 and Rod Scott 29.
More singles Stableford action at Shrigley saw Edwin Green cruise to victory with 39 points ahead of Sally Trussell 36 and Ray Haddock 33.
A Seniors Four Club Stableford at Styal proved to be a thriller with five players locked on 35 points.
Getting the nod in the cpo was Chris Baillie from Geoff Beardsall, David Hollick, Peter Robins and Paul Suchoparek.
The Styal seniors were then in action in a non-qualifying singles Stableford won by Paul Lawday with 40 points from Phil Moore 38 and Jim Waugh, Kevin Lee and Daniel Tuohy, all 36.
Prestbury’s men were in festive mood in a Turkey Trot Stableford won by David Murray with 34 points from Graeme Pallant 31 and Simon Moorhouse, Richard Johnson and Steven Kimber, all 30.
Wilmslow’s men played the second round of the Winter League and leading in with an impressive 49 points were P Reynolds and I Clarke from R Ashworth and P Skelton 47, A White and M Gardner 46 and J Wee and A O’Rourke and T Gill and J Dunlop, both 45.