Busy time for the seniors

A BUSY week for the seniors at Derllys Court Golf Club last week began with the A team suffering a narrow defeat at Ashburnham in the Bowl competition of the South Wales Seniors’ Classic.

In the opening match, John Hartley and Phil Pickersgill seemed to be in unbeatable form after moving on to an early three-hole lead, but a disappointing finish on the last two holes saw them have to settle for a half. The two remaining matches were closely fought from the start, with Ashburnham running out narrow winners in both to secure a 2½-½ victory.

The following day, the Dawn Patrol league competition reached the halfway stage. With the deadline for the second round of knockout matches looming, there was a smaller field than usual, with Huw Hafod Jones making the most of the opportunity and taking first place with 40 stableford points.

A solid round from Alan Hire was enough for second place with 39 points, and with six players tied on 37 points, Julian Bowen claimed third place overall on countback, with Roddy Thomas taking second place in division one. In division three, Rob Lewis (35 points) and Barry Davies (34 points) took the prizes.

With five rounds still to play, Jones has climbed to the top of the league table, just one point clear of Chris Palmer with Graham Owens, Phil Mountjoy and Hugh Thomas still in contention a few points behind.

To complete the week, the seniors enjoyed a hot sunny day at Cardigan playing a team match, where the visitors were unable to master the fast-running fairways and greens as successfully as their hosts.

Despite some very close matches and good individual performances, captain Tony Wood and his team were disappointed to come away without a single win to their name, though they thoroughly enjoyed the competition and the hospitality of the Cardigan team.