Golfers relishing big chance

The Kent Street-based club will continue its Mail on Sunday National Golf Club Classic adventure at Marriott Worsley Park on Monday with the aim of reaching the semi-finals and final in Spain during November.

Team captain Alan McDonald said: “I’m not looking ahead to Spain; it’s a case of doing exactly the same thing as we’ve done from day one. But it would be fantastic.”

Sedlescombe will arrive at Marriott Worsley Park - a course none of the team have played before - on Sunday and play a practice round before finding out their opponents during a gala evening.

The other clubs left in are Burnley (Lancashire), Chester-le-Street (Durham), Farthingstone (Northamptonshire), Immingham (Lincolnshire), Kintore (Aberdeenshire), Millbrook (Bedfordshire) and St Enodoc (Cornwall).

Sedlescombe will take a seven-man squad to the north west, but two will miss out because matches are made up of five singles decided by handicap matchplay over 18 holes.

Mick Anthony, a three-handicapper who has had some big wins and lost just once so far, has tended to go out first, while Lee Salmon, who plays off 11, has generally been the anchor man.

Ray Smith (13 handicap) is still unbeaten and Paul Davis, the brother of snooker player Mark Davis whose handicap has come down from 11 to eight since the start of the run, possesses a similarly good record.

The very steady Paul Lawrence and Trevor Saull-Hunt - one of the best matchplay competitors at the club - both play off five, while eight-handicapper McDonald has featured a couple of times so far.

See tomorrow’s Hastings and Battle Observers for the full article.