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

Knaresborough GC

There’s no hiding the fact that repeated Spring showers have raised the premium on hitting fairways every time.

Carl Peirson (1) was equal to the challenge. To the extent that he chalked up back to back division one Medal victories in April and May.

He repeatedly found the fairway off the tee on his way to a 73. The occasional iron went astray but the short irons rarely let him down and only a couple of short putts missed their target.

Three birdies ensured his success, the first at the opening hole where his second shot finished a foot from the pin.

The next was a powerful drive over trees at the dogleg 10th and a nine iron to a couple of inches. Birdie three came at the 268 yard 14th where he rolled in an 18-foot putt.

Barry McDermottroe (8) also pinned three birdies to match Peirson on the nett score but a triple bogey seven at the 18th undermined his challenge. Steve Bradley (3) was third on 74.

In Division Two, Ian Pickles (13) decided to navigate the drizzly conditions by clubbing up one, or even two, clubs to gain more distance.

The result was a best-of-the day nett of 69, and that despite hitting only three greens in regulation. It was the first time this year he’s played to, or below, his handicap.

Pushing him hard in second spot was David Harrison (10) who ran up 13 pars for his 69 but was nudged aside on countback after finishing with a double bogey. Paul Wilcox (10) closed third on 70.

Beating par was certainly no easy matter in the ladies’ competitions. Julie Lovell (15) fought her way to a 79 to top the list of players qualifying to knockout rounds.

She admitted the going was tough, but looked in good shape after the first six holes with four pars on the card.

However, it wasn’t so much a game of two halves but of three thirds as she hit wayward shots over the next half a dozen into trees, hazards and thick rough, spilling shots on the way.

She rallied over the final third, nailing pars to keep her ahead of Julie Hargreaves (24) on 80 and Brenda Moore (17) on 83.

Even harder going for the May Medal competitors as the top four closed out on 84 in Division One, divided on the card play-off. That left Di Kemp (21) heading the pack with Linda Savage (13) second and Julie Lovell (14) in third.

Yet, in a stand-out performance, Anne Wylie (25) came back with a remarkable 72 - three under - in Division Two. No surprise that her long game was “far more consistent than normal”.

Second and third were Lis Tibell (23) on 83 ahead of Kim Jones (23) on countback. Pam Lancaster (55) led division three on 91 with Anne Cooley (40) second on 93 and Janice Spink (38) on 102.

The first trial of the new venture, the Masters Week of qualifiers, was staged in April and the results produced some familiar names. David Firth (8) topped the Strokeplay Challenge with 78, followed by Chris Wood (1) on 81 and Jonny Braithwaite (5) on 82.

In the Masters’ Stableford, James Keane (10) shot 38 points to beat Ian Southall (19) on 35 and Graham Shorter (9) on 34.

Pannal GC

Pannal’s ladies competed on either Sunday April 23 or Tuesday April 25 in the qualifying competition for the Bunny Belmont Trophy. Claire 'Bunny' Belmont was the wife of the founder of Betty's Tearooms of Harrogate and was Lady Captain in 1948-49.

The top eight nett scores from these qualifiers then enter for the Bunny Belmont Trophy Singles Matchplay knockout where the draw is seeded.

In Sunday qualifying the winner was Rachel Memmott (nett 79) with Sue Holden second (nett 80). In Tuesday qualifying Linda Moore was the winner in Division One with nett 73 and Helen Mountford nett 86 topped the Division Two list

Eight Ladies have qualified for the seeded draw, namely Vicky Eyre, Rachel Memmott (both nett 79), Sue Holden (nett 80), Sandra Taylor, Amanda Dunn (both nett 81), Ann Whiteley, Moira Rusling and Carole Whiles (all nett 82).

The Tuesday qualifier was also a medal run in parallel with the Bunny Belmont. In Division One following Linda Moore were Vicky Eyre and Sandra Taylor and in Division Two behind Helen Mountford were Margaret McNeill and Gill Roberts.

The Midweek Stableford on Wednesday April 26 was dominated by Men’s captains past and present. Current holder Martin Boyle came out the winner with 38 points, 3 ahead of Men’s Vice President Lindsay Mckenzie, with Neil Normington having to be content with third place and 33 points.

On Saturday April 28, the first medal of the season was contested by 153 players in three divisions who were also looking to qualify for the one place in the regional stages of the St James‘s Place National Pro-Am Championship.

