GOLF: Latest news from around the greens at our Harrogate and District courses

Ben Dave: How Harrogate's very own running man completed his lap of Yorkshire

PANNAL

Pannal’s second Men’s Invitation Day on Saturday saw a change to the usual format, with the introduction of separate morning and afternoon competitions with shotgun starts.

Despite the rain which persisted most of the day, scoring was very good at the top of the leaderboards for the 4BBB stableford format.

The morning competition was won by Jordan Jonas and his brother Callum (Masham GC) with 46 points, two points ahead of Allen Chell and David Oldroyd (Horsforth GC) in second place.

Three pairs achieved 43 points, with Peter Jones and Mark Stevens (Moortown GC) awarded third place after a closely contested countback.

The afternoon competition saw similar scoring to the morning for the prizewinners, with Jonathan Mountford and Simon Green (Moor Allerton GC) top of the pile with 47 points. Kevin Mansell and Paul Bielby (Kendleshire GC) were second with 45 points, ahead of Brian Hamilton and his son Steven (Oxfordshire GC) in third place on countback with 42 points.

Andrew Jones MP: Open mind needed as Harrogate continues to evolveOne of the advantages of the new format was the great atmosphere in the clubhouse after each of the competitions for the prize presentations.

Pannal Ladies enjoyed much better weather on Tuesday for their Stableford competition.

Silver Division was won by Judy Cropper (13) with 38 points, earning a 1 shot handicap reduction, as did Tara Phipps (19) in second place with 36 points.

The ever-consistent Sue Severn (12) was third with 35 points, just edging Sue Rutherford (20) off the podium on countback.

Bronze Division was won by Natalie Boyle (29) with 34 points, one point ahead of Dine Faith (28) in second, and Heather Memmott (36) in third place on countback. The nine-hole green course stableford was won by Rae Long (29) with 15 points on countback from Ladies’ Captain Julie Smith (27) in second place; Eileen Lees (32) was third with 13 points.

West Yorkshire Football League: Rangers return to winning waysHeather Memmott continued her good form into Sunday’s Mixed Open Stableford, where she again came third with 38 points.

However, bragging rights in the Memmott household belong to husband Rob (9) who won with a superb 42 points, and both earned one-shot handicap reductions.

Oliver Abbott (2) continued his excellent summer form with 38 points for second place, his round including six birdies.

Captain’s Nights have been very popular this summer, helped by the excellent weather, with many of them having more than 30 men and ladies for the 13 hole stableford competition.

Last Wednesday was the final such night for this year, where all the winners from previous weeks played for the Chadwick Trophy.

This year’s overall winner was Steve Duffy (19) who was thrilled and surprised with his victory, especially after “blobbing” the first hole and four-putting the last!

The previous Sunday saw the popular eight-hole Cross-Country fun team competition, involving some ingenious journeys from tees to different greens.

The winners were the father and sons team of Gus Dunlop, Sandy Dunlop and Frazer Dunlop with a superb net 50.

In second place with net 57 was a team of Pannal Juniors comprising Oli Hunter, James Matthews, Jamie Hardcastle and Ben Chumas, who beat Tim Matthews, Craig Hunter, Graham Lockwood and Michael Flatley on countback.

Congratulations to Pannal’s Brian MacCafferty and Andy North who had a very successful three days taking part in the Yorkshire Challenge event, played over Yorkshire’s trio of Ryder Cup venues – Lindrick, Ganton and Moortown.

Dad was nearly four times the limit driving to McDonalds with his three kids

Brian and Andy came fifth overall out of nearly 200 pairs, and had the winning first day score at Lindrick with 47 points.

Pannal’s vibrant and competitive Seniors section held an Awayday at Darlington Golf Club last week, organised by Kevin Lynch.

Format was stableford in teams of three, with two scores to count, but all three scores counting on the six par three holes.

The winning team with 98 points were Peter Goulding, Bill Mullins and Steve Gould, who needed a back nine countback to finish ahead of Art Severn, Eugene McDonough and Men’s Captain Mike Starkings.

