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.