Golf round-up: The latest news from Harrogate & district's courses

Knaresborough GC

For so much of the 36-hole President’s trophy, Ian Pickles looked odds on to emerge the winner. Four up after the first nine, he was never less than two in front of Simon Brown as they ended the first 18 holes.

So it remained as they reached the 27th hole in the second round. Then suddenly Brown took advantage of some wobbling by Pickles, snatching back six consecutive holes to reach all square by the 16th.

But despite poor shots by both around the 17th, it was Pickles who went to the last one up, sealing the win on the final hole after Brown conceded.

James Lupan and Steve Isaac overcame Dave Firth and Nick Dodsworth three and two after 36 holes in the Scales foursomes while Barry McDermottroe had to play two extra holes to defeat Dean Sleight in the Millennium trophy.

Jo McBratney took custody of the Ladies’ Championship Cup for the eighth time when she outgunned Bridget Tasker, bringing the match to an end by the 23rd hole of their 36 hole match.

Julie Lovell beat Julie Hargreaves seven and six in the Ladies Rose Bowl match while Aileen O’Kane won one up against Sue Rowe in the Standage trophy.

Ronnie Harrison beat Flemming Dalgard three and two in the Buck Rabbits cup. Steve Isaac enjoyed further success at the weekend beating Gavin Reid two up in the Rabbits Cup.

Peter Linfoot (18) sees himself as rather more of an autumn golfer. That's to say he reckons to find his touch more efficiently as the summer closes down and experience in two matches lends credibility to his theory.

First, in the Greensome Medal where, partnered with Billy Baybutt, he helped turn in a decisive 68 points for a clear victory. They determined that as long as they could average five shots per hole they were in with a chance.

In what Linfoot termed 'trying conditions' the pair delivered an excellent example of solid Greensome team work. When potential difficulty loomed, Linfoot would, for instance, chip well on to the green leaving Baybutt to sink a number of single putts.

Their efforts resulted in a margin of three points between themselves and second place Steve Bradley and Dave Firth with David Donaldson and Simon Brown one back on 72.

In his second game, the Rabbits New Fowler trophy, Linfoot drew on his autumn game skills - that is, minimising any damage - to produce a winning score of 36 points.

He was followed by Keith Jarvis (25) on 34 and Scott Whittaker (23) on 33.

In the annual Cooledge Cup, an am-am Stableford for mixed pairs, Ron Benson, Les Tate, Julie Lovell and Hilary Ingram showed a quartet of clean heels as they romped to 77 points.

Behind by some distance were Chris Kemp, Ken Ramsdale, Di Kemp and Alex Mournian on 63 with David Donaldson, Paddy Mournian, Anne Wylie and Lesley Benson on 61.

Hilary Ingram and Bridget Tasker topped the Brown Horsley with a fine 82 with Brenda Moore and Lesley Benson second on 84 and Pam Hunter and Di Kemp third on 84.

It was tough going in the Juniors Stableford with Eve Snodgrass combatting tricky conditions best on 28 with Zach Sloanes on 27 and Jake Smith on 17.

Oh, what a different story in the Ladies versus Juniors match, played in more or less Ryder Cup style format including singles matchplay, 4BBB and foursomes.

It was much closer than that event in Rome but the delighted Juniors were happy to receive the JuLaCo trophy after finishing one match up.

Pannal GC

Monday September 18 saw an exciting 36-hole duel in the Men’s Handicap Trophy Final between Roger Emmett and David Smith.

Begun back in April this individual knockout matchplay competition is a perennial favourite with the final being the 127th match of the series, won two up by Roger.

Roger made a poor start with two double bogies going two down but came back strongly to be only two over par gross for the rest of the first round finishing two up at lunch.

David made a fast start again in the afternoon turning the score around to two up by the ninth and looking good.

The turning point of the match was Roger getting up and down from the short sided bunker at 11 for the second time in the day. He then went on to win five of the last eight holes to finish two up including knocking a 100 foot putt to around six inches from the hole on the 18th for a par.

