Captain Stephenson celebrates win over Leighton's president

Leighton Buzzard golfers ended a three-year famine on Sunday when club Captain Adrian Stephenson led his 'red army' to a one-match victory over the squad assembled by President John Preston.

The annual encounter pits club members against former Captains, Presidents and new members for a trophy and bragging rights and this year it was Adrian’s red-shirted warriors who claimed victory with a last-gasp 6-5 win against a Presidents’ battalion forced into late changes.

Preston completed a hat-trick of wins for the Presidents last year, but he failed to complete the “double” in a see-saw encounter after Ada’s Red Army got off to a flying start.

Wins by Adrian and Vice Captain John Smith, Will Sampson and Billy O’Neill and Graham Freer and Stephen Paine gave the club squad a 3-0 lead before the Presidents hit back with five wins on the trot.

Adam and Laurie Benson, George Darbyshire and Andy Lock, Peter Taylor and Stuart Leslie, Tony Simpson and Phil Rickard and David Hawkins and Paul Atkinson all returned winning cards before Andy Vale and Steve Felmming and Sam Messenger and Dave Evans levelled the scores.

With Brian Wilson and Peter Townley halving their match against Paul Ahmet and Nigel Chapman, the result hinged on the final match….with Ed Stephenson securing victory for his father with a last-gasp win with playing partner Keith Edmunds.

Captain Ada Stephenson led the Leighton team to a 7-1 victory over Aspley Guise on Saturday, opening Leighton’s account with Steve Leng with a two hole win.

They were followed into the clubhouse with wins by Mark Hammond and County President David Hawkins, Paul Ellam and Phil Eddy, Peter Burgoyne and Shane Bentley, Graham Freer and David Evans, Will Sampson and Ben Irvine and John Smith and Jeremy Taylor.

Retired Kodak print employee Geoff Smith has won two golfing trophies in the space of a week. Just days after being named by the Leighton-based Plum Duffs society as their champion of the year, 81-year-old Geoff won the Leighton Seniors’ Farrell Trophy competition with a 40 point.

Seniors skipper Robbie John was Farrell trophy runner-up on countback after a three way tie with David Sweetnam and Tom Davis all on 37 points; with Terry Wright, 36pts, Dave Banwell, 35pts, Dave Roff and Dave Debell, 34 pts, and Mike Manning, 33pts, completing the prize list.

Vice Captain Avril Simpson, who will be holding a Christmas Bazaar at the Leighton club on Thursday, November 17 to raise funds for charity, has won the Ladies Medal Cup.

Her combined nett scores of 145 from Spring and Autumn meetings beat runner-up Gill McDougall by ten shots.

The medal of the day was won by Paula Cox, her nett 77 beating Vicki Pratt by a shot, with Oonagh Russell and Chris Giles recording the best fourball betterball score.

Bronze ‘A’ division golfer Vicki Pratt won Leighton Ladies EWGA medal with a nett 74 and will represent the Plantation Road club in the regional finals of the competition next year. She beat Silver Division medal winner Sandra Bellis on countback while Sue Preston was top finisher in the Bronze ‘B’ division with a nett 80.

Just two shots separated the top six finishers in Leighton’s Sunday medal for Division One golfers, Nick King pipping Ben Irvine for top spot on countback after both finished with a nett 67; Robbie John took third place on countback from Steve Boud after both finished with nett 68s, and Clive Jacques beat Andy Mitchell on countback for fifth place after both finished with nett 69s.

Paul Ashton hit the lowest gross score for Division Two golfers, his nett 65 beating Brandon Waddington for top spot by a shot. Steve Tyas and Steve Hammond carded net 67s, with Scott Douglas, 79, Dharm Naveen Diwakar, 70, and Keith Camp and Antony Brinded, 71, in hot pursuit.