MARK Hills recovered from a shaky start to win the Cooper Bland Cup at Colchester Golf Club.

The Cooper Bland Cup, first presented in 1910, is the first drawn competition of the year and draws a lot of interest from the members.

The wet ground made the course play long and from the back markers the scoring reflected this.

Only three players recorded nett scores under par, all of them from the afternoon tee-offs.

Hills, playing off a 16 handicap, did not have the most promising of starts, book-ending his first nine with double bogeys.

Starting the back nine with a birdie he steadied his round to give him his first boarded competition win and earn a two-shot handicap cut.

Andy Smith (five) continued his early season form to take second place from Ian Wigston (18) on countback, after both returned nett 69s.

In the conditions, Smith’s back nine was a joy to see with just three bogeys counter-balanced by two birdies, to give him a one over par.

Long term leaders from the morning starts and all returning nett 71s were Andy Totham (13), who chipped in on the 18th to get his nett 71, along with Stephen Bozier (12) and Stuart Holmes (11).

Colchester GC ladies had their weekly competition cancelled because of the weather.

Their County Bronze Shield match at Thorndon Park went ahead, only for them to lose 4-3 in a close encounter.

They live to fight another day, as their county competitions are played on a league basis.

The club’s junior section got their County Youth Shield matches off to a winning start with a good win against Clacton Golf Club’s juniors.

These matches are played on a league basis, prior to progressing to knockout.

Colchester’s Vets friendly matches are now in full swing.

They lost their first match against Stoke by Nayland 6-2, at the Suffolk course.

But Colchester bounced back with a home win over Hintlesham.