April 2010

Coming Up In This Month

Mens Winter League

The Mens Winter League should be finished by the start of this month but the final might creep into April.
Mens Competitions
The Lionel Vaughan is the first competition that will be played in April and it is a pairs betterballl competition to be played over the weekend of Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th. The closing date for entries is Thursday 1st. Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th sees the return of a very favourable competition, with the Augusta Masters returning to Oadby. Every player is a paired with a professional golfer from the Masters and the players stableford score is subtracted from the professionals Gross Score for the final day. The closing date for entries for this competition is Thursday 8th. Saturday 17th sees the Menphys Stableford played, with the closing date Thursday 15th. The Sunday of that weekend (18th) sees the first block booking competition of the year played and it is the Kerry Styles Cup. The closing date for this is 10 days before, so you must make sure you enter by Thursday 8th April, NOT Thursday 15th. Sunday 25th April sees the Harry Miller Shield played, and all of the entry forms for these competitions can be found in the red folder in the clubhouse, so don't forget to enter and pay before the closing dates so you don't miss out. The first round of the Pat Murphy KO also needs to be played by Sunday 25th April. If you don't play your match both players will be disqualified.
Mens Scratch Team
The scratch team have their first game of the season on Thursday 29th April and the match is away to Ullesthorpe and is due to start at roughly 16:30.
Mens Second Team
The second team have 3 matches in April, with the first being away to Beedles Lake on Wednesday 14th and roughly 3:30 PM. The second match is to be played at home to Whetstone at 3:30 PM on Wednesday 21st. The third and final match of the month is at home to Humberstone Heights. The match is on Wednesday 28th and is due to start at 3:30 PM.
Ladies
The first Ladies Competition of the month is a competition that follows on from a March competition, and it is the Easter Egg Competition. This is to be played on Saturday 3rd April. Wednesday 7th and Saturday 10th April sees a Ladies Stableford take place, while there is also a Ladies Club Medal & EWGA on Wednesday 14th and 17th. The Ladies Kerry Styles Rosebowl is to take place on Sunday 18th April, and this competition is a block booking which means players need to enter 10 days before the competition. This means the closing date for the competition is Thursday 8th April. The Ladies Matchplay Competitions start during April, with Wednesday 21st the date scheduled for the start of the competitions. The final Ladies event of the year is the Ladies Social Away Golf which is to take place on Wednesday 28th. More details for this will be available nearer the time.
Seniors
The first Seniors event of the month is a match away to Notts. City. The match is to take place on Wednesday April 7th at 11 AM. The Pat Mortimer Over 55's Shield is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 13th April, while the Cliff Cockcroft Trophy (Medal) is to take place on Tuesday 20th. The next event of the month is another match against Luffenham away on Thursday 22nd. This match is due to start at 12:30 PM. The final Seniors event of the month is a match against Lingdale which is due to start at 9:30 AM on Friday 30th. The match is at home.
Juniors
The first Junior event of the month is on Saturday 3rd and is a Junior Monthly Medal. The Junior Winter League continues on Saturday 10th with a Junior Monthly Stableford taking place on Saturday 17th. Sunday 18th sees the first Junior block booking of the year and it is the Kerry Styles Junior Cup. Juniors will have to make sure they enter this competition no later than 10 days before the event, which is Thursday 8th. The final date for the Junior Winter League is scheduled for Sunday 25th April.
Mixed
There is once again only one Mixed match during the month which is against Whetstone. The match is at home and is due to start at 1 PM on Sunday 25th.
Social
The first and only social event of the month is a Skittles Evening on Friday 9th April at 8 PM.
Racing
There are 2 race dates during April with the first scheduled for Thursday 8th. The second is to take place on Saturday 24th.

Latest News From Month

Lionel Vaughan Trophy

Kev Wood continued his recent solid form and Andy Vale returned to competitive golf to win the Lionel Vaughan Pairs Trophy on Sat 3rd & Sun 4th April. It was not easy conditions with the course being so wet due to the large amount of rain in the week preceeding the competiton, but that did not stop the pair getting to 43 points. Andy has been out for a while due to injury, so to come back and win is a fantastic achievement. In that time Kev has been in fantastic form, with that form fully deserving of a gold letter. It is the pairs first gold letter and for Andy it will be a massive relief, after finishing second on a number of occasions. The pair will also be delighted about beating the team who finished second, as it was Ben Hall & Ed Eley, the pair who beat them in lst years Winter League final. Beating Hall & Eley will make the win even more sweeter for Vale & Wood, although had it not been for 3 Eley birdies in the last 5 holes they could have easily finished outside the top 10. They played their best golf when it started to pour it down. They beat Dave Sewart & Martyn Morton into second on count-back, with both pairs shooting 41 points, as did the pair who finished third. Darren Peden & Roger Loach were third, while Neil Whittenbury & Tim Rushin were 4th with 40 points. There were 5 further teams who shot better than the 36 points mark, with new Winter League champions Rich Bonser & Tidge Gharial back in 13th place after a dissapointing 34 points. Well done to Andy & Kev who fully deserve this victory!
Mail On Sunday
Oadby lost in the 2nd round of the Mail On Sunday trophy when they lost 3 - 2 to The Leicestershire on Sunday 21st March. Oadby were drawn at home against The Leicestershire but failed to contact the team in time, meaning home advantage was lost. The team was the same as for the first match with the exception of Dave Sewart in for Ben Hall due to illness. As a result of this Ed Eley stepped in to write a match report, with the full report being found in the Teams-Other OGC Teams-Mail On Sunday Team section of the website.
Augusta Masters
Neil Whittenbury won the singles side to the Augusta Masters which was played over Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th April when he shot an absoluetly fantastic Nett 64 off his 15 handicap. The conditions on the Sunday were a lot harder than Saturday due to the wind, and Neil put in a fantastic display to shoot Gross 79 in the tough conditions. This terrific round has seen Neil cut to 12.2 the week before the Kerry Styles but will b sure to give him a lot of confidence heading into the main part of the season. Neil's Nett 64 also saw him pick up a pretty neat £50 voucher, which will help to make up for another Wembley loss for his Aston Villa side. Well done to Neil for a fantastic knock. Andy Vale continued his solid form with a Gross 81 Nett 68 to get him cut back down to 12 and pocket a tidy £30 voucher in the process. Andy is always a very solid player and is hitting good form since his recovery from his latest operation, with this score coming the week after his first gold letter success. Another man who has been knocking on the door of every competition this year is Steve Buckley, and he continued his solid form once again with another round under par, this time shooting a Gross 87 Nett 69. Steve has been cut to 17 now and picks up a £20 voucher for this third place finish. Wally Bent was 4th with a Nett 71, while Alan Ball, 'Solid' Steve Ablett and Tony Connor all shot level to their handicaps. Chris Smith played solid for his 73 and had a few putts droppes it could have easily been a Nett 69. Tidge Gharial, Dave Sewart, Ben Hall & Ed Eley all shot Nett 74's, and due to there only being 4 people under par the Competition Standard Scratch went up from 71 to 72 on Saturday, and 73 on Sunday.

