Coronation Cup win is right stuff for Roger

7:00am Thursday 12th June 2008

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Colchester Golf Club held their Coronation Cup on a gloriously sunny day and the scoring was just as glorious for the players.

In particluar, Roger Wright, who returned two fantastic scores to lead the field by three shots.

Wright, playing off a handicap of five, returned a gross 70 in the morning round, which, along with Keith Newnham (eight) and Stuart Sharman (seven), tied him in the lead.

All three players had nett 65s, with other notable rounds by Alan Hyde (nine), who produced the only 66 nett, and James Logan (14) and Daniel Eke (four), both with 67s.

The Coronation Cup was presented to the club in 1937 to mark the coronation of George VI and the opening of the then newly-designed 18-hole course, and in its long history, few competitions could have been more finely-balanced at the halfway stage.

The course was looking great in the sunshine, with the greens receptive after the recent rain and every hope was that the morning's golf would be repeated in the afternoon, and so it proved.

Bradley Harris (seven), who after a morning round of nett 79, put in the lowest gross of 70 (nett 63) in the afternoon, however, Hyde and Logan fell away with nett 76 and 73 respectively.

Sharman returned a respectable 71 but dropped down the field into sixth place, while fourth and fifth places were taken up by Alastair Macnaught (four) and Tom Rothery (eight), who had matching rounds of two 68s and had to be separated on countback.

Eke, with an afternoon nett 68, moved up to third place.

Newnham continued as he had in the morning and put in a good nett 69, which, with the cushion of the morning round, secured him second place.

But the day belonged to Wright.

Following his nett 65, he rattled in a 66 during the afternoon, putting him three shots clear of the field and lifting the trophy with a day of exceptional golf.

The Colchester mother and daughter pairing of Maureen and Lizzie Devenish had a good win in the Hunter Foursomes.

Maureen and Lizzie, playing off 22 and 24 respectively, had a tough draw at Chelmsford in this county competition against Brenda Skudder (seven) and Grace Drane (32).

They came out winners with Lizzie sinking a long downhill putt on the 19th hole to win the match and progress into the last 16.

The ladies' bronze team won their home match against Warley Park at home 5-2.

Meanwhile, the club's ladies played for the Windfall Trophy, with the winner coming out of division one.

Maggie Demuth (18) returned the best card with a stableford score of 37 points, while Bridget Whitworth (13) was second with a 36 and third was shared between Jane Reed (12), Marilyn Wood (16) and Margaret Carter (26) from division two, all on 34 points.

Joanne Taylor (six) returned the lowest gross on the day.

Five local members' clubs competed for the Boudica Bowl at Braintree Golf Club and it was the hosts who came out winners, scoring a total of 126 points.

In second place, was Colchester with 118 points, followed closely by Harwich and Dovercourt with 116.

Frinton and Clacton were the other clubs competing and their scores were 116 and 103 points respectively.

The best score of the day was returned by the Braintree pairing of Terry and Jill Barke with 37 points.

As the holders of the trophy, Robert Gillespie the Clacton club captain presented it to Braintree captain Mike Parmenter.