On a lovely sunny day, teams of three set off to compete in Sidmouth Golf Club’s Men’s Open on Saturday, writes Hugh Dorliac.

Recording an excellent 13 under par round of 53 were the winning team of Bob Webber, Lester Wilmington and John Barnard. Congratulations to the committee men!

In second on 54 were Sean Murphy, S Peake and J Deans, with D Pepperell, Kym White and Howard Cushing taking third spot with 55. Best Visitor score was from the Honiton trio of J Lovering, S Macklin and B Phillips. The annual Scratch and Handicap Cups, played for over 36 holes, took place on Sunday on a very hot and sunny day. With ball running and putting needing extra vigilance, the early leader after the morning session was James Spiller with a 68 (net 63) to take into the afternoon. It was the second round that sorted out the winners as those who improved in the afternoon ultimately won.

The Handicap Cup was won by Craig Melluish with net 68 and 66 taking it on countback from James Spiller (63 and 71) and Alex Duckworth (64 and 71).

The Scratch Cup saw Neil Holland overhaul earlier contenders with 72 and 68 for a total of 140 to win outright. James Spiller again found himself in second place as his back 9 took a turn for the worse, recording a 76 to add to his 68. In third place was David Bater. who scored 71 and 74 and a total of 145.

The Seniors match at home against Fingle Glen was played in warm and sunny conditions. The team was led away by Chris Grubb (Captain) and Tony Stoyle with the first three holes being halved. After that the pair struggled to maintain their rhythm against an in-form Fingle Glen pair and found themselves four down at halfway and unable to get back on terms, eventually losing six and five. Next out Charles Brown/Ray Gunston found themselves one down after the second hole, got it back on the fifth to be level at the turn. The second half proved to be a little bit better by winning the 11th and 12th but then, unfortunately, they lost the seventeenth and eighteenth to end up with a half.

John Billingsley/Bruce Harcourt continued their good run from the away match and were two up at the halfway mark, but following a close second half were pegged back to all square, until the last putt on the eighteenth, which Bruce put away for a last gasp win by 1. John Townsend and Barry Jones had again a very close match and managed to be one up at the turn, but lost the tenth to go back all square until the final hole when they too managed to sneak a win by one. Graham Vincent/Colston Herbert played well and had a comfortable win by 6 and 5 as did Vernon Ruffle/Peter McGeer winning by 4 and 2.

This left the overall result as a 4½ - 1½ win to Sidmouth with an overall win over the two legs of 6½ - 5½ to Sidmouth.