Melton Golf Club: Raven swoops to weekend double win

The top 30 golfers in the RWS Order of Merit at the season’s end have the opportunity to qualify for a play-off at Melton where the top five join the overall winner or the final at Woodhall Spa on the prestigious Hotchkin course.

The opening stableford competition was won by the in-form Danny Raven with 40 points, on countback from JP O’Reilly.

Geoff Townsend took third place, also on countback, from fourth-placed Mark Lewis and Phil Gray in fifth, all three with 39 points.

Two’s winners: John Harvey (7th), Kevin Robertson (14th), Martin Hall (5th).

* On Saturday, 43 pairs took to the Melton Mowbray course to play in the prestigious Gerry Davies Trophy, a pairs betterball stableford competition, with all proceeds going to charity.

The greens staff and artisans had taken advantage of the sunnier weather and worked hard under the guidance of head greenkeeper Paul Robinson to prepare the course to a very high standard.

Resident professional Tony Westwood prepared all of the cards and welcomed all of the golfers.

The early clubhouse leaders of Andy Westwood and Andy Pedlar returned a very creditable 39 points, but they would not top the leaderboard for long.

They were beaten into fifth place by some outstanding pairings who produced some very good golf, topped by Danny Raven and Phillip Gray who finished five points clear with 46 points.

Results: 1 Danny Raven/Phillip Gray 46pts, 2 Neil Farish/Martin Hall 41pts, 3 John Harvey/Chris Shardlow 40pts, 4 Brendon Boyce/Richard Kendall 39pts ocb, 5 Andy Westwood/Andy Pedlar.

* The first match of the new season saw Melton Golf Club’s B team travel to Whetstone last Wednesday on the hottest day of the year.

Whetstone B team captain Kevin Parker welcomed the Melton team before Melton skipper Steve Wright thanked their hosts and their groundstaff for preparing the course in such good condition.

The match was a close encounter with Whetstone victorious by three points to two

Melton’s winning pairs were Billy Kevan and Richard Grieve (2-up), and Neil Eaves with Steve Wright (2-up).

The B team are next in action at home to Forest Hill on Wednesday, May 16.

* The recent wet weather cancelled three matches for Melton’s seniors.

But with improving conditions, they finally got out on the course to play The Nottinghamshire at home.

On a drying course and in a keen breeze, which made some holes play much longer, Melton came out on top five-and-a-half to two-and-a-half, making it two wins from two starts this season.

Winning pairs: captain Jerzy Schmidt/Pete Rayers (4 and 3), John Webb/Bob Purkis (2-up), Julian Kisiel/Jim McQuillan (6 and 5), Haydn Snow/Denis Dayman (2 and 1), vice-captain Dick Chapman/Bob Luke (5 and 4), John Squires/Al Terzza (halved).