STRONG easterly winds made conditions especially difficult for the Tavistock Golf Club veterans' open.  There was a capacity turnout with 196 players representing 27 different clubs and, despite the wind and fast greens, there were some excellent scores. 

The winning visitor pair were Mike Richards and Mike Smith (Whitsand Bay) with 41 points; second, from East Devon, were R Lankester and M Wisdom with 39 and third with 38 were John Knapman and Peter Greenham (Churston). 

Winners from the home players were Ken Kendall and Simon Bridgwater with 42 and, all with 40 pts on countback, were Tom Quartley and Chris Dicker, Chris Henderson and Patrick Stewart, Dave Burge and Rod Hillman and 5th were Will Spearing and Les Porter.

In the ladies fourball better ball team event rain added to the difficult windy conditions though the sun did appear during the afternoon. Away teams won the the top four places with the Bude team of Annie Quartermain, Collette Burges, Jean Reed and Jan Harrison in first place with 75;  Bude players Liz Underwood, Shirley Percy, Alison Houghton and Carol Bowman were second with 72; third were  Jacqui Waites, Sandra King, Sue Hough and Jaqui Vincent (Looe) on 70.  The best Tavistock pair were Fran Horton, Sybil Cole, Dawn Dennis and Margaret Burn with 68.

The strong winds did not deter Shaun Kiely topping division one in the Alpha Romeo Medal with an excellent nett 67. Second with nett 71 Richard Smith, third Dave Treble. nett 73. 

Scoring was close in the second division won by Graham Kelly with nett 71, second Paul Reed with nett 72 on countback from Mike Burbidge, Peter Anglis, Adrian Beer and Tim Baskerville.  Winning division three Andy Furse with a nett 70 on countback from John Howes and Ian Nye with John Wallace on nett 71.

n The strong winds presented difficult chall-enges and, sometimes produced unusual results for golfers.  Dave Burge, playing in the Alpha Romeo Medal, achieved a 'hole in one' with his drive on the par three 14th hole.  

This shares a green with the sixth.  Unfortunately the strong wind carried his ball from the 14th green down to the sixth and straight into the hole!  Following behind on the 14th, Tony Cooper's tee shot did exactly the same thing from the 14th green and into the hole on the sixth! 

Not quite the glory of a hole in one but, nevertheless, quite an unusual  achievement for both players.