Report on “325 Celebrations Cup” held Saturday 1st October , at Thurlestone Golf Club

The format of the competition is quite unique involving all sections of the clubs. Players go out in groups of three with one player representing each club, starting with the Club Professionals, then Club Captains. Lady Captains, Junior Captains, Seniors, Captains, Vice captains, with 27 players in all representing each club. Whilst all such competitions have a competitive edge the most important thing was to get representation from all sectors including juniors and seniors, low and high handicappers. 

On the Tee at 9.00am the Club Professionals got off to a good start with Steve White (Thurlestone) and Sam Edwards (Bigbury) just missing their eagle putts on the first and Ben Eustace (Teignmouth) just missing his sand save birdie putt. 

Fortunately the rain stayed away and we had some sunshine, but the typical Thurlestone cliff top breeze made for a good test of golf, making it difficult to return high stableford scores. The exception was Vinney Lowden (Thurlestone) playing off 8 on the day and achieving an outstanding 39 points to win the individual mens trophy and a significant contribution towards Thurlestone's efforts to win the main trophy. 

The second best individual score was returned by Peter Coates (Thurlestone) with 36 points, which contributed to his 3 ball winning the best mens Group, which included Dave Wain (Bigbury) with 32 points and David Hughes (Teignmouth) with 31 points. Their total of 99 points snatched the prize away from the Club Professional group who’s total 97 points had been leading most of the day. 

The Ladies Group prizes went to Sally Tyler (Teignmouth) with an excellent  35 points, Jane Mahood (Thurlestone) and Amanda Burchell (Bigbury).  Sheila Fairley, also with 35 points collected the Ladies individual prize for players not in the winning group. 

The main competition went down to the wire, literally dependant on the final group's scores. The results from the three clubs were close all day and could have gone any way but after 26 results were recorded and with the 3 lowest scores being discarded the 27th match could swing the result. All three players returned respectable scores with Norman Barrett, President of Thurlestone posting 30 points, Eddie Inch President of Bigbury 28 points and Andrew Williams of Teignmouth 31 points . 

The final result was Thurlestone winning the 325 Celebrations Cup by 1 solitary point.  Final scores were Thurlestone 716, Teignmouth 715, Bigbury 689. 

The inaugural 325 Celebrations Cup proved to be a  fabulous success, and created even closer bonds between the local clubs. There was a buz in the clubhouse as the groups of three enjoyed their after match meals and expressed how much they enjoyed the day. The Lady Captains even put in a request for next year to have a category for "immediate past Captains” so they could play together again, I think that summed up the day nicely. 

We look forward to playing the event in 2023 at Bigbury as part of their Centenary celebrations. 

Return to News Page

Created by intelligentgolf version 10.1.2.