THE Thurlestone GC ladies’ President team played their first match of the season at home against Churston on Monday, April 28, reports Liz Line.

Clear blue skies and warm sunshine greeted the ladies on a glorious day and there was quite a keen east-north-east breeze which certainly helped on some holes.

The team of seven players all arrived looking very smart in their new club colours. The Churston players were all very experienced, most having played at Thurlestone before.

As always, the match was played in a competitive yet friendly manner.

Three of the seven matches finished on the 18th. Three other matches were emphatic victories for the Thurlestone players with the final result a 4.5-2.5 win for Thurlestone, marking a great start to the season.

Next up on Saturday was the Kennedy Cup, a competition that comprises two separate rounds, the first being a bogey competition in early May and the second being a medal round played in July, both played from white tees.

The two winners play each other in a matchplay final unless the same person wins each of the qualifying competitions of course.

Junior Aiden Mulligan (10) took the first win with +6, from Graeme Fairley (9) and Andrew Morgan (13), both of whom finished at +4.

Six birdie twos were notched on the day with Daniel Cunningham responsible for two of these, on holes one and five.

Back to Monday 28 and Thurlestone duo Kaz Phillips and Judith Lungmuss ventured onto the moor at Yelverton to play the first round of the ladies Doris Willies Little Foursomes competition. Their opponents were Stevie Foster and Joanne Hatherley from Staddon Heights Golf Club.

It was a very close game all the way, in fact so close it had to go to the 19th hole! Thurlestone won it on that extra hole and now advance, with the next round to be played at Stover Golf Club. It is a wonderful way to play the different courses in Devon in a fun but competitive way.

On Sunday, it was the scratch match play qualifier for 53 men off of the white tees, the first major tournament of the year. The winner of the gross competition was Dave Eva (3) with a score of 73 and second was Steve Pike (-2), also 73. Third was Kevin Rogers (4) with a 74.

The ladies played the Warren Crocus Qualifier (county qualifying competition) on Wednesday. The best pair in each division will go forward to represent the club at The Warren on September 22.

Kaz Phillips and Sue Curry came out on top with 42 points, ahead of Gill Hicks and Lesley Saffin (39pts) & Julia Dorey and Liz Stewart (38pts). There were no birdie twos scored.

There were a large number of juniors playing from clubs all over Devon and some from Cornwall in the school’s championship at Boringdon Park Golf Club on Wednesday. The twelve Thurlestone juniors gave a good account of themselves.

George Inch (0) of Thurlestone won the gross category with 35 points, shooting one-over gross and winning by three shots.

Over 100 players took part and Thurlestone had several juniors in the top half of the field. George now goes on to the next qualifier to be held at Enmore Park in Somerset on May 27.

Also in the top half of the field from Thurlestone were Harry Robinson, Martha Massingham and junior captain William Hoskin.

Elsewhere, Thurlestone seniors continued their winning form with a 4-2 win over near neighbours Bigbury on Thursday, May 1.

Graeme Fairley and Steve Gallagher won their match 2-up and were then followed by Peter Coates and Owen Rees, winning 6&5.

Bill Campbell and Malcom Lee won their closely contested match 2-1 and victory was sealed by Paul Milburn-Fryer and Ian Linkins with a 4-3 victory. Nearest the pin for Thurlestone was Ian Linkins and Roger Edwards for Bigbury.

DARTMOUTH GC ladies reverted to fun competitions this week with a waltz to maximise the number of points available and a mulligan to get rid of one of the bad shots, writes Chris Mushens.

Shelley Durrans took full advantage of the format, starting and ending her round with a birdie and playing solid golf in between. Her final score of 88 points was well ahead of Karen Oldrieve on 70 and Mary Thompson on 64. Well played Shelley.

Of those that did not play 18 holes, Sharon Jones was the winner with 54 points, followed by Jan Thomas-Gourd on 44.

In Division Two of the men’s midweek Stableford, John Garner was having a very average front nine but a birdie on the par-five ninth seemed to kickstart his game and a string of five pars on the back nine contributed to a more than decent 41 points overall.

John Merriam matched his front nine and also parred five on the back but problems on the eleventh and fifteenth holes saw him finish just a point behind on 40.

Division One players were faring better on the front nine with the top three all having scores in the twenties but all faded by comparison on the back. Paul Brown finished on top with 39 points, followed by Rob Barrett on 37.

Saturday’s Mixed Stableford saw the first formal competition with the blue tees back in their original position on the second hole- many thanks to the many who were involved in restoring this.

Caution was still being exercised and it will take a little while before players feel able to take advantage of the opportunity of this risk/reward hole. On a day of steady scoring, it was good to see two of the captains leading the way - Lady Captain Chris Mushens and Men’s Captain Rob Isaacs-Berry both heading their divisions.

The men were also in action in the Dartmoor League and were rewarded with a resounding 5-0 victory at home to Boringdon Park. Many congratulations to Dave Nicholls and his team.