Dawson takes March Medal at chilly Hampshire (From Andover Advertiser)

Countback gives John March Medal at Hampshire GC

10:33am Tuesday 12th March 2013 in Sport

There was another good turnout of 69 players for the Hampshire Golf Club March Medal with John Dawson (13) taking the Saturday Division One with net 70 on count back with Gareth Hughes (11) second just ahead of Guy Davis (9). In Division Two Tom Banister (15) won with a fine net 68 which sees his handicap reduced to 14. Junior, Charlie Hughes (17) also played well for his 69 which earned him the runner-up spot and a handicap cut to 16, beating Lee George (19) on count back. In the Sunday competition Michael Diaper (14) was the man in form and his fine net 68 was good enough to win Division 1 and he will also now play off 13. Paul Powley (14) played in Division 2 on the Saturday and was out of the prizes but his new handicap of 14 saw him playing in Division 1 on the Sunday. He found the going easier as he returned a net 72 for second place. Roger Moore (25) won Division 2 with a net 70 and Hughes played off his new handicap of 16 for his second runner-up spot of the weekend with a net 71, just beating John Cost (15) into third place. Captain for the day Ray Neath led his team to a 3-2 victory over Test Valley GC in their final match of the North Hants Seniors Winter League, clinching fourth place position for the second year running. Ray was partnered by Vince Klass and a very tight match ended with the away team winning by just one hole. The second match was never a tight affair with Guy Davis and Dean Cresswell winning by a huge 8 and 6 margin to level the scores. Richard Hale and Alan Dixon then put the hosts ahead with an excellent 5 and 4 victory against good opposition but Dave Sanders and Brian Gittings were just edged out by one hole to make the score 2-2. The match thus hinged on the final pairings which saw Ted Richards and John Dawson securing a superb 6 and 4 victory to clinch the match and the points. l The Ladies’ Saturday February Medal saw Toni McMillan finish in pole position with Sue Davis second.

The Tuesday competition was cancelled due to bad weather. In the Saturday Stableford Sue Davis came out on top with 38 points, while Lori Channon was second with 33 points. The Tuesday competition winner was Gail Budd with 36 with Liz Eames second on 28.

Sue Davis was the overall winner with Gail Budd second.

lThe club hosted its first friendly of the season home to Test Valley GC on March 9 and in the absence of club captain Ian Folkes, vice-captain Barry Crane led the team to a 2.5-2.5 draw.

Neil MacGowan and Barry Crane played two low handicappers and the opposition birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th to win on the 18th by just one hole. Father and son Paul and Alex Ridge had an excellent 4 and 3 win in their first club match while the other father and son combination Gareth and Charlie Hughes found the opposition too strong as they lost by 3 and 2. Steve White and Roy Harris then produced the goods to win 3 and 2 to level the scores leaving the last pair of Les Hillon and Steve DeCosimo to decide the overall result with a half. The next match is away to New Forest in two weeks time.