By Steve Acteson
Canterbury Golf Club’s Ali Ord and Sarah Wetherell are through to the fourth round of the national Daily Mail Foursomes, beating Tina Plews and Carol Grey on the second extra hole at Walmer & Kingsdown GC.
Ord and Wetherell were giving 14 shots and 2 down at the turn before squaring the match by the 14th and winning the second hole, the second time around, with a bogey five.
Canterbury Golf Club’s Sarah Wetherell, left, and Ali Ord are making good progress in the Daily Mail Foursomes
Scratch golfer Ord and Wetherell reached the final stages in 2022 and need to win five more qualifying rounds to equal that feat and go through to the grand final at Precise Resort and Golf El Rompido, in Spain, next November.
Ord said: “We parred the first extra hole when I holed a nice eight-footer and they lipped out and made a five, net four.
“The 20th was a long par four downwind. My drive went 290 yards, so Sarah only had 120 left in, and I think the pressure got to the other pair.
“Sarah had about a 25-foot putt and stuck it really close for a five and they had a seven, net six.”
Michael Vandenberg brought kudos to the club when he shot a 36-hole level-par total of 136, from rounds of 71 and three-under-par 65, to win the scratch Chanctonbury Ring by three shots at West Sussex GC on Sunday.
Vandenberg began at the 10th in both rounds and was three-over-par in the opening round to stand two off the lead.
He was level-par for the back nine in the afternoon round and three-under-par on the front nine for victory in a field of 52.
Vandenberg said: “In my first round, the sixth hole – my 15th – was a 230-yard par 3 and I hit a 3 iron into the middle of the green and holed a 45-footer and that just changed everything; I was six-over and then birdied three of my last four holes.
“Then in the afternoon round, I birdied the first three holes of my back nine and holed a 20-footer on my last hole for birdie.”
Brandon Ware scored a 36-hole total of 80 points to win the John Hogben Stableford competition, Canterbury’s first ‘major’ of the year, by one from James Lambton on Sunday.
Ware led overnight by three from playing partner Dave Simmons after beating his previous Canterbury points tally by four in Saturday’s first round with 42, from a one-over-par 72, net 65.
On Sunday, Ware began at the first, failed to score on the third, but was otherwise level-par to the turn, with a birdie at the seventh, for 19 points.
He came back with another 19 from a birdie at the 13th, four pars and four bogeys for 38.
Lambton was in ninth after an opening 37 points and covered his opening back nine on Sunday in seven-over for 18 points and birdied the first, fifth, sixth and eighth for a level-par front nine for 24 and a total of 79.
Kyle Bennett scored a four-birdie 74, net 70, for 37 points on Saturday and a two-birdie 72, net 68, on Sunday for 39, a total of 76 and third overall in a field of 96.
Californian Ware said: “I haven’t won for three years so it’s fantastic to be back in the winner’s circle.
“The 10th on Saturday was my only bad hole. Then, I had a birdie on 18 and a birdie on the first which was a chip in and I was one-under-par on the front nine, which was great.
“On Sunday, I started on the first and birdied the seventh when I sank a 35-foot putt and the birdie on 13 was phenomenal.
“I teed it down and hit a fairway finder to the right part of the fairway and a wedge to two feet, it was a kick-in birdie.”
Dan Cooke finished 23rd in the Welsh Men’s Open Strokeplay Championship at the par 71 Pyle & Kenfig GC links course in Wales.
He was tied for 48th in a starting field of 140 after the first two rounds at 10-over-par and climbed to tied 20th after a level-par round of 71 on Saturday when he hit a 400-plus yards drive to set up an eagle on the par-5 11th hole.
On Sunday, a three-over-par 74 saw him finish 23rd and 17 shots behind the winner, Tom Hughes of Formby GC.
Cooke said: “I got it going on Saturday, I shot two-under on the front nine, eagled 11 and birdied 13 so I was four-under.
“The 11th is quite a big par 5 downwind and I hit the driver about 420 yards, a sand wedge to about 10 feet and holed the putt.”
Promoted Canterbury got their East Kent Evening League Division 1 season off to a flying start when they won 3-1 at Etchinghill on Friday.
Results: Peter Brisley and Scott Lindsay lost 2&1, Andy Davies and Ken Small won 6&4, Rupert Chitty and Marcus Rabenda won 1 up, John Andrews and James Shaw won 2&1.
Matchplay rookie Katrina Bromfield won on the first extra hole as she, Louise Fairburn and Diane Hollidge won 2-1 at Knole Park in the Kent Golf Tappin Trophy and now face a last-16 match at Etchinghill.
New member Lawrence Brown achieved the almost unprecedented feat of winning the first competition he had ever entered in last week’s Club Midweek Stableford.
Brown failed to score on the first and eighth for an outward 15 points and carded 22 on his back nine to win by one from Simon Walsh, who was out and back with 18 points.
John Clark eagled the shortened third when he drove to eight feet en route to a personal-best-equalling 41 points to win last week’s men’s Midweek Stableford competition by one from Gary Fisher.
Five points for his two on the shortened par-4 second, allied to five pars and two bogeys, boosted Clark’s total to 22 points on the front nine and he made 19 coming back.
Fisher birdied the fifth in an opening 23 points and had 17 on his return nine for 40.
Martinus Bonthuys was six-over-par on his front nine for 20 points, failed to score on the 10th and then scored 19 on his last eight holes for 38 points to hold off Ian Brenchley on countback.
Jacqui Mount scored 85, net 72, to win the Women’s April Medal by three shots. Alison Mason scored 94, net 75, for second on countback from Fran Fearn and Caroline Collins.
Bob Staples racked up 41 points to win Monday’s Seniors Stableford despite failing to score on three holes. He won by two from John Counsell, who held off David Bunyan and Graham Irving on countback.
Callum Ferrett won his fourth competition in 15 days when he birdied the 16th and 18th for 39 points and victory in Sunday’s Junior Stableford competition.