Pure 'carnage' in the Austrian Alps as Glen grab title
Tournament director John Gale described it as 'carnage' when the Fingle foursome trounced a quartet from Richings Golf Club in Buckinghamshire by 54 shots after playing three days of betterball Stableford off 3/4.
Fingle Glen's four had beaten teams from Sidmouth, Bristol and South Wales in the qualifying rounds and earned their place in Austria after winning the national final at Kendleshire Golf Club by nine shots back in July.
The seniors section played for the Les Colley Medalford trophy. Steve Tuckett won with net 17, just one clear of runner-up Allan Jones, whilst Tony King and Roger Anniss finished a further shot behind.
The midweek open competition was in pursuit of the Bob Pearse Cup. John Cowl won Division 1 with 41 points ahead of Martin Read (38), Andy Skinner (37) and Paul Widdows (37). The trophy, however, went to the Division 2 winner Jo Blaby with 42 points followed by Terry Cook (41), Terry Harrison (40) & Geoff Baker (40).
Light relief at the end of the week was provided by a Texas Scramble medal off 1/10 combined handicap. The winners were Paul Stevens, Jamie Hoskins, Andy Rogers and Andy Collman with a magnificent net 51.4 followed by Chris Hazelwood, Chris Church, Steve Ebdon and Richard Stevens with 53.0.
Meanwhile, it's been of time of near misses for Fingle Glen's ladies. They were involved in the final stages of the county-wide Sheelah Creasy Bowl, staged at Thurlestone, where they were pitched against Woodbury Park in the morning semi-finals.
Overcoming this hurdle with a 7-0 victory, the afternoon saw them playing the ladies of old rivals Saunton. Jane Lee, Michelle Underwood and Yvonne Alford won their matches, but this was not quite enough and they had to settle for second place in this year' competition.
It was then on to another 36 hole finals day, this time at Okehampton in the Devon Ladies League. The morning semi-final against Bigbury ladies ended in a 7-0 victory, leading to a repeat of last year's final between Fingle Glen and Portmore. Roles were reversed this year, though, as the final putt, on the final green, in the final match went the way of Portmore to earn them the trophy.
Meanwhile Mary Smith won EWGA medal 11 with an excellent net 69 and Irene Scott took EWGA medal 12 with net 74.
THE Colombier Jug - a competition involving six men, six ladies, six vets and six juniors in a head to head contest - was held at Wrangaton.
This year the best five scores counted. And the winners, with 184 points, were the Juniors for the second year running.
The Men and Vets tied for second place on 173 points and the Ladies were the wooden spoonists with 154.
Sunday saw the annual Centenary match at Wrangaton. This is a team match of twelve men and six ladies form each club. The clubs involved are Wrangaton, Exeter, Great Torrington from North Devon and Mullion from Cornwall, each club taking turns to host the event.
This year's team winners were host club Wranagton with a total of 578 Stableford points. Second were Exeter, last year's winners with 536 points. Third were Mullion with 523 and fourth Great Torrington 468.
There were also individual awards for each team's best man and lady. Wrangaton's best were Val Mulcrone and Dave Shepherd. Exeter's were Chris Quantick and Darren Thorpe. Mullion's were Jenny King and Peter Gilbert and Torrington'' Rosemary Ferguson and John Joint.
Nearest pins were won by Dave Newberry (Exeter), Gill Bayliss (Mullion), Pete Sturman (Torrington), and Damian Hallett (Mullion).
Longest drive for ladies was won by Wrangaton's Bridgitte Worth and longest drive for men was won by Andy London of Mullion.
FRESH from his recent successes in the Scratch Matchplay final and the Canada Cup Open competition, David Eva showed once again why he is the lowest handicap player at Thurlestone when he topped Division One in the September Medal.
It was a close thing, however. Eva, off one, came in with a nett 68 but had to wait until the computer decided that his back nine was a touch better than two others with the same score.
Jon Dunlop, off five, continued his recent good form by coming second, with Alan Harkness (12) third.
In Division Two Richard Bird showed that he is now completely recovered from recent injury by scoring a nett 66, off 18 handicap, to take first place by four clear shots. He will be playing off 17 in his next competition.
Mark Cunningham, also off 18, was runner up with nett 70 on countback from David Kent (19) who had the same score.
Thurlestone ladies had to cut their Texas Scramble competition to eleven holes because thick fog enveloped the higher part of the course but a field of 45 players enjoyed it nevertheless. Winners were Shirley Worrall, Kay Morley and Sally Rossiter with Heather Spencer, Val Pearce and Jane Mason second, and Joyce Drummond, Alice Foster and Judy Tyler third. There were four twos.
The final of the Scratch Matchplay competition, in perfect weather conditions, saw Jenny Roberts drop only two shots over the first nine holes but she had to contend with a fighting comeback by Tish Mahwood who lost on the 16th hole.
Victoria Gibbons (17) had a much easier win in the final of the Betty Ord trophy beating the young Beth Peters (14) five and four.
Shirley Worrall and Penny Hind represented Thurlestone in the final of the Vets interclub knockout matchplay competition at Exeter. Playing against Teign Valley they kept their composure in an exciting finish to win on the 18th. They will be presented with the trophy at the Devon County Ladies AGM in January.
On Saturday Thurlestone juniors played a stableford competition in good weather and with excellent scores. Robert Came was first with 47 points and reduced his handicap from 24 to 20. Laura Tregelles was second with 44 and had her handicap cut by three to 14, while Jamie Johnson, in third place with 43, was also cut by one shot to 11.
Thurlestone's course was in tip top condition for the Bronze championship finals of the Sheelah Creasy county competition. Saunton beat Teignmouth and Fingle Glen beat Woodbury in the semi-finals, both by four and three.
The final saw Fingle Glen shoot ahead by winning the first two matches but Saunton fought back to win the next four. The trophies were presented by Devon Ladies President Joan Miller.
Results - September Medal: Division One: 1 David Eva 69 (1) 68 2 Jon Dunlop 73 (5) 68 3 Alan Harkness 80 (12) 68 4 Alan Winrow 73 (2) 71 5 Alastair Whalley 78 (7) 71 6 Paul Millburn-Fryer 83 (11) 72 7 Tony Adams 77 (5) 72 8 Kevin Mingo 76 (3) 73. Division Two: Richard Bird 84 (18) 66 2 Mark Cunningham 78 (18) 70 3 David Kent 89 (19) 70 4 John Wilson 93 (21) 72 5 Eric Brisley 92 (20) 72 6 Alec Esplin 89 (15) 74
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