By Keith Field
St Mellion Seniors Golf latest – ‘The Fossils’
MONDAY, October 21 found the Fossils up early to travel to Carlyon Bay for their rearranged match which had been postponed from July. The forecast was good, or so the players thought, there was no wind and it was warm for the time of year.
After all the rain of late, the fairways in particular were soft and well covered with dew all day but the greens were fine but so difficult to read.
With the benign conditions the first ball was struck at the allotted hour and from thereon a whole series of close encounters evolved.
A quick review of the results amply demonstrates the general closeness of the individual contests. Back at St Mellion the hosts had won the match 6.5 to 1.5, but today’s hosts were determined to avoid another such result.
Both teams had to substitute players from the original line-ups but there was no doubting that the day’s advantage was falling St Mellion’s way, albeit by small margins.
The outstanding result was delivered by the pairing of Pete Mehigan and Keith Field who completed a terrific 4&3 victory, but by the time they completed their victory the weather turned nasty.
Although the players had been treated to maybe half an hour of warm sunshine, the heavens really opened and heavy rain virtually stopped the show.
As it turned out only one match was left to be decided which was completed after taking shelter, but the remaining players out on the course started back to the clubhouse. As the rain had eased a little there was a nine-ball group then on the 18thtee who were determined to win the Nearest the Pin challenge.
After some confusion on the green with so many balls and markers, the winners were declared as Chris de Beaufort for St Mellion and Carlyon’s Stan Reid.
On the day, St Mellion ran out victorious 5.5-2.5 and overall, 12-4.
The St Mellion results were as follows: Ian Edwards (day captain) and Colin Marshall won 2-up; Allan Evans and Brian Pound won 2&1; Dave Morton and David Orriss lost 2&1; Simon Waddington and Chris de Beaufort; Albert Gunning and Rob Parsonage won 2&1; Mike Page and Pete Williams lost 4&3; Pete Mehigan and Keith Field won 4&3; John Raphael and Nigel Coulson-Stevens halved.
Unbeknown to the Fossils at that time but, sadly the very popular Brian Carnegie had passed away. Generous in spirit and nature, Brian will be greatly missed for his kind and positive approach to all things and for his staunch support of all of the Fossils’ philosophy.
Attention turned to golf on Thursday (October 24) and the captain’s nightmare of organisation, the Hi-Lo Trophy.
Trying to match high and low handicappers is not easy, and when withdrawals start then the re-arranging to try to and meet to the ‘equality’ of teams becomes almost impossible.
However, 20 teams set out and returned some very good scores so much so that the clubhouse was full of Fossils until the last card was in and the winner declared.
Five teams returned 40 points but it would take more to get on the podium with Keith Abbott and David Orriss scoring 41 for third and Colin Hatton and David Furse taking second with a superb 43. Even better, Ian Edwards and Don Smith stole the show with a magnificent score of 44 to take the Trophy.
Results (top three): 1 Don Smith and Ian Edwards – 44; 2 Colin Hatton and David Furse – 43; 3 Keith Abbott and David Orriss – 41.