Ladies see off the seniors to retain club trophy

THE Christine Phillips Cup took centre stage at Derllys Court Golf Club last week when the seniors and the ladies competed in a nine-hole competition, with the seniors hoping to regain the cup lost last year by just four points.

In a pairs betterball stableford event played off full handicap, with the scores of all 14 pairs to count for each team, the seniors had their work cut out from the start as an early eight-point lead built up by Julian Bowen & Wyn M Evans (24pts) and Winston John & Roy Gallop (22pts) in their matches was eroded by similar victories for Mair Jones & Vanessa Richards (24pts) and Liz James & Daphne Jones (23pts).

The seniors regained another narrow lead as Geraint Roberts & Rob Lewis (21pts) delivered an eightpoint win for captain Tony Wood, who was keeping an eye on events.

Unfortunately for the seniors, a four-point swing for Judith Davies & Pam Grove (23pts) narrowed the lead further, and when a further five-point surplus from Mandy Evans & Joan Goldsmith (22pts) was surpassed by a stunning 28 points on the top nine holes from Nona James & Alison Boyles, the seniors’ fate was sealed and the cup was retained by the ladies team by 295 points to 290.

After an unfortunate pre-match car-park accident, ladies’ captain Ann Jones was delighted to return from A&E just in time to receive the cup from Christine Phillips.

As the first round of the knockouts came to a conclusion, last year’s singles finalists Ken Breaker and Idwal Thomas met again, with a similar result seeing Breaker through to the next round. In the pairs, there will be no third successive title for Graham Bebb & Dave Wood as they were knocked out by Alan Hire & Chris Evans.

This week the seniors have a busy week as round 3 of the Dawn Patrol takes place and both South Wales seniors’ classic teams also play, concluding with a home team match against Newport Pembs.