At last, the rainy weekend’s gave way to a “gentle” breeze on Sunday and for the 3rd time of asking the Mann Link Travel 4 man Open AM AM got underway with a number of fancied teams wondering whether the wind would blow more in the morning or afternoon.

Remembering the winter performances of some of these teams gave a clue on this prematurely autumnal weekend. Hats off to Conor Grant and his team for competing with just 3 players but the competition was tough and nothing less than 12 under was going to be in the mix in difficult conditions. Bob Arniel’s team put in an early score of 13 under but realised that with a dropped shot on the 1st and 9th they wouldn’t last long on the leader board. Martin Webb’s form continued and his team’s 14 under looked good with a birdie from Vinny Lyall on the 2nd giving them a good start but a dropped shot on the 13th saw them lose the advantage. Stu Douglas’s team were in the same boat and looked steady picking up shots with a birdie on the 6th from Stu and a 2 on the 18th from Paul Routledge. They just could not kill the game enough to make sure of a win. Steve Westcott put together an in-form team and despite a dropped shot on the windy opening hole they were 4 under at the turn. Having a few shots in the bag was an advantage and a 2 on the 17th from Dave Boswell meant they finished an excellent back 9 with 14 under par for the day. They were the best of the bunch on that score and got 3rd place on count back. You could guess who was in the fight for the top prizes and it was Dave Kinrade with Graham Garret, Garry Sherry and Frank Feeney who put in a 16 under picking up shots but like other’s finding the 3rd a real challenge as the wind blew. Dave Kinrade managed to birdie the 4th, 5th and 6th and a 2 from Graham Garrett on the 9th saw them 9 under at the turn. More trouble at the par 3, 12th focused the team and they pared in and posted a net 16 under, surely a winner?

The afternoon teams struggled as the conditions worsened, Seymour Corkill’s team had a valiant last gasp go at it but could only manage 13 under and Ged Power’s monumental 3 wood out of the trees on the 14th, resulting in a missed eagle putt, just made his windy day more frustrating. The Derek Parker, Robbie Moore, Dave Buck and Lyndon Casey combo is a formidable line up but even they dropped a shot on the 1st but undeterred managed to battle through and were 7 under on the 10th tee. They managed to keep paring holes and consequently picking up shots on the back 9 with regularity, posting another 16 under. The difference was in the handicapping really and playing steady golf in the windy conditions and worthy winners. Not to worry as next week the Frank Dalgliesh open medal will be up for grabs and I am sure autumn will be over by then!”