A PLETHORA of birdies helped Andy Smith earn a convincing victory in Colchester Golf Club's Bridgestone Medal.

He cracked in a round which set a standard he will find hard to replicate.

A two under par gross 68 from his six handicap clearly shows the quality of his play.

He had a veritable birdie-fest, amassing a total of seven in all.

With receptive greens he got the measure of his irons to perfection and as a reward, reduced his handicap to a county-controlled 4.5.

Three players trailed in seven shots behind Smith, all returning a very credible 69 nett in the conditions.

They were James Angel (3), Calum McKenzie (12) and Steve Sharman (13).

Adam Lock (6) scored a nett 70 to complete the prizewinners.

The first full-on golfing weekend of the year at Colchester GC was disrupted in an Easter week where 52 millimetres (two inches) of rain was recorded.

But Good Friday saw Scott Vass (11) along with Alasdair Haines (10) both return nett scores of 69, in the Elmstead Cup qualifying medal.

First played for in 1920, the competition sees the top-eight available competitors take part in a knockout, over the Easter weekend.

The afternoon rain decimated the late starters, with most having to give up on the rain-affected course.

But neither of the top two scorers were available for weekend's knockouts.

In the Saturday quarter-final matches, Cai James (3) got the better of Andy Smith (6) and Matt Durrell (9) won out over his brother Tom (12).

Martin Webb (8) beat Richard Withnall (3).

The other semi-finalist was Richard Hayes, who beat Ralph Charles.

Cai James and Richard Hayes were the successful pair in Sunday’s Elmstead Cup semi-finals.

They will now meet in Saturday's final, which was differed due to the course closing due to the torrential rainfall.

Along with the Elmstead Cup final, Colchester GC's traditional Monday bank-holiday foursomes was also postponed due to the course closure.