Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Max inspires mum’s win
Max Rutherford scored a personal-best competition score of three-under-par 68 to cruise to victory last Thursday in Canterbury’s Mixed Midweek Stableford.
And playing partner and mum Jen was so inspired by his performance she won Saturday’s second pilot Ladies’ Red and Blue Tees Stableford. Max scored an eagle at the ninth, alongside birdies at the second and 16th and a single bogey at the 11th, for 21 points out and 19 back to win by three from Michael Stevenson. His previous best gross competition score was a 69 in May 2018 and he said: “I’ve had 66s around Canterbury and Faversham but not in a competition.
“I’ve only just started playing them again, so it was good to get a win in early. I wasn’t enjoying them so I was just practising and playing for fun instead.
“I played a midweek competition a couple of weeks ago but, before that, I hadn’t played anything for nearly three years.
“For the eagle at the ninth, I got a good drive away and then it was a straightforward 9 iron up the slope to about six feet. It sounds so simple when you talk about it.
“On the second, I hit 9 iron to about 15 feet pin high right and holed the putt across the green and, on the 16th, it was drive, then I was just short with a 56 degrees wedge and holed a good, long putt from about 30 feet.”
Stevenson scored two pars and 10 bogeys in a gross 96, net 70 for 37 points, three clear of Sunil Samarasinghe, who birdied the ninth in 34 points to take third on countback from Sandro Carlotti in a field of 18.
Rutherford’s playing partners were dad Scott and mum Jen who totalled 43 points on Saturday for a second family victory, winning on countback from Ali Ord.
She said: “Max absolutely inspired me.
“He played so well, like the ninth for example. The eagle was so easy for him.
“I was really proud of him. He’s worked so hard on his game, practising hard and playing, so it was great to see it all coming together.
“I think, when you play with better players like Max, it makes you play better, too.” Playing off the juniors’ blues tees, she birdied the fifth and 14th and also had two bogeys in
a level-par gross 71 for 21 points out and 22 back. Playing partner Ord mixed seven birdies with five bogeys and six pars for a gross 69 and 23 points on her outward nine and 20 on her inward.
Val Lucas scored 37 points from the ladies’ red tees with a + 7 strokes mixed amendment for third.
Louise Fairburn scored a total of 44 points to win last Wednesday’s first pilot scheme red-blue tees Ladies’ Stableford competition by a point from Alyson Wreford. Fairburn scored five pars, three bogeys and one scoring double for 24 points going out and came back with a further 20 from a four-point birdie at the 11th, one par, four bogeys and three doubles. Wreford was two-over-par for 22 points on her front nine with a birdie at the sixth, adding another birdie at the 15th for another 21 on her back nine.
Rutherford, who received a seven-shot stroke amendment for playing off the red tees, scored 42 points for third in a field of 14.
New members Tom Roberts and Will Wilkinson won their debut Canterbury competition, scoring gross 68, net 61, for victory in Sunday’s men’s January Pairs Texas Scramble medal.
Roberts and Wilkinson started at the 10th and birdied the 18th, first, seventh and ninth, with a single bogey at the eighth, for gross 34 out and back to win on countback from Andy Brockman and Les Elmer in a field of 52 pairs. Roberts said: “I set us a target of 10 under and we just did it. “I thought we had thrown it away when we bogeyed the eighth but, on the ninth, we had a 16-feet putt for a closing birdie.
“Will missed, but I sank it and that gave us the extra point we needed.”
Brockman and Elmer birdied the first, third, fourth and sixth for gross 32 on their front nine and came back in gross 35, with a birdie at the 17th after a bogey at the 11th.
Ben Grogan and Aston Moy scored four birdies in a gross 66, net 62, for third on countback from Peter Brisley and Jamie White and father-and-son Scott and Max Rutherford. Roberts added: “When we went out, we didn’t expect anything.
“But Will sank six or seven single putts which was a massive help and we are made up about winning our first Canterbury competition.” Wilkinson said: “We had a great start and sank a lot of important putts but getting the birdies at the 18th and then the first was a big turning point.”
John Dawson and Vince Stribbling gave their Bill England Seniors’ Winter League position a boost with victory in Monday’s postponed Third Round, which was limited to nine holes. Dawson and Stribbling shared four pars and five bogeys for 24 Stableford points to win by one from Chris Gray and Andrew Kirkland. Beau Hart and Trevor Kelly scored 22 points for third place on countback from Michael Longmore and Terry Raines, Peter Norfolk and Richard Kreffer, Michael Parrott and substitute Anthony Dance and seventh-placed Les Elmer and Ken West in a field of 32 pairs, of whom 24 beat par net.
Michael Wilson and Terry Hancock lead the table with two rounds to go on 83 points, two ahead of Parrott and Peter Brisley with Elmer and West and Neil Parsonson and Nigel Lang next best on 75.