RALPH Charles carried away Colchester Golf Club’s Medal Winners Cup - and secured himself another handicap cut.

Charles produced two steady halves of 41 and 39 from his 13 handicap, with a round of 67 nett.

His scoring reflected his golf throughout the year, which had been steady without grabbing the headlines.

Through this steady golf, his handicap had tumbled three shots from last February to the start of the weekend.

After his winning round, he is now playing off 11, a well-earned five-shot reduction over the year.

Second place went to Richard Withnall (four), who produced the lowest gross of the day with a nett 68.

Nigel Hilliard (six) was third with a nett 69.

Matthew Durrell (ten) produced easily the handicapped round of the day in the Medal, running concurrently with the Medal Winners Cup.

Carding a 64 nett from his ten handicap, he effortlessly eclipsed his other rounds so far this year.

Hannah Butcher produced a nett 71 from her 21 handicap to carry away the ladies’ best-of-the-best trophy, in the Medal Final Cup.

Butcher’s good front nine was almost thrown away with a sprinkling of doubles on the back.

But a solid finish put her a shot ahead of second-placed Pat Kettle (18), who returned a handicap-equalling nett 72.

The pair were some way ahead of four ladies who all returned 77.

After a countback, Margaret Carter (23) was adjudged third, ahead of Julie Dicks (13), Joan Cotterill (24) and Bridget Whitworth (16).

The low round came from the support competition where Nikki Bryant, playing off ten, produced a gross of 76 and a stableford score of 43.

Bryant, who had shown little form in the run up to this competition and had played in only a few qualifiers during the course of the year, produced the goods on the day.

Her front nine was one below par gross and her back nine was only spoiled on two holes where she doubled, with the other seven were all pars.

As with Durrell, her exceptional round earned her a two-shot cut in her playing handicap.