Boyce Hill jeweller James Parker produced a gem of a performance at Braintree, to finish second in the qualifying competition of the finest Essex Amateur Golf Union event of the season, the Keating Trophy.

Forty-five of the county's best golfers played two rounds on a cold, windy day, with the best 16 going through to the matchplay knockout stages this weekend.

The leading qualifier was Braintree's own Robert Oldaker, who had two rounds of 69 for 138 to win by one from Parker, who followed an opening 72 with a best of the day 67 afternoon round.

Arguably the most meritorious performance was by 15-year-old schoolboy Warren Hayter. A member of the Canons Brook Club, and playing in his First adult competition, he scored 139 along with Parker for rounds of 68 and 71.

In the opening matchplay round on Saturday, Parker ironically comes up against one of only two other local players to get through among the top 16, Thorpe Hall's David Peters. He had rounds of 77 and 71 to finish 14th.

Hanover's Glen Hooper was seventh with 83 and 70 for 153 and now plays Bradley Smith (North Weald).

Thorpe Hall's Richard McEvoy was unable to defend his title due to England team commitments.

The preliminary round of the Essex Leslie F Wood Championship was staged on Sunday with Basildon beating The Essex Golf Club (Earls Colne) 10-5. A 4.5-0.5 win in the morning foursomes set the seal for victory, although The Essex hit back to only lose 5.5-4.5 in the afternoon.

Basildon results: Foursomes: R Short and C Goodwin won 2 and 1; J Harrison and D Shevill won 4 and 3; D Turner and B Tobin won 3 and 2; G Eastman and S Watson won 5 and 4; A Nagle and M Watson halved.

Singles: Shevill lost 5 and 4; Short won 2 and 1; Tobin won 2 and 1; Goodwin lost 3 and 2; Turner lost 2 and 1; Harrison lost 2 and 1; Eastman won 3 and 1; Nagle halved; M Watson won 6 and 4; S Watson won 4 and 2.

The Essex Golf Club (Southend) won 12-3 at Bunsay Downs. First round matches are on April 30.

Basildon's cadets scored well in the April medal. Schoolboys Marc Etherington and Ben Tobin took the first two places in the senior medal (handicaps scratch to 12) with Etherington's net 65 earning first place and Tobin one stroke behind.

The round of the day was a gross 77 by Danny Brooks playing off 15 for a net score of 62 - ten under par. Another cadet, Mark Oatham, took second place with a net 66.

Chris Stanley (19) won the Division Three competition with a net 68.

Hot run of form for Neil

Brighter and warmer weather conditions last weekend, especially on Sunday, produced improved scoring in Rochford Hundred's April medal.

Neil Cochran warmed up for the forthcoming Thornton Cup clash at The Warren by taking Division One honours on Saturday.

He fired a birdie on the 14th and 14 pars on his way to 74-4=70 to edge out Chris Madell (75-5=70) thanks to a better back nine.

Madell birdied the 3rd, 6th and 9th and added 10 pars but a double bogey on the par 3 11th was his undoing. Gary Matthews enjoyed 10 pars as his 81-10=71 claimed third spot.

Two former club captains, Neil Brockes and Dick Jones, battled for Division 2 victory with Brockes (79-13=66) edging out Jones (81-13=68).

Brockes birdied the 6th and 18th and hit 10 pars which helped repair the damage of a triple and double bogey. Jones had birdies on the 3rd and 18th plus seven pars.

Keith Oldfield birdied the 6th and enjoyed eight pars on his way to 85-14=71 and third place. Mick Hobbs turned in a superb 82-18=64 to finish way ahead of his closest

Division 3 rivals Terry Green (90-18=72) and Bob Fagg (92-17=75). Hobbs had birdies on the 13th and 14th and notched six pars.

Division 1 was closely fought on Sunday with victory going to Richard Southwood (74-8=66) ahead of Greg Coole (75-7=68) and Paul Francis (77-8=69).

Southwood recovered from a double bogey on the 1st to birdie the 3rd, 9th and 14th and add 11 pars. Coole had birdies on the 2nd, 6th, 9th and 10th plus seven pars and Leslie Wood team stalwart Francis birdied the 10th and 14th and hit 10 pars.

Derek Deal hit eight pars on his way to 85-16=69 and Division 2 success on countback from Joe Lamb (82-13=69) who birdied the 7th and had eight pars.

Third place went to Geoff Coote (82-11=71) whose highlight was a birdie on the 18th and eight pars.

Division 3 winner was John Hodges who birdied the 14th and had four pars in his 91-18=73 which proved too good for Ivor Finer (93-17=76) and Alan Loveday (96-20=76).

Brave June Jennings battled her way to glory in Rochford Ladies Fraser Cup.

She was the only one of 28 entries to return a card on a cold, wet and windy day and her 29 points was good enough for victory.

Kevin leads low scores

Belfairs April medal saw some very low scoring from all divisions and resulted in no fewer than 11 players receiving handicap reductions.

Heading Division One was Kevin Buck (13) who, after a slow start to the round, picked up a birdie on the difficult 539-yard par-five fifth and another on the 208-yard par-three seventh to end the front nine on 38.

Faulds win Argles

Thorpe Hall's Argles Trophy, a mixed greensome- foursomes Stableford, provided an enjoyable afternoon with Linda and Alistair Faulds beating Ena and George Buchanan on countback. Both pairs were on 39 points.

Third on 37 points were Shan Mather and John Newman, while Sandy and Peter Goy beat Henny Bush and Chris Masters on countback for fourth spot after both pairs finished on 36.

No handicap for Barry in superb Hanover victory

Barry Walder captured Hanover's Division One Georgian medal - despite having had his handicap cut by two strokes following the previous week's Stableford.

Playing off 15 in the Stableford, Walder compiled 41 points for third spot behind Peter Croft on 43 and David Bennett (42).

Undeterred by the cut to 13 for the medal, Walder scored net 70 for a two-stroke margin over Mark Barr with Costas Karkaletsos third.

Steve Wallington (17) won the Division Two medal with net 68 on countback from Spencer Hall (16). Bennett was in the prizes again a further stroke back.

Hanover Regency lady captain Judy Needham did the double in the winter knockout competition, winning both the singles and pairs events.

Judy pipped Liz Bumpus in the singles and then teamed up with Maureen Carbery to win the pairs from Ruth Humphreys and Sheila Harris.

The monthly midweek medal went to Mel Gray with net 63 - one stroke clear of the field. She beat Jackie Wilkinson on countback.

Kevin Harding (12) took Division One of the men's monthly medal with a fine net 51, ten under par. Geoff Russell (14) claimed second spot on 54 with veteran campaigner John Lambert third, two strokes back.

The Division Two medal was won by Les Robertson with 52 from Len Clements (55). Ron Freeman was third on countback.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.