When Scotsman Stan Ferguson rode up to the first tee on his trusty steed, to the sound of bagpipes and pounding of hooves, it could have been Mel Gibson in a scene from Braveheart.

Instead it was Stan driving in to officially open his year of office as the new Southend Golf Club captain.

Eight handicapper Ferguson started his term by hitting his opening tee shot to the par three first hole.

By his own high standards it was not one of his best. Maybe slightly weary from his party at the club the previous evening, and with the drumbeats of local band The Refugees still ringing in his ears, Stan teed off and the ball landed 50 feet one inch away from the pin.

Immediate past captain Darren Lee picked up the sweepstake.

Stan was piped back into the clubhouse where the celebrations continued with everyone at the club wishing Ferguson well in his forthcoming year.

Hoots mon - Southend's new captain, Scot Stan Ferguson, drives himself in to start his term of office

Picture: MIKE BELLENIE

Horn heads the field

Rochford Ladies held their December medal with Silver victory going to Mary Horn (93-14=79) from Margaret Brockes (96-16=80). Rosemary Sykes (95-14=81) pipped Lyanne Loveday (89-8=81) for third place on countback.

Bronze success was tasted by Elaine Tucker (111-32=79) ahead of Angie Dale (107-26=81) and Wendy Wilcock (107-25=82).

'What about a Worthington?' - that was the cry in the famous old beer advert . . . and it could have been echoed at Castle Point Golf Club yesterday when Jackie Worthington drove herself in as the new lady captain

Picture: ROBIN WOOSEY

Tann takes medal on countback

The wisdom of Rochford Hundred's recent decision to run two separate monthly medal competitions was underlined over the weekend.

Scores were high in the difficult windy conditions on Saturday and much better when the weather quietened down the next day.

Saturday's Division One winner was John Tann (80-6=74) who edged out Mark Fisher (80-6=74) on countback with Dennis Bailey (85-10=75) in third spot.

Tann made the worst possible start with two triple bogeys but got his game back on track mainly due to a last 13 holes which he covered in one under thanks to birdies on the 15th and 16th.

Fisher chalked up 12 pars while the highspot for Bailey was a birdie on the 16th plus six pars.

Division Two success went to Steve Smyth (85-11=74) ahead of Barry Finch (90-15=75) and Rif Buta (87-11=76).

Smyth notched birdies on the seventh and 15th and added seven pars while Finch had an up and down time with a birdie on the 13th and four pars spoilt by a triple and four double bogeys. Buta had six pars.

Only two players returned cards in Division Three but Mick Hobbs (87-18=69) produced the best net score of the day to beat Brian Tayloy (105-21=84).

Hobbs fired birdies on the 10th and 18th plus four pars.

The winner in the top division on Sunday was Phil Parke who birdied the 9th, 11th and 18th and had six pars on his way to 76-10=66 to finish way ahead of young Jimmy Dale (73-3=70) and Peter Aves (79-6=73).

Dale birdied the 3rd and 11th and hit 12 pars while Aves birdied the 16th and added 11 pars.

The Division Two section was much closer with Geoff Coote (84-11=73) just getting the better of both Trevor Watson (85-12=73) and Nigel Wilks (85-12=73) on a better back nine.

Coote had eight pars while Watson recovered from a triple bogey start thanks to nine pars. Wilks knocked in birdies on the 12th and 16th and had five pars.

Ivor Finer (90-17=73) was top man in Division Three from Eric Davison (98-23=75) and John Hodge (95-18=77). Finer fired four pars while Davison enjoyed four pars but could not recover from two triple and a quadruple bogey.

Cadet Trevor leads the way

With no run and gusty winds to contend with, competitors found tricky conditions for the monthly medal at Belfairs.

In division three, cadet captain Trevor Bremerman (22) had a sensational round with par on holes three, four, five, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 16.

He threw in a birdie on the sixth for good measure to shoot a gross 81 (net 59) for victory by no less than 11 shots.

Graham Bishop (26) was runner-up on 70 with Tommy Thompson (24) a further place back.

In the senior division, Trevor's father Glenn Bremerman, the new club captain, got his year of office off to a good start when the 12-handicapper shot a gross 76 (net 64) to take the honours.

His round included nine pars and birdies on the first, third and 13th.

In runners-up spot Leslie Wood team captain Andrew Meddle (9) continued his good form with a steady front nine of 36.

This included a birdie on the sixth. He finished with a net 66. In third spot was Bob Taylor (12) who shot net 70.

In Division two Terry Whittick (15) claimed first place with a consistent round of 42 shots on both the front and back nines for a gross score of 82 (net 67).

Phil Hance (17) was runner-up with a net 69. Peter Ellis (18) was third on 74.

Belfairs Ladies LGU medal saw 16-handicapper Mrs J Smith win the senior competition on net 69 from Mrs A Meddle (17) 76 and Mrs C Berry (21) 77.

In the junior competition, Mrs S McCarthy (30) won on 77 from Mrs J Woollard (25) 78 and Mrs A McLynn (30) 79.

Castle Point held their last major competition of club captain Des Pitt's year of office on Sunday.

In this competition the standard scratch of the course is lowered to 64 and the winner is the competitor who can carry the captain's flag the furthest round the course before running out of strokes allowed.

With the overnight frost, temporary greens were in play for most of the competition and the majority of golfers were finding it hard to come to grips with the conditions.

However, Bob Brinton found form to play even in these conditions and managed to carry the flag just short of the 18th green to claim the winners' trophy.

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