Leighton's golfers retain the inter-club trophy

An eight-strong team of Leighton Buzzard golfers has retained a coveted inter-club trophy after beating six other teams for the title.
INTER-CLUB CHAMPIONS(left to right) Graham Freer, David Hawkins, Robbie John, Club Captain JeremyTaylor, Ed Stephenson, John Latimer, Ada Stephenson and Philip Spratt Callaghan.INTER-CLUB CHAMPIONS(left to right) Graham Freer, David Hawkins, Robbie John, Club Captain JeremyTaylor, Ed Stephenson, John Latimer, Ada Stephenson and Philip Spratt Callaghan.
INTER-CLUB CHAMPIONS(left to right) Graham Freer, David Hawkins, Robbie John, Club Captain JeremyTaylor, Ed Stephenson, John Latimer, Ada Stephenson and Philip Spratt Callaghan.

Club Captain Jeremy Taylor partnered John Latimer for an opening 42 point haul; Vice Captain Robbie John and ex-skipper David Hawkins’ 45 points was the top score of the event; club junior organisor Ada Stephenson and son Ed chipped in with 35 points and Philip Spratt Callaghan and Graham Freer completed the Leighton victory with 40 points.

The Leighton team carded an aggregate score of 162 points, with runners-up Buckingham five points adrift. Bedfordshire took third place with 155pts, one clear of Beds & County with John O’Gaunt fifth with 153pts. South Beds tabled 143pts with Aspley Guise and Woburn Sands collecting the wooden spoon with 140pts.

Leighton, winners of the event in three of the past five years, will defend their title at Buckingham next year.

The success follows three wins on the bounce by the Plantation Road club team.

Jeremy Taylor and Manny Barker, Steve Leng and Ed Stephenson, John Preston and Izzy Ramdeen and Will Sampson and Simon Rossiter won for Leighton in a 5-1 victory over Dunstable Downs, with Nick King and Dharm Dwakar and Robbie John and Simon Enright halving their matches.

Skipper Taylor and Enright, Peter and Ron Burgoyne, Ian Rimmer and Simon Rossiter and Robbie John and Robin Lawes won for Leighton in a 4-1 victory over St Neots, with Nick King and Chris Figg halving their match.

And Leighton conquered both the weather and Aspley Guise, losing only one of the six matches with wins by Jeremy Taylor and Mark Reynolds, Ada Stephenson and Paul Johnson, Lee Sanders and Simon Enright, David Hawkins and Stuart Goodwin and Robbie John and Steven Schmidt.

Nigel Barnes is the new holder of Leighton’s Austin Farrell trophy, beating 61 other senior members with a 48 point haul. George Bashford was runner-up with 43 points, one clear of Brian Wilson with John Tarbox and David Kingham heading a chasing pack with 41pts. Other leading scores: 40pts – Peter Myrants, David Nero; 39pts – Will Sampson, David Sweetnam, David Roffe; 38pts – Izzy Ramdeen, Steve Marriott, Chris Ive, Derek Ellam, Peter King; 37pts – Ian Rimmer, Danny Nairne, Michael Cox; 36pts – Geoff Smith, Tony Page, Nigel Chapman, Paul Johnson, Geoff Dimmock, Paul Ahmet and Stephen Maddison.

Barry Witherden had his handicap cut by two shots to 14 after winning the September Midweek stableford with 41 points, a shot clear of Izzy Ramdeen, also cut a shot. Denis Leitch beat Craig Simmons for third place after both finished with 39 points, one clear of David Banwell, Ed Stephenson, Roger Kingston and Steven Paine. Other leading scores: 37pts – Brian Wilson, Julian Heffron, David Roberts; 36pts – Steve Light, Keith Powell, Geoff Dimmock, Phil Coumbe, Will Sampson.

The weekend monthly medal was won by Simon Thornton with a nett 65, a shot clear of Brandon Waddington. Barry Allen finished third on countback from Stuart Leslie and Josie Sheridan after the trio finished with nett 67s, Other leading scores: 68 – Voja Savic, Jamie Stone, Brian Whiting; 69 – Tony Conneely, Colin Beesley, Steve Deverill, David Banwell, Barry Nappin; 70 – Jason Brooks, Lewis Scott, Andrew Ashall.