Thomas takes final medal

The October Medal, kindly sponsored by Vinnicombe’s Bakery, is the final medal of the year at Sidmouth Golf Club and, this year, was played under cloudless skies and mid-summer temperatures, writes John Rockey.

But, whilst conditions overhead were close to perfect, conditions on the ground were a little more difficult, following the autumn maintenance work to the greens, but scores didn’t reflect the tricky putting.

First in Division 1 was Mark Thomas, with a gross 69 (nett 63) who won by three clear shots.

Thomas, who has had one of his best years for a long time, recently won his first senior competition at Holsworthy,as well as the Scott Cup at Ilfracombe with a one over par 70.

In winning the Scott Cup, Thomas scored a hole- in-one, and it now looks as if his impressive form in North Devon has belatedly been brought back to Sidmouth just in time for the end of the season - well, I suppose better late than never.

He started the year with a handicap of seven and this victory (his first at Sidmouth this year) earned him another handicap reduction to five.

Second, with a nett 66, was last year’s club captain Nick Bater who pushed present club vice-captain Paul Hitchcock also with a nett 66, into third place on a countback.

In Division 2, David Heywood came in with a nett 64, just edging Keith Newton into second place with a 65 followed closely by Bob Johnson with a 66 for third place.

Division 3 was a very close affair with the top three players all scoring the same gross score of 90.

However, Mike Davis, with his 21 handicap, managed a nett 69 to take the top spot with Stuart Ruffle, off his 20 handicap getting a nett 70 for second place and Brian Rostron with his 19 handicap, coming in third with a nett 71.