Melton Mowbray Golf Club: Early exits in Daily Mail Foursomes

The first round of the Ladies Daily Mail Foursomes was played last Thursday at home to Stanton on the Wolds.

Lady president Julia Brown paired with Drina Terrza to take on Stanton’s Diane Hardwick and Francis Tunnicliffe.

The gusting wind and rain prevented a consistent good standard of golf, but the match was very close, and after nine holes the Melton ladies trailed 1-down.

Stanton won two of the next three holes to go 3-up, but this only spurred on the Melton pair to win the next two holes and leave them 1-down again.

The 16th was halved, but the Stanton Pair won the 17th to take the match 2 and 1 to send them into the next round.

Paul Gough and Mick Cavani took on Stoke Rochford GC father and son Adrian and Harry Stannard in the men’s competition.

Before and during the tee-off, the players were subjected to torrential rain and high gusting wind which tested the standard of golf on both sides.

After a few holes the rain subsided and the sun started to break through from the sixth hole, but the high winds continued and the cold chill remained almost to the end of the match.

Hosts Stoke Rochford won the first four holes and looked to be running away with the match until Melton halved a few holes to stop the rot.

They then pulled back to just 2-down but both Adrian, Stoke’s club chairman and his son Harry continued to play some steady golf to prevent Melton cutting the deficit further.

Mick Cavani sank a 15ft downhill putt to win the 10th hole, but after sharing the next two holes, Stoke turned the screw, taking the 13th and 15th.

The hosts then won the match 3 and 2 on the 16th when Harry landed an excellent 25ft putt from just off the green to halve the hole, with Melton lying just 5ft from the hole.

* There was a good turnout for the American Foursomes on Saturday despite many golfers participating in individual knockouts.

All had to battle hard in the extreme elements of gusting winds and intermittent torrential rain.

Alan Sleath and Dave Timbrell won with an excellent nett 66, with runners-up David Taylor and Geoff Townsend just a shot behind.

Third place was taken by Brian Cole and Bob Luke with 67.5, while fourth place went to Luke and Simon Snow with 68.5, pushing Owen Cook and John Webb into fifth place on countback.

The twos spoils were divided between David Taylor and Geoff Townsend (5th), Terry Brown and James Denny (5th), and Alan Sleath and Dave Timbrell (14th).

* The Monday Mingles also attracted good numbers, with the back nine holes selected for play instead of the front nine.

This gave the players a much sterner test on the longer par fives, especially in the gusting headwind.

This led to slightly higher scores, with club chairman Phil Millward and Sandie Hudson winning with a nett 37.6 ahead of runners-up George Schmidt and Pat Barnes (nett 39.2).

There was a tie for third place between Owen and Chris Cook, and Tom Eadon with Liz Clark, both with 40.4.

The best fourball was Eddie and Gay Cham with Phil Millward and Sandie Hudson (nett 79.4).