On Sunday, the Sidmouth Golf Club winter league format was a three man Texas Scramble off 20 per cent of combined handicap, writes John Barnard.

The early starters saw the sun rise on one of the loveliest winter mornings possible and with no wind, it meant playing conditions were ideal.

One of the attractions to playing on Sunday mornings is the random draw so rather than playing with the same friends each week, we play with different golfers off varying handicaps and age.

Taking advantage of the excellent conditions were Aston Puckey, Hugh Dorliac and Lawrence Hill and there score of 51.8 was 14 shots better than standard scratch. They only just won though as Lester Willmington, Les Pratt and Sean Murphy came in with 52.0.

In third place were Craig Melluish, Harrison Jones (just about able to concentrate as his wife has one foot in the Maternity Unit) and John Barnard. They had a poor start, one over through seven holes, but then played well to end up with 54.0.

After seven rounds of the winter league, Kym White retains his lead on 20 points with Mark Thomas and Les Pratt equal second on 15 points.