Saltford Win Trounson Trophy
 This year's Trounson Trophy, played at Burnham & Berrow Golf Club on Sunday 14th September 2008, was fraught with difficulties for the Organising Committee. Fog enveloped the course that caused the competition start to be delayed by some 45 minutes and with a big field of 132 players it was going to be touch and go as to whether the players at the back of the field would have enough daylight to complete their round. Unfortunately they didn't and Championship Chairman Dennis Longden suspended play at 7.45 pm when it had become so dark as to be dangerous to the last few on the course. The good news is that 123 completed their round and for them the competition was a qualifier and AWAY letters have been sent to the clubs for the appropriate handicap adjustments. For the 9 players who, because of bad light, failed to complete their round they have been removed from the competition for handicap purposes. In order to be fair to those 9 players and their teams they were awarded pro rata scores for the 18th or 17th & 18th depending which hole they were on when play was suspended; their resulting scores did not affect the prize winners. As an additional exercise I then awarded them a par score on the holes they failed to complete with exactly the same result, none had an affect on the prize winners.
First out of the blocks was defending champions Burnham & Berrow who posted a very good 223 with 3 scores counting out of the 4 players. Hot on their heels were Long Sutton team with a 225. Tall Pines, with Nick Annison returning an excellent 71 gross, net 65, moved into second place with 224. With 90% of the field still out it was felt that Annison had established himself as the firm favourite for the Presidents Trophy. This proved to be an accurate prediction with the next best net being 70.
Clevedon, with Mansell and Reid, both County players albeit at different levels, in their team went straight to the top of the leaderboard with a score of 222 beating Burnham & Berrow by one point. They were to stay at the top until very late in the day when Saltford, with a very strong team of 3 current County players, took the Trounson Trophy with an excellent score of 219. Clevedon won the Windwhistle Trophy which is awarded to the Runner up in the Trounson Trophy.
As with most competitions after the last card is in the organising committee went into a frenzy of activity with the results and prize vouchers ready within 20 minutes. Graham Yates, County President, thanked  Burnham & Berrow Golf Club for hosting the competition, the catering and bar staff for their hard work throughout the day and especially the greenkeeper for presenting the course in excellent condition. He also gave a special thank you to Elizabeth Sloman who, despite suffering pains in her back, had been her usual smiling efficient member of the team.
Warren Hunt of Saltford, on receiving the Trounson Trophy thanked everyone connected with Burnham & Berrow Golf Club and the Somerset Golf Union Championship Committee.
Dennis Longden
Championship Chairman
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