Club Championship Weekend

James Foster & Lizzie Swallow retain their Club Championship titles

In a great weekend of golf, seventeen year olds James Foster & Lizzie Swallow retained the Mens and Ladies Club Championship titles.

In the opening round of the Ladies event on the Saturday, Lizzie had 6 birdies in a new course record round of 67 (-3). Linda Hunt was giving chase after a 74 in the morning but was unable to maintain her pursuit in the afternoon, eventually finishing in 3rd. Laura Willoughby followed a morning round of 78 with an excellent 72 in the afternoon which was enough to clinch 2nd place. Lizzie continued her fine golf with a further 3 birdies in a round of 73 which was enough to secure the title. Lizzie also won the Silver Salver with Jill Owen and Shey Walder tying for 2nd. Jo Grieve won her first major trophy at the club by securing the Bronze Salver, Mary Wyatt finished 2nd.

After playing 36 holes on both previous days and finishing 5th at the BB&O Amateur Championship, James Foster continued his great form with a fantastic opening round of 65 (-4). This included an eagle 2 at the 2nd and a bogey free back nine of 32(-4). In tough scoring conditions, Chris Harrison kept pace with James in the morning, shooting 70 (+1), despite a double bogey at the last. Unfortunately, neither Chris nor the other competitors could make any inroads into James’ lead in the afternoon with David Niven eventually finished in 2nd place after a closing round of 71. James followed up his morning heroics with a steady level par round of 69, winning the Jack Hughes Trophy by 11 shots, giving him his 3rd successive title. His performance over the 3 days in the various events had also seen his handicap reduced to +1, the first player at the club to have achieved this feat.

Christopher Ball, himself a winner of the main prize on numerous occasions, had an excellent afternoon round of 70 to scoop both the 4-9 Salver and Senior’s Trophy. Kevin Dunks was second in the 4-9 Salver and Paul Wyatt and Richard Stubbs shared second in the senior’s trophy. Chris Barlow was victorious in the 10-18 Salver, with Roy Belfield 2nd.

Club Captain Tony Hammond & Lady Captain Carol Thorogood praised both club champions for their maturity and behaviour both on and off the course and commented that the club was very lucky to have such talented and popular winners of the titles.