An extremely convivial evening meal rounded off another highly successful Seniors event.

BEDALE

September 5 – Ladies: Peacock Cup (Bogey Competition): 1st Kath Tate (21) +7 ; 2nd Christine Brown (31) +4; 3rd Linda Mableson (20) +3 (countback required) ; 4th Fiona Blaken (24) +3 (countback).

September 7 – Seniors White Tee Medal: 1st Clarry Suggitt (14) nett 68 ; 2nd Kevin Clinton (17) 72 (countback); 3rd Craig Harrison (18) 72 (countback); 4th James Nicholson (19) 72 (countback).

September 7 – Friday Animals: 1st Terri Williamson 37 pts; 2nd Darren Forrest 34 (countback); 3rd Peter Tate 34 (countback).

The team competition format was yellow ball plus two on all holes and the winners, with an excellent score of 116 pts were Mike Watts, Terri Williamson, Richard Megson and Peter Kendray.

The runners-up were Steve Livesey, Alan Hutchinson, Darren Forest and Mark Allison.

September 8 – Junior September Medal, nine holes due to inclement weather, Division One: 1st Matthew Driscoll (6) nett 37; 2nd Bailey Lawson (11) 41; 3rd Joseph Mableson (10) 42.

Division Two: 1st Oscar Cullen (17) 44; 2nd Joe Riordan (15) nett 46.

September 9 – Gents’ Medal, Division One: 1st Daniel Murdoch (10) 69; 2nd Rob Cullen (12) 70; 3rd Andrew Lawrence (8) 71 (countback); 4th Matthew Driscoll (11) 71 (countback).

Division Two: 1st Richard Megson (20) nett 69; 2nd Peter Tate (17) 70 (countback); 3rd Nathan Corner (14) 70 (countback); 4th John McAuley (13) 73.

Division Three: 1st Oliver Hay (26) nett 69 ; 2nd Michael Smith (23) 76 (countback); 3rd Daniel Winterbottom (21) 76 (countback); 4th Stephen Livesey (21) 76 (countback).

Congratulations to Andrew Lawrence for scoring a hole-in-one on the 16th hole in this competition.

Congratulations to Gillian Petrie and Pauline Morris for qualifying for the final of the Daily Mail Foursomes, to be held at St Pierre.

Council reveal park and ride plan to ease Harrogate congestionMASHAM

A great day was had by all Rabbits at the away day at Skipton GC.

Paul Aldred, Masham rabbits captain, made the afternoon interesting by having a variety of competitions within one round of golf, therefore creating lots of prizes to be won.

The winner of the main competition was Aldred with 37 points on a back nine countback. In second was Norman Shepherd, also on 37, Richard Howard taking third on 36.

Yellow ball competition was won by Paul Aldred, Keith Brown (Rabbits Vice) and two of Paul’s guests.

The pairs competition was won by Micheal Ring and Norman Shepherd with 68points, second was Paul Aldred and Dave Dillon on 65 and in third, Richard Howard and David McGee on 62.

Nearest the Pin winners: David McGee, Keith Brown and Michael Ring.

Masham GC Opens weekend.

Friday September 7, Ladies Open Team Event (2 to score on each hole, 4 to score on 5 and 14)

Results:- 1st J Jackson, S Fordham, P Smith and G Pinkney, (Otley), 98 points; 2nd S Minto, B Peary, J Pallister and B Jownsen (Bed/B Castle/B Auck/Newark) 90; 3rd A Sayer, P Brown, A Wooding and T Lee (Masham/Ripon) 88; 4th C Macowen, J Sanderson, B Cheatham and J Thirsk (Woodham/BA/Masham) 87.

Twos: J McAleer, F Barrett, C Elliot, T Lee and E Drakesmith.

