Mark Thomas won the Sidmouth Jewellers Friday stableford with the relatively low score of 37 points, reflecting the difficulty of playing conditions, writes John Barnard.

It was very wet in the morning so most golfers went out after lunch with the course set up with some very difficult pin positions, in preparation for Sunday’s Scratch and Handicap Cup.

Four birdies in the first ten holes set up the score but a ‘blob’ on the eighth and a couple of unexpected bogies on the back nine reduced his score.

Veteran Colin Mitchell is playing really well at present and he scored 36 points to come second. A number of pars gave him good points off his handicap of 20, but three no scores cost him a win. He was playing with his friend, club captain Ray Gunston and he managed to take third place on countback from Matt Bavington. A rare birdie on the 13th was messed up by a double bogie on the last (although the pin was set in a difficult place on the top tier).

In the Sidmouth Jewellers Friday Night table, Graham Burgess still leads by 18 points (despite me allegedly jinxing him!) with Graham Davies second on 77 points with Kevin Legg a further twelve shots back.