A STABLEFORD qualifier was played on Dartmouth’s Championship Course on Monday August 12 with 95% of course and blue tee handicaps in play.

33 players were in the field and points were up for grabs for Senior of the Year. A very warm day was the prospect for all with the sun heating up the fairways. This was only marred by a nagging cross breeze on the inward nine which seems to be the norm for this time of the season.

Today’s leading divisional lights were Messrs Bevan (Div Two + overall winner) and Bonser (Div One). Both had fine rounds but they were not without their challenges as they both recorded several no-front nine scores whilst scoring heavily elsewhere.

This seemed to be a general trait that ran through the field with only three players recording positive scores at every hole, yet all three were strangely placed well down the pecking order.

The most challenging hole was the seventeenth, playing into a stiff draught where the best score across the pack was a bogey. In summary- an excellent day for golf which did not produce the high scores that were expected.

Overall competition results were as follows: 1st- Richard Bevan (39 points), 2nd- Gary Bonser (37pts), 3rd- Tony King (36pts), 4th- Paul Stubbs (35pts), 5th- Tony Hall (35pts) and 6th- Stephen Haupt (34pts).

Richard’s closest challenger in Division Two was Paul whilst it went right down to the wire between Gary and Tony King in Division One.

Birdie Twos were scored at the par three third by Bernard Taylor, Colin Cooper & Tony Hall.

The omnipresent Nigel Osborne kept a watchful eye on the cards and downloaded the data so thanks go to him as always.

After 17 events in the Senior of the Year race (sliding points scale), Gary Bonser leads on 71 points ahead of Mark Mitchell (55pts) and George Reece (45pts).

With around seven scheduled qualifiers left Gary looks to have one hand on the cup.

Meanwhile, a very close match against Woodbury Park on Tuesday August 6 ended in a 3.5-2.5 victory for Dartmouth. All the games could have gone either way with some fine golf on display. Numerous birdies and two eagles were scored, Dartmouth’s own Gary Bonser getting one them on the eighth hole. Trevor Pretty won the nearest the pin on the third hole.

Next week sees the fourth round of the Seniors’ Cup and an away friendly against Torquay so stay tuned for the update.