On Sunday, Sidmouth Golf Club members played a 36-hole competition for the Scratch and Handicap Cups, writes John Barnard.

Two rounds in a day is hard work, but 29 players entered, the most for some years.

In the morning it was sunny, but windy, and, with the course now very dry, these were challenging conditions.

Pre-match favourite for the Scratch Cup was Neil Holland as he has the lowest handicap in the club. At lunchtime, he was the half-time leader having shot 66, but he was only leading by one shot from Lewis White while Matt Bavington was a further shot back.

In the afternoon, the weather had changed as the wind had dropped but later in the afternoon, the rain came in. Often, surprisingly the scores are better in the afternoon but this wasn’t so on Sunday.

Neil did not have such a good afternoon, shooting 71, but his challengers fared even worse, so Neil was the champion with Lewis White runner-up.

Meanwhile, in the Handicap Cup, the second to last group had the half-time leader in Harrison Jones who shot an excellent nett 62, one shot better than Matt Bavington and Mark Thomas.

This left all to play for in the afternoon! Remarkably, all three shot the same nett score (67) so the places remained the same.

Mark was particularly frustrated as he was only two over gross having finished the thirteenth, well below his handicap. He then bogied the last five holes which cost him a win and a place in the Scratch Cup winners table.

A great day was had by all and after it was all finished, the bar was packed with tired thirsty golfers full of tales of birdies, bogies, really bad luck and recounting the many incidents from a wonderful long summers day.