Sunday September 9, Mixed Open, Team Event: 1st J and R Sanderson, M Dexter, D Ambosini ( Bishop Auckland) 82 pts; 2nd J Hutchinson, D Doig, L and E Corder (Bondhay) 81 Pts (b6 c/b); 3rd P and I Morris, A Lawrence, G Petrie (Bedale) 81; 4th J and J Reid, A and P Fender (Ripon) 79.

Twos: G Pearce, J Reid, M Day, M Dexter, R Johnson and J Kimber.

Dear Reader: Was it worth meeting Govt minister? + brilliant Harrogate publicHARROGATE

What a week for Jack Ward.

Having won the North of England Under-16 Championship at Pannal last week, as reported in these pages, he returned to Harrogate for the latest in the series of Yorkshire Order of Merit events, the Vardon Grip and won with an impeccable total of 136 for the 36 holes.

Last Wednesday, 45 players from across Yorkshire, the north of England and Scotland contested this scratch competition for the “Vardon Grip” trophy.

They were also playing for valuable ranking points to see who will top the Yorkshire Order of Merit this year.

As well as Jack Ward, local interest was represented by Joe Buckley, Ben Davies, David Keywood, James Rathbone and Ryan Wootton of Harrogate GC and Matthew Fowler of Knaresborough GC.

This is a 36-hole event and the morning round saw a very crowded leader-board with Daniel Thomas (Shipley), Tom Broxup (Cookridge Hall) and Jack Ward all tied on one-under-par 68. Ward had the better back nine so headed to field.

The afternoon round continued to provide strong competition and good scoring.

Harrogate’s James Rathbone carded the best score of the day with 67.

How he rued a couple of loose shots in the morning.

Daniel Thomas, who is currently second in the Order of Merit could not quite match his earlier round finishing with a 70 for a total of 138.

Ben Rhodes (Woodall Hills) put in a great effort with a 68 to add to his morning round of 69 for a total of 137 to secure third spot.

Ward and Tom Broxup again, in the second round, could only be separated by a card play-off as they both matched their morning score of 68 with Ward having the better back nine.

So, the great week for Ward was complete as he was presented with the Vardon Grip trophy.

Results: 1st Jack Ward 68+68=136. 2nd Tom Broxup 68+68=136. 3rd Ben Rhodes 69+68=137. 4th Daniel Thomas 68+70=138.

Last Saturday, on a very wet day, the men played in the second round of Annual Stableford.

This competition is won by the player with the highest aggregate score of these two stand-alone competitions.

The first, 18-hole, round was played on May 12 with Kevin Boyle leading on 39 stableford points from David Sykes on 38.

John Goodacre and David Keywood occupied joint third place on 37 points.

Goodacre, playing in Division One, made light of the conditions, signing for a very good 38 points.

David Keywood had been matching Goodacre but by putting himself in a little trouble at the end saw his hopes for the title fade away.

Andy Tipling put in a great effort to secure 2nd. Keith Rogers just edged out Andrew Fowler for third. Both had 35 points, Rogers having the better back nine.

Good scoring at the top of Division Two saw last year’s Men’s Captain John Clarke record 40 points and gain a good handicap reduction, to take top spot.

Alan Dewey also saw his handicap come down as he came second on 38 points. John Langley on 37 points was third with Mike Hall fourth one point behind.

A smaller field than usual played in Division Three due to a parallel Rabbits competition taking place.

David Venables was first with 38 points.

Scott Fraser came second with Derek Helme third.

KNARESBOROUGH

Two brilliant sub par rounds by Yorkshire Boys’ Jack Maxey paved the way for a first-ever victory by East Riding in the inter-district team championships at Knaresborough on Sunday.

His 71 and 70 in the 36-hole county-wide championship helped East Riding compile a winning total of 910 – three better than Harrogate who, nonetheless, were eased into third spot by Teesside who claimed second place on count-back.

David Harrison (7) overcame a poor run of form to grab victory in the weekend’s Pro Stableford with 40 points, rediscovering solid driving after taking a short break from the game.

