Campbell records shock

Alasdair Campbell emulated his previous surprise victories by defeating leader Nick Parker, who had won all his Bath Approach Division 1 matches this season. Although both found the front nine quite difficult the competition was fierce with a determined Campbell edging ahead on the ninth. Coming back, Parker excelled with eight pars and a birdie but Campbell was not overawed and held on to his narrow lead to win on the 18th. The drawn match between Brian Woodford and Terry Gleeson was the proverbial match of two halves with Gleeson outplaying Woodford on the front nine and the reverse on the back nine. Gleeson achieved a net par front nine to lead by three at the turn, but coming back Woodford took command, steadily reducing the deficit until squaring the match on the final hole. Mike Fear produced a superb round that gave him a smart win over an excellent effort from Colin Lee, moving Fear closer to the top. Lee struggled at the start, losing the first three holes that left him a mountain to climb. Although he did brilliantly to win three of the next four holes to draw level, fantastic Fear put on the pressure by completing the remaining holes in one under par and, bravely as he fought, Lee could not take Fear past the 16th. George Thurston reached The Plate semi-final with a comfortable win over Brian Lambern, who fought hard in the trying conditions. There was not much between them after five holes but gradually Thurston overcame the conditions to lead by two at the turn and won with four holes remaining. Terry Selway’s top class performance on the back nine enabled him to fight back and secure a draw in League Cup Group B against Reg Morris which put them both into the quarter-finals. Morris recovered from a poor start to battle to the turn two up and looked to be heading for victory when he increased his lead early on the back nine. Selway had other ideas, snapping into top form to win four of the next five holes to take the lead on the 17th, only for Morris to save the day with a good tee shot on the last. ■ BATH GOLF CLUB The men held a four-ball better-ball stableford to open 2019, which attracted a large field in cold but fine conditions. The scoring during the day was excellent and the winners with a magnificent 43 points were Geoff Lang and Ian Hull. Second with a great score of 42 were Richard Law and Mike Richardson, just ahead of Roger Payne and John Moore also on 42. Fourth with 41 were Stuart Ratcliffe and Richard Longhurst.