Those of you who were able to watch the Open Championship last week and in particular the final 18 holes on Sunday would have witnessed one of the most enthralling Championships in recent years.
Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickleson provided us with a fantastic exhibition of golf played under the most immense pressure, and I am sure all of those present at Royal Troon will remember the experience for many years to come.
Henrik's last round of 63 enabled him to win by three shots and took him to a record total of 20 under par, a remarkable score and one that truly deserved to win the much sought after "Claret Jug".
Now for the US PGA Championship from Baltusrol and the Ladies British Open from Woburn, both start on July 28th.
Then it is onto Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, Minnesota at the end of September for the Ryder Cup. Sandwiched in between are the Olympic Games from Rio with golf now included, and the start of the Football season, it just keeps getting better and better.
As was publicised over the past few weeks an Open Sweepstake was run from the Pro Shop, the winning ticket of Henrik Stenson was won by Keith Morris, Phil Mickleson in second was won by Paul Gaylor and third placed J.B.Holmes was won by Brian Williamson.
The winners won pro shop vouchers to the value of £195, £117 and £78 respectively.
The Open Stableford
Now Henrik Stenson wasn't the only one at the weekend to win an Open by three shots, this was also the margin of victory by Roly Newman who, out of 128 players, won the Open Stableford over the weekend with 43 points. In second place was Jamie Hobdell on 40 pts who was two ahead of Jerry Andrews in third place with 38 pts.
Fourth place went down to countback with four players on 36 pts, the best of these was Adrian Squibb followed by David Taylor in fifth and Andrew Bunton in sixth place. Just missing out on the sweep, finishing in seventh, was Hardeep Sehmi who was the last of the players on 36pts.
July 9 Hole Stableford
Twenty-five players took part in the July 9 hole stableford on Wednesday and it was Doug Jordan who was the overall winner with 20 pts. In second place and taking first sweep was James Woodland with 19 pts with Keith Frost in third place (2nd sweep) on 17 pts.
Last week the ladies played their July Medal and the results are as follows:
Silver Division Winner - Deirdrie Randall net 73 & Runner Up Linda Turner net 75
Bronze Division Winner - Sally Solomon net 81 & Runner Up Velda Hodges net 82
Copper Division Winner - Sue Comfort net 83 & Pat Stow net 84
The 9 Hole competition was won by Catherine Davies 18 pts with Pauline Hayward in second place with 17 pts.
On Sunday the ladies played a weekend match at Sandmartins Golf Club in glorious sunshine. When the sun came out, so did their golf and they won 2.5 - 1.5 which is a great result on a difficult away course. Well done to Anita Hobdell as weekend ladies captain and to all the ladies who played.