North Cliff retain Ben Fell Trophy at Whitby
The final Scarborough and District Alliance match made its way to Whitby on Sunday.
North Cliff went in the last match with an 11-shot lead over South Cliff.
On the day the competitors were graced by a lovely sunny day and very little wind, which made scoring very good.
Not only was the pennent up for grabs, but Sunday was also the playing of the Ben Fell Trophy, a format in which all eight pairs from each club were to count.
Scoring was very good from the early starters as shown by A Burdett (10) and M Snowden (12) from Malton carding a magic 10-under par 61.
This score was proving hard to beat and it held out for the Malton pair to win the tankards.
It was however to prove fruitless towards the team score because the next pair in never signed their card and were disqualified, so it would take them out of the running for the Ben Fell Trophy.
Whitby, with home advantage, saw regular pairings of D Bennett and T McConville produce an eight-under 63.
The early pairings seemed to produce the best scoring until G Thirkell and J Gomersall from South Cliff also came in with a 63 but with a better back nine.
The nearest to get near the 63s were a handfull of 64s.
Whitby had a slender lead in the Ben Fell Trophy from the morning pairings, however North Cliff and Filey were hot on their heels.
Unfortunately the afternoon pairings could not compete with North Cliff, who would therefore retain the Ben Fell Trophy, which they won in the first meeting of the Alliance back in September.
It would be very harsh not to give Paul Ventress, the head greenkeeper of Whitby Golf Club and his staff credit on the back for their hard work on getting the course in great condition, the greens were very slick and quick.
Full list of results
2nd J Gomersall (13) and G Thirkell (5) South Cliff 63 bk 9 30, 3rd D Bennett (7) T Mcconville (10) Whitby 63, 4th T Bayes (13) and P Mcgarry [13] North Cliff 64 bk 6 19, 5th A Roberts (6) and P Johnson (11) South Cliff 64 bk 3 9, 6th S Boddy (1) and J Blenkinsopp (5) 64 bk 9 29, 7th D Butterfield (5) and S Swift (14) 64 bk 9 30.
Final Pennant Standings
1st North Cliff 2078, 2nd South Cliff 2089, 3rd Filey 2106, 4th Malton 2107, 5th Whitby 2111, 6th Kirbymoorside 2161, 7th Bridlington Links 2169, 8th Bridlington Belvedere 2171, 9th Driffield 2188.
Ben Fell Trophy
1st North Cliff (524), 2nd South Cliff (526), 3rd Whitby (535), 4th Filey (544), 5th Kirbymoorside (549), 6th Bridlington Links (556), 7th Bridlington Belvedere (567), 8th Driffield (571), 9th Malton & Norton no score.