Gorleston Golf Club

THE Gorleston Ladies Mail on Sunday campaign came to an end on Monday in the most heart breaking of scenarios.

Continuous heavy rain had fallen in the Manchester area since the Sunday evening, which led to the Worsley Park course being unfit for play on the date of the competition.

Gorleston had earlier been drawn against Hamilton Golf Club in their quarter-final match with the winning team heading for the winter sunshine in Spain to contest the semi-finals and final.

However, the Mail on Sunday competition rules stated that if no play was possible, a decision based upon games won and games lost throughout the season would produce a result.

Therefore, after a tense wait the worst possible news came to the players – Hamilton +20, Gorleston +18.

It was desperately unlucky for the Gorleston team, who together with their caddies, team sponsors and dedicated supporters had travelled far and wide this year, with the only consolation being the fact that no-one managed to beat them.

Visiting players from 17 different clubs took part in the recent Gorleston Senior Open. Overall, 72 competitors vied for the honour of champion senior for the year, which was won by Gorleston’s Wally Perring with an excellent 39 points. Five players shared second place two points further behind, with Eaton Golf Club’s Richard Ong winning the Best Visitor Trophy with 36 points. Mike Haylett was delighted at the weekend to successfully defend the Drughorn Cup knockout tournament with a 2 & 1 victory over Andy Ellis in the final. Having enjoyed a six hole lead at one point during the opening round of the 36 hole final, Mike was eventually relieved to overcome the dogged resistance shown by Andy, who was appearing in a first knockout final. Dating back to 1926, the Drughorn Cup has only been successfully defended twice before; the last time being in 1951, so Mike’s achievement is very special.

Ladies’ Captain Chris Knappett continued to enjoy a rich vein of form last week following a fine victory in the Nick Brown Classic, with victory in both the Ladies’ Autumn Scratch and Handicap Cups for the second consecutive year. Chris’s round of 81 was enough for an eight stroke win in the scratch event and a six stroke handicap win, with Jan Parsons being the runner-up on both occasions.

Once again, the Midweek Stableford resulted in a sensational winning score, as John Mills recorded an immense 46 points to easily win Division Two ahead of Alan Leggett with 43 points, with the First Division prize going to Peter Langford who edged out Jim Robinson after both had finished with 39 points.

The majority of the competitors just escaped the ravages of the weather in the September Stableford on Sunday, as Stuart Mortimer won Division One with 38 points, while Graeme Leach with 35 points was victorious in Division Two and Geoff Hall was delighted to scoop the Division Three prize with 38 points.

For those Ladies who didn’t make the journey to Manchester earlier in the week, Gorleston entertained Royal Norwich in a friendly match on Monday, with the overall result tied at two points each.

Some outstanding scores are expected at the weekend, as the Men will be competing for the ever-popular Ken Gough Trophies; the club’s only fourball better ball bogey competition, won last year by Bob Cooper and Jack Flaxman with a score of 10 up.