In Division One, Nigel Wright (7.0) lead the way with a nett 72, just one shot ahead of no less than five players. The countback assessment resulted in second place going to Stuart McClements and third to Roger Emmett. Best gross of the day in the Division was scored by Jason Taylor (-3) with 71.

In Division Two, Phil Brown (14.0) was a clear winner with his net 69 giving him both the Division and the Overall Nett best score of the day. Mark Henderson (nett 71) was second (also recording the Division’s best gross), with Chris McCarthy third on nett 72

The countback computer was particularly busy in Division Three where it was needed to decide all three top places. Nett 71 was the recorded score with Paul Chumas proving victorious with both the best gross and nett ahead of Paul Bernard and Simon Whiteley

Finally in a busy week at Pannal, on Monday May 1, the qualifying round of the Quaich Trophy for men aged 65 and over took place.

In total, 28 players competed over 18 holes for one of the eight places in the matchplay knockout stage. Roy Woodburn with nett 70 took the honours on the day with Jeremy Halliday on nett 71 and Nigel Wright, nett 72.

The other five places went to Mark Homer, Geoff Otty, Rob Farnell, Michael Rhodes and Ian McNeill.

The ladies golf on Tuesday May 2 was an 18-hole Stableford played across two divisions.

Ladies’ Captain Clare Davies took the honours in Division One with an exemplary 36 points. She was followed home by Claire Hutchinson on 34 points, with third place decided on a countback where Ruth Skaife-Clarke edged out Janet Jones, both with 33 points.

In Division Two it was fast-improving Vanda McKenzie who came out on top with 36 points, one point ahead of Amanda Allen who in turn pipped Debbie Bruce following a countback

A small field contested the Mid-week Medal on Wednesday May 3. Once again it took a countback to separate the winners both with a nett 73.

Paul Mancey (15) came out ahead of Sam Dabin (7) with Jonathan Langham (17) taking third spot with a nett 77

The May Medal was held on Saturday 6 with events elsewhere not deterring a field of 117. Players were also seeking one of the 16 qualifying places for the Beanland Trophy when they will be drawn into eight pairs to play off by Foursomes Medal for the Trophy.

Graham Douglas (1) won Division One going out in 38 coming back in 34 with an eagle at the 14th, 2 other birdies and 11 pars beating Will Holt (9) in a card play-off.

A countback was also required to determine third place where Michael Jonas (6) edged out Jason Taylor (+3) both on nett 72. Jason’s gross 69 was however the best of the day.

Nick Tipling (12) won Division Two going out in 42 and back in 42 with 7 pars beating Simon Foreman (12) by 1 shot and also claiming the division’s best gross score of 84.

Jonathan Kershaw (11) took third place where his nett 74 beat Michael Flatley (13) after a card play-off.

Derek Christmas (19) won Division Three, going out and back in 47 with 2 pars beating Mike Moore (19) by 1 shot. His nett 76 was matched by three other players.

The countback system saw Paul Chumas (17) declared in third. Although he did not make the podium Paul Smith (16) can take pride in the division’s best gross of the day with 92

The club marked the Coronation of King Charles III with two planned events. On the evening of Friday May 5, around 60 members formed seven teams to contest the Coronation Quiz.

Fuelled by either Coronation chicken curry or vegetable chilli there was massive enthusiasm for the quiz superbly constructed by Ian McNeil and musical maestro Mike Starkings and hosted by Men’s Captain Martin Boyle.

The winners were Annie Burke, Richard Hanson and Susie Stuart- Brown, Andy and Julie North, Gill Roberts and Bruce and Jenny Allison, fittingly named ‘The Royal & Ancients’.

The second event should have been a Fourball Betterball on Monday afternoon May 8th followed by a Barbecue and live music but after persistent morning rain forecasted to last the day the Captains had to make the difficult decision to cancel.

Oakdale GC

Oakdale’s Junior Medal was played on April 23 and the winner was William Roeloffs (44), while Cameron Gallagher (14) came in second with 73 nett.

Oakdale’s first match of the Bainbridge Shield series took place against Ripon on April 25 on home soil.

Oakdale had four winning pairs, one half and just one loss walking away with a 9-3 win.

Ten pairs entered the Captain’s Nine-hole Foursomes Competition and the winners were Brian & Judy Foxton, who shot 18 stableford points. Second were club captain Paul Dutton & John Mungovin, who scored 17 points and third with 16 points were Steve & Rachel Smith.

