Category Championship

A field of 100 contested the Category 2,3,4 Championsships at Tall Pines on 26th August. A glorious sunny day greeted the players and the course was in superb condition. Among the early starters it was Steve Baker (Tall Pines) with 79 who set the pace in Category 2 with Bath's James Fern 85 leading Category 3. With a relatively small cat 4 entry, the positions in that group were resolved early in the day and the Somerset Vice President Brian Evans made the presentation. The clear winner was Gary Perkins from Frome with 95, a clear 5 shots ahead of 3 players on  100. Countback gave it to Nick Clarke (Windwhistle) ahead of Nigel Hodges (Brean) and John Powell (Tall Pines) the latter two having the consolation of collecting the two net prizes on offer for category 4.

A solid block of Category 2 players then came in and Fern's early 85 was matched by martin Brown (Farrington) and John Wolstenholme (Wincanton). However it was Mathew Wyatt form Entry Hill who edged in front with 84 and then faced a long wait to see whether the few cat 3 players later in the field would catch him. His patience was rewarded and he duly claimed the trophy. Countback settled the order with Brown, Wolstenholme and Fern fooloing with 2nd, 3rd and 4th places respectively. Best net went to John Jones from Worlebury with Last years Category 3 Champion Lee Callow from Farrington taking 2nd net.

The race for the Category 2 title was being keenly fought with Mark Hewlett matching his Tall Pines colleagues early 79. However a group of 5 players returned 78 to really put the pressure on the final few groups. Andy Martin (Frome) and another Steve Baker from Tall Pines came to the par 3 18th on level terms and 2 clear of the field. A solid par from Baker saw him finish with 76 and Martin just failed to get up and down to finish one behind at 77. Myles Carpenter (Tall Pines) and Ben Josham (Orchardleigh) took 3rd and 4th places on countback. Last year's wwinner Ian Cameron-Taylor won the net prize with Hewlett taking the 2nd net.

Somerset President Stephen Butterfield congratulated the players and thanked the club for hosting the event and presenting the course in such fine condition.