The Augusta Masters is also a Pro-Am competition, which sees every member paired with a pro and the amateurs score added to the final round score of their respective pro in the Masters. For the first time this year the draw was hel in the clubhouse before the final round, meaning players knew who they were paired with going into the final round. Neil Whittenbury was always going to be tough to beat holding a four shot lead, but Steve Buckley got himself paired with Anthony Kim who shot a fantastic final round 65 to see Steve to victory in the Pro-Am with a total score of 134, beating Neil Whittenbury by 2 shots. Neil was paired with Francesco Molinari who shot a final round 72. Andy Vale and Ricky Barnes were 5 shots further back on 141, joint on the same score as Chris Smith and Ernie Els. Steve wins an additional £20 for his Pro-Am win, giving him a £40 voucher altogether. No doubt Steve was screaming at Kim to get a move on in that final round, which he did by playing the lst 6 holes in -5 par.
Menphys Charity Stableford
Past President Wally Bent went very low on Saturday 17th April when he shot a fantastic 43 points to win the Menphys Charity Stableford. It was a fantastic knock from Wally who has been recoving some good form this year after a disapointing year last year by his standards. Wally has been cut back down to 12.5 after this result, edging closer to getting back down to 12 and picking up a nice tidy £26 voucher in the process. Martyn Morton was second with a very sold 38 points to claim a £15 voucher, while Dave Sewart won yet another voucher this year with another top 3 finish. Dave got 36 points to continue his very solid start to the season. Werner Brach and Geoff Kiff were 4th and 5th with 35 points while Steve Ablett, Roger Loach and Alan Ball all came in with 34.
Kerry Styles Cup
Ron Allen shot a Gross 86 Nett 67 to win the Kerry Styles Cup on Sunday 18th April and get himself cut down to 17.6. It was a terrific knock from Ron on a day where scoring was tough, and Ron ended up winning the competition by 2 shots, with Roger Loach second after a Gross 78 Nett 69. Roger has been cut back down to 8.6 but is still one knock away from reaching 8 again. Darren Peden was third on Nett 70 after shooting a Gross 79 while Alan Hutchby and Jan Reading were 4th and 5th with Nett 71's. The ever solid Dave Sewart was up there again, but could only manage 6th place this time with a Gross 79 Nett 72, although he did pick up another voucher for best Gross, as Roger won the prize for 2nd place in the competition. Martyn Morton, Mick Tebbutt and Tim Bingham all shot Nett 73's, while Brian Fletcher-Warrington shot Nett 74. 4 people made 2's on the day, with Martyn Morton, Danny Noton and Tim Rushin making a 2 on 16 and Asra making his deuce on the 10th.
Harry Miller Shield
Rich Bonser came out on top on Sunday 25th April when he shot a Gross 82 Nett 68 to win the Harry Miller Shield on count-back. It was a day where conditions were very tough to score and Rich’s 4 under par round was deserving to win the trophy. Rich beat Dave Sawbridge on count-back after his Gross 83 Nett 68 was not quite good enough. Rich has been cut to 13 and although Dave has been cut he still has a playing handicap of 15. Tony Connor was third with a Nett 69 while Dave Goodman’s back 9 helped him finish fourth on count-back, ahead of 5 other players. Jan Reading, Ed Eley, Brian Stevenson, Darren Peden and Alan Simpson were the other Nett 70’s, while the next best score after this was Nett 74.
Scratch Team
The Scratch Team had their first match of the season on Thursday 29th April and were hoping to get off to a good start after the disappointment of narrowly missing out on promotion last year. Ullesthorpe is never an easy place to travel and Ullesthorpe proved this once again, beating Oadby 6 and a half points to 1 and a half. Geoff Ferrer picked up the only win for Oadby on his return to the club and team while Ben Hall picked up the half. It is a big boost for the team having Geoff back as it certainly strengthens the team and squad. A full write-up can be found in the Teams-Scratch Team-Match Reports Page 1 section, although only members with access to the website will be able to see the write-ups. If you are not a member of the site you can sign up at the top of the page, although please be aware that membership of the site is limited only to members of the golf club.