The return started early when, from the edge of trees, he punched a four-iron to four feet and sank a birdie at the first.

He neatly rounded off the front nine by adding another at the par five ninth where he struck a wedge to 10 feet to hole the four.

He saved par well too, as at the 15th where he chipped up onto the elevated green and holed a 20-footer for the four.

Saturday’s result meant that Darren Swales, who finished sixth, added six points to his Order of Merit total, consolidating his lead at the top of the order with a prodigious 75 points.

Lis Tibell (20) produced another consistent round to head Silver division in the September Medal with a level par 75, one ahead of Bridget Tasker (12) with Maria Grayson (20) on 77.

But Sue Thompson is the player clearly on a charge; having led Bronze Two in the annual medals with a five-under 70, she almost matched the achievement with a 71 to win the second division prize in the September Medal, lifting her into the top tier on a sharply improved 20 handicap. Victoria Binns (26),with 80, and Sue Ibbotson (26), 81, were second and third.

Val Walsh (26) led Bronze Two with 78 with Carol Capes (32) and Dot Wilson (36) second and third with 81 apiece, while Janette Parker (47), with 18 points was followed by Gail Atkinson (31) and Pat Mckay (39) on 13 in the Nine-hole Medal.

Richard Bews (21) posted an impressive 42 points to win in Rabbit Captain George McVey’s away day at Barnard Castle while Keith Dobson (10)turned in 40 points to claim the Tiger’s prize.

RUDDING PARK

Rudding Park finished our NERGA season in good shape, having achieved second place in our last three league matches giving us fourth place overall in a league of nine.

On Sunday at Bedale Golf Club, excellent rounds from Mev Berwick, Kevin Askew, Duncan Greenwood and Gordon Lynn gave us a comfortable second and last Sunday at Wetherby, excellent rounds from Kevin Askew, Richard Noland and Fraser Irvine also helped us achieve a similar result.

Kevin Askew has played in every game this season and because he was the highest performing player from Rudding Park over his three best rounds has qualified for the individual finals Day at Ramside Hall on October.

He only narrowly pipped Richard Noland to this honour.

Rudding Park is proud to host its 10th Ladies Golf Day in aid of Breast Cancer Haven on October 5.

To sponsor a shared hole please contact Helen at [email protected].

Ladies September Medal: 1st Julie Parry 74; 2nd Sue Stuart Brown also 76; 3rd Carol Patterson 76 (countback).

There were five birdies - Carol Whiteley on the 8th, Julie on the 9th and 11th and Sue SB on the 8th and 9th.

Congratulations to Dee Bateson who with her team won the Bedale Ladies Open.

As there was a big charity day at Rudding Park on Monday 40 seniors had a very early start in glorious sunshine for their Texas Scramble.

The winning team with nine birdies and the results after handicap adjustments were;1st Keith Richardson, David Spenley, George Gibson, Jeff Jones 59.0; 2nd Bob Fawbert, Graeme Ogilvie, Archie Hughes, Graham Metcalfe 60.7; 3rd Duncan Anderson, Ron Smith, Dave Herrington, Frank Ashford 63.2

The last seniors club medal of 2018 was played last Thursday and 36 enjoyed a dry but cooler morning for their golf.

The winner, Graeme Ogilvie, posted an excellent score being four better than the scratch score resulting in a handicap reduction to 11.

The results net of handicap were: 1st Graeme Ogilvie 67; 2nd Keith Richardson 71; 3rd John Chapman 72.

Twos were made by Graeme Ogilvie (5th and 14th) and George Gibson (5th and 8th).

The presentation took place for the 36-hole Seniors Championship played in July.

The Seniors champion was Archie Hughes with the best gross score and Frank Bailey was the winner of the best net score.

During the last few days two knock-out competitions have been completed and trophies presented to Bruce Szawlowski, the winner of the Seniors Singles, and to Archie Hughes and Bob Fawbert, the winners of the Seniors Pairs.

