ANYTHING you can do, I can do ... that was the message to Richard Francis from Nick Clemens at Churston.

Only last week, Clemens had witnessed Francis' hole-in-one at the par three eighth hole, and had his camera on hand to photograph the achievement.

But during Churston's Saturday competition at the weekend, it was Clemens' turn to pose for the camera — he aced the very same hole for his first ever hole-in-one!

It also helped him finish third in Division Two of the competition with 40 points.

Kevin Voisey topped the division with 43 points — the day's best round that saw his handicap fall by 1.6 — to beat runner-up Phillip Streeter's 41.

David Thomas took fourth spot with 38 points on countback.

A strong wind made the front nine a particularly difficult challenge, however anything close to handicap meant a real chance to make a score on the back nine.

Bob Knott did just that with 18 going out and 20 (two under) coming back for a total of 38 points which was good enough to see him head up Division One.

Jon Dobson was second with 37 points along with Anton Skornia and Simon Bawden, who were third and fourth respectively.

Meanwhile, a fine but crisp day saw 38 competitors compete in the midweek stableford qualifying competition.

In Division One, junior captain Ashley Millar won with a credible 36 points. Stuart Bridge and Steve Wakeham were joint second with 34 points.

Jon Dobson won Division Two with 38 points, two ahead of joint runners-up Alan Cooke and Dave Kandes.

GOING down — but it was no slippery slope for Churston ladies, who took advantage of another dry and sunny if breezy day (writes Pat Bray).

A trio of handicaps headed lower, as did the competition standard scratch, thanks to a flurry of under-par scoring.

With plenty of run on the ball and the temperatures lifting after early morning frost, it was generally those in the middle of the field who made hay with the best of the weather and once again a couple of players climbed into the fabulous 40s.

A qualifying stableford was the order of the day and it was a pretty special one for later starter Betty Gordon, whose fantastic 41 points was four clear of the field in the elite Division One, while Sue Petulengro in Division Three matched this stunning total, both rewarded by a cut in handicap — Betty down one to 10 and Sue losing a couple shots next time out when she will play off 30.

And while Division Two didn't quite reach the same dizzy heights, those on their leaderboard were all under par, led by Christine Gibbons on 38 points and she now drops a shot to play off 22.

Of the winners, only Betty Gordon carded a two to add a precious three points to her tally, hers coming at the par three 17th to crown a glorious round.

There were two others, from Betty Breed on the par three eighth and Jean Strain, hers a wonderful 25ft-plus breaking putt which always looked as if it was going in.

RESULTS

Ladies' competition: Division One: 1 Betty Gordon (handicap 11) 41pts; 2 Jenny Farley (18) 37; 3 Cathy Coombe (10) 34; 4 Val Benbow (14) 33. Division Two: 1 Christine Gibbons (23) 38; 2 Carole Hetherington (20) 37 on countback from Shirley Morton (27) and Jean Strain (21). Division Three: 1 Sue Petulengro (32) 41; 2 Anne Smith (36) 38; 3 Linda Green (29) 36; 4 Cathy Plumridge (32) 34.