Melton Golf Club: Draisey fires ace in Race to Woodhall Spa

Stephen was thrilled with his achievement during the stableford competition, made harder as it was hitting straight into the wind.

A field of 80 players took part, with Dave Bailey winning overall win in the three-division competition with 39 points. He finished two clear of Brendan Boyce who took second place on countback from Chris Shardlow, with the top three claiming the only sub-par scores of the day.

The top 20 earned RWS points ranging from 300 to 50, with all of the others gaining 25 points.

Results – Division One: 1 Sam Pollard 36pts, 2 Stephen Draisey 35pts. Division Two: 1 Brendan Boyce 37pts ocb, 2 Chris Shardlow. Division Three: 1 Malcolm Farrow 36pts, 2 Steven Brown 35pts.

Twos sweep: Stephen Draisey, Sam Pollard, Mick Cavani, Phil Millward.

So far in the series there have been three different winners with Malcolm Farrow currently topping the league table with Mark Lewis just behind in second, Dave Bailey in third, Brendan Boyce fourth and Chris Shardlow in fifth.

* The return of wintry weather last Wednesday, which saw the greens covered in ice at one point, didn’t put off the players in the RWS Midweek Medal.

Garry Taylor shot a two-under par round of nett 69 to secure the medal and the 300 points in the Race to Woodhall Spa.

Junior captain Jake Mogg was second with nett 71, with Steve Wright third a stroke back and Colin Kitchen pipping Jim Dobbin to fourth place on countback after both scored nett 73.

The rest of the top 10 was Malcolm Farrow, Scott Cartwright, Matt Catton, Gary kitchen and Brendan Boyce.

Colin Kitchen, Danny Raven and Jake Mogg shared the twos sweep.

* The Melton C team made a winning start to the 2017 season at home to Kirby Muxloe.

The visitors could only bring 10 players and two Melton players kindly stepped down from playing to even up the sides.

This sporting gesture set the tone for a fine match played in a splendid spirit.

Three of the five matches were decided on the final green as Melton came out on top thanks to wins for Pete Rayers and Dave Moss (3 and 2); Ady Stokes and Alan Parkes (3 and 1), and Nigel Blunt with Colin Kitchen (1-up), while Ian King and David Wells halved.

* Melton began their Leicestershire and Rutland Scratch League season at home to Rutland Water.

Craig Hallam, playing at number one, lost narrowly in a high quality game to a par four on the difficult final hole, and Jake Mogg suffered the same fate on the 18th.

George Boddy made a good comeback, but a couple of three-putts late in the match let his opponent prevail 3 and 2. 

Fortunes changed for Melton when Billy Kevan’s well-timed comeback secured his match on the last hole for a 1-up win.

This was followed by wins for Tom Smith (6 and 4), Matt Hatton (3 and 2), Dave Poolan (4 and 3), while the final match was awarded to Melton on a walkover to give the hosts a 5-3 victory.   

* A close competition in the mixed division nine-hole qualifier saw a win for Nick Humphries.

His 20 points just pipped John Harvey (19pts), while Alan Sleath finished third with 17 points on countback from Steve Middleton.

* Melton Ladies hosted their second friendly match of the season against Greetham Valley which was halved.

Lady captain Bettyne Norton and Liz Clark won their game 3 and 2, while lady vice-captain Sandie Normanton and Avis Webb won 2 and 1 to secure the half.