September 18 was the date for the Ladies Annual Medal played by six ladies from Division 1 and the winner of the Medal and Annual Medal was Gail Witcomb (13) with a nett 81 well ahead of Ros Samuels (11) on nett 87 and Vicky Eyre (10) nett 91.

The Freda Rhodes Trophy for veteran ladies was played on Thursday September 20. Contested over 13 holes of the Green course in Stableford format by those aged 65 or over, the winner was Margaret Kershaw with 21 points closely followed by Betsy Haldon on 21 and Gill Roberts on 18.

As previously reported, the annual Tiger Trophy was won by Will Eardley beating Carl Bushby 4&3. Talking after the match. Will felt that the turning point of the day was his chip in from the back of the 26th hole for birdie, followed by another birdie at the next to take him three up.

Men’s Captain Martin Boyle took a large contingent of members to Hessle Golf Club for his second Exchange day on September 21. The winning team on the day were Kevin Lynch, Lindsay Mckenzie, Ian McNeill, and Ken Winkle.

On Saturday October 22, 58 pairs teed off in the Cooper Brown Greensomes. Despite white tees set well back and holding fairways following overnight rain, players performed well.

There were no less than five pairs on nett 69 needing a card count to decide third place which went to Phil O’Connor and Simon Darbyshire, the latter showing a welcome return to form.

A countback was also needed to separate the top two, both with nett 67’s. Second place went to Oliver and Simon Mantle but the Trophy was awarded to Mark Henderson and Nick Tipling with their better back nine.

On Sunday September 23, an Open Stableford was the competition of the day which turned into a father and son one two. Peter Bowerman took the honours with 33 points followed in by son Hector on 30, just one point ahead of Richard Finney on 29 in third place.

Golfers across Europe were delighted to see the ladies retain the Solheim Cup following the superb birdie two at the 17th by Carlota Ciganda.

Pannal members were among the first in the UK to be aware of her potential when she won the Girls under-14s prize at the North of England under-14s championship here in 2003

Oakdale GC

On Thursday October 5, the annual match between the Oakdale Ladies and the Oakdale Seniors was played on a difficult and heavy course.

The match was played as always in a very competitive fashion and the result was close.

The Seniors Captain Graham Whittington went onto his knees to receive the trophy from the Ladies Captain Margaret Liddle for the second consecutive year winning the match 5 & 3.

The Ladies’ October Stableford & Royal British Legion aggregated competition resulted in a win on count back for Joyce Slater (11) from Allison Wormald (17) with 35 pts and third was Anne Birtles (22) with 33 pts.

The 9 Hole Q Stableford &RBL was played on October 3 and was won by Kate Watts with 13 pts and second on count back from Caroline Bingley was Barbara Perry with 11 pts.

The Men’s October Monthly Medal was played on Saturday October 7, with 119 players taking part and generating just 12 twos.

The best gross of the day went to Charlie Hayfield (1) shooting an excellent 69, but the overall winner on the day was Mark Calvert (6) with a 66 nett. Division 1 was won by Mark with Charlie coming second on count back from Lee Jones (10) with a 68 nett.

Division 2 winner was Shane Stanley (14) with a 70 nett. Second on count back was Noel Minikin (13) from Peter Baxter (15) and Greg Nelson (18) with a 71 nett.

Division 3 was won by Nick Boal (19) with 67 nett from Alistair MacDonald (22) with 68 nett and third on count back was Ben Kennedy (20) from Darrin Williams (20) with 69 nett.

The October Wednesday Medal was played on October 4 with some 63 players tasking part. The overall winner was Stewart Ferebee (13) with 68 nett.

The Division 1 winner was Gary Cawley (6) winning on count back from Peter Brown (6) and Paul Bushell (7) with 69 nett.

Triumphant in Division 2 was Stewart with his 68 and Division 3 was won by Jak Lister(19) with 71 nett from Simon Wall (24) second on count back from Raymond Wise (21) with 74 nett.

Harrogate GC

Two competitions ran concurrently last Saturday, an Individual Stableford and for the Rabbits, the Club Captains Prize.

The playing conditions following plenty of rain and Greens Week noticeably subdued scoring across the board but that did not diminish the competitive nature of our players.

