Brean Golf Club’s first competition of 2024 has been completed after several weeks of course closures due to the wet weather – and the New Year Trophy has been won by Steve Jones.
The event was round six of the Seniors Winter League and only 9 holes were open for play amid wet conditions underfoot and freezing temperatures.
A little bit of creativity from Club Professional Andrew March and Winter League organiser Tony Oliver saw a two ball betterball stableford format taking place over 12 holes.
“With the stop start nature of this winter so far much rustiness was evident in many of the players but Oliver and his partner Brian Read had no such issues as they combined to amass 28 points over the layout,” says Andrew.
“This gave them a 5 point winning margin over Chris Fairchild and Dave Cogger with Mark Banczyk-Gee and Alan Evans taking third on 20. The victory saw Oliver retake sole possession of top spot in the points table with Mark Elvins and Fairchild being his nearest challengers in second.”
“John Govey enjoyed a superb morning on the course in the final round of the Seniors Eclectic. He carded the only sub par round of the day and he didn’t just manage to beat par either.”
“His nett 64 was five clear of runner up Barry Roe who matched the par figure of 69 with Ian Adams placed 3rd on 70. The event was the fifth and final round of the Eclectic event which started back in October but was much delayed in completing the full quota of five rounds due to the poor winter weather.”
“Many permutations were possible heading into the round with players trying to suss out the holes they needed to improve on and it was felt all was still to play for. In the end the ‘main mover’ was Govey who ended in a tie for second alongside Mike Allen and Nigel Ellis with scores of 56 nett. They couldn’t catch the winner though as Brian Read maintained the lead he held after round four and won the Shield by two with a nett 54.”
After being delayed by a week, the January Medal was completed on Saturday and the traditional opening weekend event of the calendar year carried its usual additional pieces of silverware to be won.
Andrew adds: “Two players produced superb scores and are both making a bit of a habit of winning this early year event. Both Steve Jones and Gordy Wheelaghan handed in scores of nett 61 on a day when many found scoring a bit harder than the leading duo did.”
“Jones took the New Years Trophy with his version of 61 which is awarded to the best overall score on the day. He has become quite prolific in this competition over the years with this win being his fourth New Year victory. His score also secured the Division Two Medal ahead of the runner up Murray Parsons on 66.”
“Wheelaghan missed out on a countback to Jones but still collected a Trophy and it was one that he was familiar with having won it also in 2023. The Deacon Trophy, for the leading Division Three player, remained in the Club Captains possession for another 12 months as he relegated Kevin Hollyhead’s nett 64 into the runners up position. Like Jones, Wheelaghan took top spot in the Division Three Medal. Division One entries were somewhat thin on the ground and the Medal was won by Chris Fairchild with a nett score of 70 ahead of runner up Reece McDermott.”
“Sunday morning saw the first shotgun event of the year at Brean and these always prove popular competitions. The Percy Underwood Trophy is a two player Scramble with pairings drawn at random by the computer. Three pairings all returned nett scores of 61 so the computer had to be called back into action to complete the countback. The outcome of this calculation was a win for the Jones cousins, Millie and Isla. They took victory with the best back nine of the leading scores but it took a back six countback to decide the runners up. Pete Barton and Brian Read were eventually placed second ahead of Barry Roe and Kevin Hollyhead who settled for third.”
Pictured: New Year Trophy winner Steve Jones at Brean Golf ClubÂ
