At the end of a wet week the sun appeared for a glorious day at Winter Hill Golf Club for the 15th annual golf day at the end of September.

The mornings play saw Paul Millington, Mike Widdowson and guest Julian Brittan tied for the lead on 35 points followed by Fred Feasey and Peter Radford on 31 points.  

In the afternoon greensomes Mike Widdowson was paired with Jeremy Wagge playing head to head with father and son combination Brian and Paul Millington.  With Julian faltering in his pairing with John Walker the Widdowson Millington confrontation was to decide the title.

Paul and Brian got off to a fast start despite missing out on the first hole they dropped only 3 shots over the next 8 to score 20 points on the front nine.  In contrast Mike and Jeremy struggled to get going and were 5 point back at the turn.  

The comeback started at the 11th with a one point gain to Mike Widdowson thanks to two pars and a handicap allowance which gave his partnership a shot.  At the 12th a birdie 3 contrasted with a bogie for the Millington's and the deficit was down to 2 points.  It was all square after 13 where Paul and Brian failed to score.  Mike took the lead on the short 15th after Brian and Paul failed to get down in 2 from 10 feet this after  Brian had hit the best tee shot of the day on the nearest the pin hole.

The lead increased to 3 after 16 and to 5 points after the 17.  The 18th was halved to give Mike and Jeremy the afternoon prize for the best round and Mike the overall title.

Third place overall went to Fred Feasey playing with Ian Widdowson in the afternoon, a pairing which was tipped to do better than the 35 points which they finished with.  Something to do with Ian missing a 6 inch putt on the back nine according to Fred !

Nick Hayes who was unable to play in the morning joined the party in the afternoon and won the "morning" stableford prize with 37 points including one of only 3 individual birdies on the day.

Brian Millington won the nearest the pin competition despite the team failing to even make a par and Peter Radford won the closely contested Long-drive competition down the 16th after Ian Widdowson and Paul Millington had each had their names on the leader board.

Mike will be back in 2002 to defend his trophy and perhaps equal Dad Ian's total of two previous victories, meanwhile it seemed appropriate to end this report with a photo of the winner and a very proud Mum ....

Peter Radford (September 2001)