Steele makes most of early start in terrific Midweek Medal round

The Midweek Medal at Greetham Valley, played on the Lakes course, clearly favoured the early starters as the wind increased throughout the day and the top places were, in the main, taken by those going out early.

In third spot Terry Smith (15) had a welcome return to the upper echelons on the leader-board as he registered a nett 71 and was delighted to put in a strong performance.

Annoyed at taking a double bogey on the third, Terry buckled down and completed the rest of the front nine in only two over gross.

The back half went very similarly with a double bogey on the 14th where the water came into play but, that apart, Terry put together a very steady home stretch to finish in bronze medal position.

Just beating him on countback (also with nett 71) was Darren Child (5) who had an amazingly consistent round with only two bogeys on each half and all other scores being pars.

On the back nine Darren had a few problems on the par threes of the 10th and 12th but, that apart, nothing really troubled him.

The overall winner was Chris Steele (4) who had a terrific round of nett 70.

Chris started with a slight wobble in the front half as he dropped shots (to the card) over the last two holes although these were mitigated by a birdie on the fourth.

The back nine was much steadier as Chris went round in one under gross with two birdies and pars everywhere else except for the 12th.

At the weekend an Any Pair competition was played with both scores counting and there were some surprisingly good scores entered over the day.

With 38 pairs on course there were six scores of 71 or better and five of these were all with 71 points.

Taking third spot on countback were Lesley and Jim Storey (who just beat Pete Bagshaw and Terry Smith) while Paul Thwaites and Simon Linnell squeezed into second spot.

The overall winners were Darren Child and Craig Allan with 72.

On Monday, as the winds of Storm Ophelia were gathering, the Seniors played a qualifying stableford on the Valley course.

The wind was gusting in ever increasing speeds but this did not stop John Morfee (16) from possible having the round of his life, but only for 16 holes.

John started with a very scrappy double bogey on the first, but then completed the next eight holes in only four over gross.

His back nine was even better until, standing on the 17th tee at one over gross (for the back nine), he suddenly had a rush of blood to his head and failed to score anything on the last two holes which still left him as the winner of Division One with 42 points which could have been higher still.

With 41 points Mike Maffei (12) also played very solidly with 12 pars and five bogeys.

Like many a golfer Mike had one unfortunate hole when he cleared the water on the short 13th but failed to get his chip-shot out of the rough and left himself too much to do with his fourth.

In third place Alan Sanders (14) scored 39 points and, while he had two birdies, he also messed up on the ninth to enter ‘null points’.

In Division Two, Radley Wardhaugh came third with 38 which was a fine effort after his struggles on the front half which included three double bogeys.

Coming home, however, Radley hardly put a foot wrong as he racked up 21 points on the back half.

Peter Palmer (19) just beat Radley into second by one point despite struggling on the return part of the course.

Peter squeezed out three pars and a birdie (on the third) but found the back half trying as the wind grew.

Top spot went to Richard Foster (25) with 39, just beating Peter on countback thanks to a steadier back half.

Richard, like Peter, was pleased to have three pars but it was his steadier play on the back that eventually won the day.

The club played a Mixed away match against Belton Park on Sunday and most members found the greens to be a real challenge both in terms of reading the line but especially in judging the pace as they were much faster than those at Greetham.

The overall match resulted in a loss for Greetham but, although the final score of 1-5 seems heavy, all of the matches were closely-fought.

Mike Pare and Rachel Southwell provided the win but mention must be made of Fay Taylor and Neil Southwell who fought back from six down to lose by only 2&1.