The Ladies Scratch Team played its first Yorkshire Ladies’ Inter-Club match on April 27 at Ilkley. The team lost 2.5 – 4.5. The team was more successful in its match against Bingley St Ives on May 3, winning 5 - 2.

At the Yorkshire Veterans Championship at Huddersfield, Penny Baxter came fifth with an excellent gross 84 and qualified for the match play rounds, unfortunately losing to a very close match on the 19th in the first round.

In the Daily Mail Foursomes, Christine Schlegel and Margaret Liddle enjoyed a fine away victory against a team from Otley and will be playing Skipton at Oakdale in the next round on May 14.

Wednesday’s Men’s Stableford attracted 50 players. The winner with an excellent score was Jonathan Ross (17) with 39 points and second on count back from Simon Midgley (13) was Mark Hudson (23) with 37 points.

There was another excellent turn-out for the Saturday Stableford, with 56 players taking part.

The overall winner, on countback, was Steven Richardson (14) from Mark Little (18) both scoring excellent rounds of 41 points.

In third place was Liam Daly (11) with a solid 38 points. On the day only five two’s were score with three of them on the 16th hole.

Oakdale recently held the first of two seniors’ open events that will take place on its course, with 68 pairs from across the North of England taking part.

Four teams had 41 points and, on countback, Mark McLean (7) & M J Agabeg (7) were first. Second were Mark Calvert (11) & Carl Billett (14), third place went to Paul Draycott (5) & John Titley (13), while Gerry Waterhouse (13) & Chris Lonsdale (10) claimed fourth spot.

Bedale GC

April 12 – Ladies April Rose: Division One - 1st Terri Williamson nett 75; 2nd Sally Hunt nett 81.

Division 2 - 1st Anne Anderson nett 86 (countback required); 2nd Pam Rawlin nett 86 (countback required).

Division 3 - 1st Claire Retchless nett 75; 2nd Helen Wycks nett 82.

April 12 – Water Rats: 1st Dave McCabe 43 pts; 2nd Peter Kirkbride 35 pts; 3rd Steve Livesey 33 pts.

April 13 – Thursday Stableford: 1st Gary Boothroyd 37 pts; 2nd Dave Larder 36 pts; 3rd John McAuley 34 pts.

April 14 – Seniors Medal: 1st Steve Gibbins nett 70; 2nd Dave Fell nett 72; 3rd Ken Pitchford nett 73.

April 14 – Friday Animals: 1st Dave Lawrence 34 pts; 2nd Steve Livesey 33 pts; 3rd Craig Lawson 32 pts.

April 15 – Rabbits Spring Stableford: 1st James Phillips 37 pts; 2nd Graham Lilley 35 pts (countback required); 3rd Jimmy Bleasdale 35 pts (countback required).

April 15 – Junior Hall Shield: 1st Bailey Lawson nett 66; 2nd Charlie Clark nett 69; 3rd Oscar Cullen nett 71.

April 16 – Gents Lascelles Qualifier: Division One - 1st Dominic Moon nett 72 (countback required); 2nd Rob Cullen nett 72 (countback required); 3rd Alex Morris nett 73 (countback required); 4th Ian Morris nett 73 (countback required).

Division 2 - 1st Kevin Bradley nett 70; 2nd Scott Partridge nett 71; 3rd Andrew Simpson nett 72 (countback required); 4th Mike Edwards nett 72 (countback required).

Division 3 – 1st Steve Senior nett 71; 2nd Anthony Collett nett 73; 3rd Peter Durrans nett 74; 4th Steve Gunn nett 76.

Harrogate & District Union GC

Whilst two other local courses were closed on Sunday due to heavy overnight rain, Oakdale GC was open at 8am to welcome the 68 players taking part in the Harrogate Union’s 3rd Division Championships.

The competition was a Stableford with prizes for first two teams, and the top individual.

In the Singles competition, local knowledge was the key to Oakdale’s Matthew Erasmus' winning score of 40 points, including a birdie at the par-three third, yielding 5 points.

In second place was Carl Proctor representing Romanby A. He also birdied the third, on the way to 38 points. Bedale's Mohammed Karmali came third with 35 points.

In the team of four event, Oakdale ‘A’ came out on top with 128 points, seven ahead of Romanby ‘A’, with Harrogate ‘B’ in third place on 117 points.