Fittingly, the highest score of the day, 37 points won the First Division and it was Alexander Walkinshaw’s fine effort that gave him that win.

Closely following, one point behind was Junior Captain, Harvey Auckland and Andy Partridge with Auckland’s back nine enough to give him second place.

Just missing out on the top three were three players tied for 4th - Daniel Westerman, James Hobson & Paul Lai.

There was also a three-way tie in Division Two for third place, Malcolm Lundie, capping a good week for him, had the superior back nine to earn the 3rd place from Sean Stanton and Ian Birchall after they had all scored 33 points.

Robbie Blair won the division on 35 points with Johnny Pearson second. Colin McCaw’s persistence was rewarded when he came out on top in Division 3 scoring 34 points just edging out the in-form Robin Nicholls.

Paul Lewis and Steven Gac both scored 32 points with Lewis taking third after a count-back.

Results: Individual Stableford (16-09-2023). Div 1 - 1st A. Walkinshaw (10), 37 pts. 2nd. H. Auckland (9), 36 pts. (bb9). 3rd. A. Partridge (9), 36 pts. 4th D. Westerman (6), 34 pts. Div 2 - 1st R. Blair (12), 35 pts. 2nd J. Pearson (13), 34 pts. 3rd M. Lundie (17), 33 pts. (bb9). 4th S. Stanton (18), 33 pts. (bb9). Div 3 - 1st C. McCaw (32), 34 pts. 2nd R. Nicholls (19), 33 pts. 3rd P. Lewis (24), 32 pts. (bb9). 4th. S. Gac (28), 32 pts.

The Rabbits played for the Trophy, sponsored by Men’s Club Captain, David Underwood and in a close contest it was Neil Baldwin’s 35 points that gave him the prize with Nick Trowell on 34 points second and Philip Rhodes third just one pint behind.

Earlier in the week, a good field entered the Midweek Stableford and, as is generally the case in this popular competition, a very closely-contested event ensued.

John Parkinson and Christopher Ball put in a great effort and could only be separated by the countback over the back nine. Parkinson’s run in was the difference and he took 1st with both players scoring 36 points.

The score of 35 points was shared by Malcolm Lundie and Mark O’Brien with Lundie’s back nine providing him with his first top three finish of the week.

Tuesday’s heavy rain had washed out the Ladies match but they were able to get some competition in Thursday’s 9-hole Stableford over the Belmont Course.

Susie Lax with an excellent 18 points won from Pat Capps (16 pts) and Margaret Lander on 15 points.

Harrogate & District Union

The rescheduled Ladies Silver Division Team Championship was held at Thirsk and Northallerton on Monday September 17.

Fifty-two ladies, in teams of four, competed for the trophy. The team with the lowest gross score is declared champions and the team with the lowest nett score, runners-up.

Bedale, who last won the championship in 1989, claimed all of the top spots on this occasion.

Their ‘A’ team of Hannah Bowe, Gill Petrie, Sally Hunt and Terry Williamson won the Team Championship with a gross score of 252.

The Bedale ‘B’ team of Karolina Aurelius, Sheila Grant, Pauline Morris and Val Abbey were declared runners-up with a nett score of 223.

The trophy for the best individual gross went to Bowe for her gross 72, with Claire Hutchinson (Pannal) runner up on 84 gross.

Aurelius returned the best individual net score a 70 with Morris runner-up on a nett 74

The Union president’s home club, Harrogate, hosted this year Executive Cup, on Thursday September 21. This stableford competition is open to executive committee members only e.g. club captains and union officers.

Neil Benstead, this year’s Ilkley GC captain, won the trophy with 36 points, while Phil Kitching, the Union’s president elect, was second on 35 points after shooting a better back-nine than third-placed Tom Halliday, Knaresbrough’s captain.

The president, Alastair Davidson also provided a team prize for the 3 ball with the highest stableford score based on 2 scores per hole. The winning 3 ball team was Tom Halliday (Knaresbrough), Mauricio Contreras (Knaresbrough) and Steve Liles (Romanby) on 74 pt. Phil Kitching (Rudding), Neil Benstead (Ilkley) and Ian Hepworth (Ilkley) were runners up on 73 pts.