Neville Kerr pips Gerry Blevins at the post in competition

But it all has to end one day and the final 18 holes competition of the year was played last Saturday.

It was yet another glorious day and 140 players were determined to make the most of it.

The calculated standard scratch score was nett 67 or 38 stableford points.

John Convery (18), Jim Matthews (12), Andrew Quinn (5), Mervyn Waddell (18), Colin Dodds (13), Bobby Geddis (12), Eugene Weir (6) and Declan Barry (9) all equalled the CSS with their 38 points.

It’s one thing shooting a good score but then you must make sure that your card is correctly signed. An oversight in this department cost both Andrew Quinn and Carson Clegg major prizes. It’s sad, but true.

Joshua Crory (8), Tom Mulholland (8), John Parkes (12), Stephen Downey (18), Brian Grimes (12) and Stephen Shaw all had 39 points.

There were four prizewinners in this group. Joshua Crory won the best gross with a 73. John Parkes, our much-loved president, won the senior’s prize. Stephen Downey was second in the high section. Stephen Shaw was second in the middle section.

Nigel Bryson (8) and Paul Mark (17) both had 40 points. There was no prize for Nigel but Paul won the high section.

Sydney Pepper (12), Richrd Huey (19) and Mel Hylands (11) all played very nicely to finish with 41 points each.

Sydney won the low section and you recall that he won the middle section the previous week. He’s enjoying a bit of a purple patch.

Richard won the high section and Mel was second in the middle section.

Carson Clegg (16) was alone on 42 points but a missing signature on his card proved very costly.

There was a great battle for the top place between Neville Kerr (9) and Gerry Blevins (18). They both finished with 44 points, the equivalent of nett 61’s.

Gerry was in a winning position with 3 holes to play. He was four points ahead of Neville at this stage and looked unbeatable. Gerry dinged the 16th and bogeyed both 17 and 18. That meant that he had scored four points for the final 3 holes.

Neville, on the other hand, played these 3 holes in par, birdie, and par. That gave him nine points for those 3 holes.

Neville had caught up with Gerry and he was declared the winner on countback.

It was an exciting finale to the last 18 holes competition of the year.

It’s Winter League time now and that is a different game altogether.

But let’s all be thankful that we have had such a wonderful summer season. Let’s hope we are all fit and well to enjoy the next one.