Melton Golf Club: Boyce tops final Race to Wodohall Spa leaderboard

The Leigh, Hayes and Hill trophies are played by golfers in the three handicap divisions, while the competition also served as the final counting result in the season-long Race to Woodhall Spa (RWS).

The end-of-season shoot-out for the top 30 players in the standings takes place next month.

Conditions were tricky as reflected by the standard scratch of 71, but Geoff Townsend continued his recent form with a nett 70 to win Division One and claim the Leigh Trophy.

He pushed Matt Catton into second on countback with Sam Pollard third on nett 71.

The Hayes Trophy (Division Two) was very competitive and went to Chris Vose with an overall best nett score of the day of 67 which also captured the maximum RWS points.

Dougie Bryce came second with a nett 68 followed by Antony Halls a stroke back in third.

The Hill Trophy (Division Three) was won by Malcolm Farrow with a nett 74 on countback from Alan Parkes.

The prize for heading the RWS Order of Merit table is a guaranteed place at Woodhall Spa next month and over the last couple of weeks Brendan Boyce and Mezz Watchorn had pulled clear of the rest of the field.

Entering the final day, Mezz needed a very high finish in order to overhaul Brendan, but it wasn’t possible as Brendan’s consistent results earned him top spot following 13 top 10 finishes from 21 starts.

* Following the wild winds of the early morning, players faced tricky conditions in last Wednesday’s Midweek Medal.

Kris Owen was one of the early starters and he continued his superb form from the Saturday with another round of nett 67 to set the early pace. However, Kris was to finish third as both Geoff Townsend and Nick Baines also recorded excellent 67s with the win going to Nick on countback.

A special mention goes to Dave Poolan and Steve Wright who finished fourth and fifth respectively with fine rounds of nett 68.

* On a bright, dry day, with greens recovering from autumn maintenance, Melton GC seniors, led by stand-in captain Dave Wells, overcame a strong Beedles Lake side.

Melton came out winners against a side which has enjoyed a fine season without losing a match, 7-1.

Scores: Dave Wells/Julien Kisiel won 3 and 1, club captain Ian Solloway/Don Benzie won 2 and 1, Bob Purkis/Ray Smith won 6 and 4, Richard Haines/Dick Chapman won 3 and 2, Richard Grieve/Dave Bentley won 1-up, Dave Moss/Joe Carrington won 5 and 4, Phil Millward/George Hoskins halved, John Squires/Tom Eadon halved.