New Selsey skippers set to tee off

Tony Nelson is club captain and his vice-captain is Andrew Terry. Nelson first started playing golf with his father in the 1970s at Selsey, then played on and off until 2007 when he became a full member of the club.

He has a young son, David, who is hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Peter Senth is the veterans’ captain and his vice-captain is Reg Ewens.

Senth has been playing golf for more than 45 years and first joined Selsey in 1981. His parents also played at the club and he was club captain in 1992. His wife Teddy plays in the ladies’ section.

Sue Bywater is the lady captain and her vice-captain is Barbara Ewens. She first joined the club in 1997 and has played an active part in the ladies’ section, having been treasurer for several years before becoming vice-captain last year.

President is Keith Homer, entering his fourth year in office. He has been playing golf for more than 40 years and first joined Selsey about 30 years ago, serving as club captain in 1992.

Members wished the new captains an enjoyable and successful year.

GOODWOOD golfer Marco Penge is part of a strong England team defending the men’s title at the European Nations Championship in Spain later this month.

The up-and-coming 17-year-old is joined in the side by James Allan of Essex, Adam Chapman of Cumbria and Ashton Turner of Lincolnshire.

England won the men’s championship last year for the sixth time, when the team held off a charging Spanish side to secure a one-stroke victory. All four members of that team have since turned professional.

The European Nations Championship will be played at La Reserva Golf Club in Sotogrande, Spain, from February 24 to 27.

It is contested over 72 holes of strok play, with the best three cards each day in the men’s event, and the best two in the women’s, counting towards the team event. An individual competition runs simultaneously with the Nations Championship.

Penge won the 2015 England Boys’ Order of Merit having won two junior titles and the Scottish men’s strokeplay championship. He was a creditable sixth in the recent South American Amateur.

COWDRAY PARK

Thirty-two ladies played in a Dovetail competition on a sunny but cold day.

Dovetail is a Stableford game played over 18 holes with a partner, and at the end of the round each player must have nine of their scores recorded.

Both players play the hole individually then select whose score is going to be recorded on the card before beginning the next hole.

Results: 1 Marilyn Davis and Sue Brown 36pts; 2 Judy Stillwell and Tessa Stockwell 36; 3 Sally Williams and Terry Hughes 35; 4 Myrna Heustice and Brenda Rees 34.

After a few dry days, the Cowdray course had dried out sufficiently for buggies to be allowed for the first time this year, meaning some players were going to play their first game of 2016 in the third round of the Captain’s Prize.

Among those was the old warhorse Dave Hirons, who was returning from a knee operation. He showed he still retained his touch with a highly satisfactory score of 33 points.

There was a strong, swirling wind which made conditions difficult on the open fairways. One man who made light of the conditions was club chairman Terry Adsett, who returned with a superb score of 42 points to put himself back in the chase for the overall title.

He was five points clear of his nearest challengers Robin Phillips, Paul Chater and Chris Hutchings.

With such a large score from Adsett, his partnership with Phil Pett proved the best on the day, with a combined total of 74 – ahead of Chris Hutchings and Roger Poat on 72.

With the final round allowing each player to discard their lowest score, things at the top of the leaderboard could change.

Other prizewinners: Nearest the pin in two on the 18th: Chris Hutchings; Twos:- Robin Phillips, Dave Fowler; John Durrell (2), Phil Pett, Mick Folkes, Dave Lucking, Roger Poat (2), Chris Hutchings and Bill Birnie.

Leading scores to date: 105 Dave Lucking (32, 38, 35); 104 Chris Hutchings (33, 34, 37); 103 Phillip Singer (33, 34, 36).

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