SENIORS' CHAMPIONSHIPS - A GOLFER'S REPORT......

50 men and 42 women gathered at an as ever well-presented Thurlestone Golf Club, the “Pebble Beach of the South West”, for the Men’s and Women’s Senior Championships on Thursday, 30th June. The playing areas are generous but there is some extremely heavy rough waiting to penalise those offline. And as the wind rose significantly throughout the day it became more and more of a hazard.  

The men played 27 holes, their 18 and 9-hole rounds either side of the women playing their 18. Par 71 for the men, 73 for the women. The decision had been taken to start every match from the 2nd tee to try and aid the pace of play with no one waiting to try for the 1st green holding up play from the start, a decision vindicated as the strong wind made the 265-yard 1st-hole play wind assisted all day.

Two of the locals set the early pace for the men, John Mahood carding a fantastic gross 74, net 65, to take command of the Handicap prize, Devon squad player Dave Eva bettering it by 1 shot gross with 73. Playing with Eva, Teignmouth’s Colin Papworth shot a solid 74, and the top of the list was soon peopled by many of the Devon Senior squad.

Team manager Tim Aggett (Warren) took the morning lead with 72, a round featuring some serious escapology, not least a lost ball off the tee at the par 5 12th, with the second ball holed in 3 for an unlikely par. Mark Evans (Royal North Devon) had a topsy-turvy 74 with just 6 pars, a score matched by Teignmouth’s Nick Draper, Saunton’s Ian Barnes, Churston duo of Colin Masters and Simon Knapman and Honiton’s Andy Clark. 

Late in the first-round Teignmouth’s Nick James tied Aggett for the Scratch lead with an excellent 72 of his own, a round that featured 15 pars and might have been 1 better as a short birdie putt escaped at his final hole. The round also put him just 1 behind Mahood in the handicap

The wind was really starting to pick up as the women started out for their single round, the first groups going out just after 11am. The Scratch Championship was dominated by Jenny Roberts of the home club, who produced an excellent 4-over par 77. And it was all about that one group when it came to determining the top places in the scratch. Jenny’s playing partners were 2nd and 3rd, Stover’s Sarah Hoff shooting 81 and Yelverton’s Gilly Jarvis 82 to decide 2nd and 3rd places. Churston’s Kate Field was 4th on 83, ahead of Stover’s Sarah Arnold on 84.

Kate (13) won the handicap prize with a score of net 70, ahead of Teign Valley’s Maggie Thomson (17) on 71. Maggie beat Warren’s Mary Dummett (21) into 3rd on countback. Countback also decided the next two spots, Elaine Marwood (Okehampton, 25) ahead of Judy Murray (East Devon, 16) for 4th after both scored 72. Teignmouth’s Joyce Brown (21) had the best back 9 of the 73s, ahead of Hoff (8) and Roberts (4).

Meanwhile the men were heading back out for 9 further holes playing from the 2nd to the 10th, and with the wind now decidedly up and off the sea this was a tough proposition. Mahood was first out and whilst he couldn’t quite repeat the heroics of the morning, a very solid afternoon effort worthily secured the Handicap prize. Eva and Papworth shot +3 and +2 respectively to set the initial clubhouse scratch target at +5.

Two groups behind them, playing with Aggett, Torquay’s Peter Bicknell came back from a disappointing morning 76 shooting level par for the afternoon 9 to join the tie at +5. Draper (Teignmouth) was +2 for the afternoon to join that now 4-way tie. James couldn’t replicate his morning form, but still managed to hang on to be runner up to Mahood in the handicap for a   tied 7th overall. Evans was a great deal more solid in the afternoon, shooting level par to finish at 3-over – having been 3-over after 2.

After an inconsistent morning Aggett found some afternoon mojo. The downwind 350-yard 4th hole was driven, the ball coming to rest within 7 feet of the hole. Although the eagle putt was missed his birdie was secured. It was driver again at the par 3, 5th back into the wind, a low cut coming to rest within 2-feet of the hole from 220 yards for another birdie. In trouble after a wayward tee shot at 7, a crucial downhill 10-footer was holed for par. That was followed by a long iron to within 20-feet at the 8th and another birdie. Although a shot was dropped at the final hole, 2-under for the afternoon 9 secured a 27-hole total of 1-under and a 4-shot win for the 61-year old’s second Devon Seniors' Championship.

That wasn’t quite enough for the Warren to grab the team shield as the Teignmouth trio of Papworth, Draper and James all finished inside the top ten to take the win by 8 shots from the Warren trio of Aggett, Jez Binch and Tim Jones.

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