H&D UNION

Forty-nine ladies played in the Union Senior Championship at Bedale on Saturday.

Most of the early nett scoring ranged from 29 to 31 points, while the gross score averaged 10 points.

Halfway through the competition Liz McVey from Knaresbrough returned a nett 41 and gross 22 points while clubmate Brenda Moore, playing in the same group, carded a gross of 23 and nett 34 points.

Liz and Brenda went first and second on the nett scoreboard with their positions reversed on the gross board.

While Liz held her place at the top of the nett leader board, second place was closely contested.

Morag Wilkinson (Otley) with 34, but a better back nine, went into second place. She in turn dropped to third when Patsy Rochester from Oakdale carded a nett 35.

Meanwhile the top of the gross leader board had changed, Morag returning a gross 25p and then Patsy returning a gross 27pts.

The competition ended with the four players at the top of the nett leader board also taking the top four places in the gross competition.

First and runner-up prizes for gross and nett places were shared by these top four players.

Winner of the championship was McVey with a nett 41.

Runner-up with a nett 34pts was Wilkinson.

First place in the gross competition went to Rochester gross 27pts, runner-up was Moore with a gross 23.

Age-group winners: A - Jackie Thirsk (Masham) 33, B - P Knox (Bedale) 33, C - M Couchman (Ripon) 32 and D – Jean Ogden (Masham) 33.

RIPON CITY

Saturday was Invitation Day for Ripon’s men and the winners were R Shulver and C Hardie with 47 points, in second were J Farrar and S Foster on 46.

Maureen Hiscoe won Division One of the Ladies September Medal with a net score of 75 and second was Debbie Hannam-Walpole on 80.

Third was Ann Wood also with an 80.

Winner in Division Two was Debra Dennison on net 71. second was Tracey Lee and third Christine Pickard who both returned a net 74

OAKDALE

The Oakdale seniors played their return match against Ripon Seniors at Oakdale.

The match at Ripon had been enjoyable but very much in favour of the home team.

The Oakdale pairs set off in promising style as one after another they drove confidently down the first fairway.

The final game brought six wins to Oakdale.

Honours were shared in the two nearest-the-pin holes, on the ninth, it was Steve Butterill (Ripon) and on the 16th Oakdale’s Steve Berry.

Sarah Gosnell won the Ladies LGU Brooch with an excellent nett 67, reducing her handicap by three shots.

At the second Invitation Day for mixed teams, it was settled on countback with Chris Hughes (3), Carl Westerman (8), Nick Schumacher (9) and Daniel Westerman winning with 125 points from Graeme Wilcox (8), Paddy Kidd (12), Mark Gosnell (20) and Toby Coupe (3).

Results, Ladies September Medal & LGU Brooch, Silver Division: 1st Olivia Lambert (16) 72; 2nd Penny Baxter (9) 73; 3rd Joyce Slater (9) 73.

Bronze A Division: 1st Rachel Smith (27) 70; 2nd Marion Holliday (27) 76; ­3rd Jane Crosby (25) 76

Bronze B Division:1st Sarah Gosnell (33) 67; 2nd Rosie Brassington (32) 78; 3rd Janet Jelley (37) 87.

Ladies Nine Hole Stableford: 1st Jennifer Wrightson; 2nd Christine Walters; 3rd Maxine Hartley.

Men’s Wednesday Medal, Division One: 1st Neil Clark (10) 67; 2nd John Dixon (10) 68; 3rd Andrew Clemerson (5) 68

Division Two: 1st Martino de Mola (15) 67; 2nd Michael Reevey (15) 71; 3rd Steven Richardson (16) 71.

Division Three: 1st Michael Gaffney (19) 65; 2nd Mike Barker (20) 68; 3rd Eric Winterburn (20) 71.

Vice Presidents’ Prize: 1st Daniel Westerman (19) 40 pts; 2nd Graeme Wilcox (8) 39; 3rd Paddy Kidd (12) 38.