Longlands makes short work of contest
A total of 137 men played in Bognor’s Spring Tankard on one day and a further 127 played the next day – with 119 of them playing both days.
These entry numbers are up by more than 25 per cent on last year, reflecting the real growth of membership at the club.
Full credit goes to management and particularly the greens staff who have totally revamped the course over the past three years, culminating in it being awarded the Sussex Amateur Championship last year.
The course was extremely tough on Saturday with a strong north-easterly wind which limited the scoring and the best score of the 137 players was two under handicap.
The wind dropped for Sunday and despite some rather tricky pin positions the scoring improved considerably.
Congratulations to Olly Longlands for winning the Spring Tankard by five shots with a six under handicap total of 134.
Harry Isham, Jordan Vincent and Billy Darby came second, third and fourth respectively on countback with a one-under-handicap total of 139.
Longlands also won the scratch competition with a total of 142.
Second was Jordan Vincent on 145, third Jake Stoneham on 147.
The second half of the Tankard competition, the Autumn Tankard, takes place in September.
Bognor seniors played the first game of the 2019 season, with a short trip to Selsey. Once again the Selsey stalwarts used their local knowledge well to win handsomely 4½-1½.
Results: Barry Ingate & Chris Hickling lost 3&2, Richard Perry & Mike Matthewslost 6&5, David Standing & Ian Paine won 1up, David Turner John Wodhead lost 2&1, Trevor Till & Hugh Diaper halved, Mike Wadley & Ken Catt lost 6&4.
A very creditable 51 players braved the cold and windy weather to play in the men’s midweek Stableford.
Winner was Matt Dye with 39 points, second was Simon Gear with 38 and third Ron Stevens with 36.
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