The starting sheets for these Championships have been sent to Club Secretaries for distribution to players. Click on the links below for details.
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I am saddened to report the death of another of our Past Presidents - John Niven - on Monday 30th June. John was President in 1991/1992 and was County Captain in 1983 when we last won the English County Finals at Ganton. John was a fine golfer and distinguished pilot during the Second World War. There will be a private family funeral. A memorial service will be held at St Mary's Church Thatcham on 17th July at 12.30pm
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Once again we failed to make home advantage count as we lost to Essex at The Berkshire on 7th July. We were doomed after the first 6 games failed to gain a full point and whilst our tail wagged, it was too late, as we went down 4½-5½. We will need to win our last 2 matches convincingly and - you never know - it may come down to my half against Beds which decides the League!
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| The Team at The Berkshire |
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The Seniors opened their campaign with a win against Bedfordshire at John O'Gaunt on 30th June. Despite the absence of 3 key players we were able to call in other experienced individuals from the grey gene pool to still put out a strong team. I can't speak for the others but at least I was under par in my match against one of the top players in the world (in my opinion anyway) ! How come I get dropped for the next match to make way for David Lane - answers on a postcard please.
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| The Team at John O Gaunt |
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After a great start to the season we came down to earth with a bang as we lost 5-7 to Bedfordshire at The Millbrook on 28th June. We lost the foursomes 1-3 after looking for most of the morning as if we would be level at least. This proved too big a deficit to pull back and with the honours shared in the afternoon we lost the match. We are still in with a shout for the title as each County has lost at least 1 match.
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| The Team at The Millbrook |
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We had hoped for better things, at Royal Wimbledon this year, after 3 successive runners-up finishes to Kent. However, we failed to stick to our game plan and eventually finished a distant 4th to Kent who beat Hampshire on a countback with Hertfordshire in 3rd spot.
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| The Team at Royal Wimbledon |
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More Open Days - Following last year's success three more open days are planned for Summer 2008 and will be held at Aylesbury Park, Drayton Park and Sand Martins Golf Clubs. Girls and Boys, who are not beginners, and are under 16 years of age can apply to join for free tuition and evaluation. To apply please follow the instructions on the posters sent to all Clubs or follow this link to register on-line. Register Here
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Reigning Amateur Champion Ashley Walton added another title within a week, as he and partner Ben Paterson won the Club Scratch Foursomes Championship at The Lambourne Club on 18th June. Ashley and Ben represented Frilford Heath and The Berkshire team of Alan Peterson and Colin Lumley won the Handicap Championship.
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| Ashley Walton & Ben Paterson (Frilford Heath) |
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| Alan Paterson & Colin Lumley (The Berkshire) |
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In the most closely contested Championship for many a year, five players came to the last 2 holes in with a chance of taking the Title. With his experience as a past Champion only Ashley Walton (Frilford Heath) was able to hold his nerve to finish with 2 pars to take the Title from local member Tom Wilde by 1 shot and 2 from Darren Walton (Woburn) and Adam Glass (Caversham Heath).
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| Ashley Walton (Frilford Heath) |
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Tom Wilde (Castle Royle) and Adam Glass (Caversham Heath) lead after the 1st Round on 142 by 1 shot from Ashley Walton (Frilford Heath) and Sandy Bolton (Kirtlington). The cut fell at 150 and with 17 players separated by just 8 shots, we should have an exciting day tomorrow. Click on the link below for 36 hole scores and starting sheet.
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The Second Round has been completed and the latest results can be found below. Please be aware that the use of some (check the Rules) Laser & GPS measuring devices is now allowed, The Rule regarding the use of Non Conforming Drivers will be strictly enforced. Please ensure your players are aware of all the Rules relating to this Championship.
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The draw has been completed and sent to players and Club Secretaries. There are still a few spaces available, please contact the County Union office for details. Click on the link below for starting times.
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At long last a win against the mighty Essex Colts team. Although we know they were unable to field their strongest side we still needed to pull out all the stops to register our first win against them at Harleyford on 1st June. We were even at lunchtime but managed to turn round a number of games, in which we were down, in the afternoon singles to win 8-4. This was our first win against Essex since 2002, coincidently at Harleyford.
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We managed a far better result than recently at Rookery Park, in Suffolk, on 30th May. We did not stick to our game plan in the morning round and paid the penalty by being 16 shots behind the leaders and in 5th place at lunchtime. Despite a best of the day team score in the afternoon, we had left ourselves too much to do and finished 3rd behind Surrey and Suffolk.
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| The Team at Rookery Park |
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In the first of our League Matches we had mixed fortunes at Richings Park on 28th May. A fine win against Bedfordshire 10½-1½ was offset by a heavy defeat 2½-9½ to Hertfordshire.
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In the 3rd of our Friendly Junior matches we played Hertfordshire at Buckinghamshire GC on 27th May. We shared the foursomes, courtesy of a walkover in game 1, but had the upper hand in the singles and took those 7-3 to win the match 9½-5½
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The Juniors enjoyed a good win in this 18 hole match against Bedfordshire on 24th May. Played at The Bedfordshire GC we had a number of very good results and took the match 8½-1½
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The draw for the Amateur Championship has been completed after the Penfold Trophy. Click on the links below for details.
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At Calcot Park on 17th May 63 players vied for the 23 qualifying spots for the Amateur Championship. A bunched up field in the morning after some excellent scores saw Joe Winfield (Woburn) leading after a 2 under 68. Local player Darren Gatward stormed home in the afternoon with a fine 67 to edge out Winfield and win the Penfold Trophy by just 1 shot. Those on 155 or below qualified for the Amateur Championship at Castle Royle.
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| Darren Gatward (Calcot Park) |
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David Lane (Goring & Streatley) added a ninth BB&O Seniors title to his ever growing list of achievements in Seniors golf. At Denham on 15th & 16th May he won by 3 shots from Gilbert Runnicles (Gerarrds Cross) with defending Champion John Summers (Frilford Heath) in third place.
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| David Lane (Goring & Streatley) |
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I have posted the Entry Forms for the Colts Championship and Mid Age Championship at Gerrrards Cross. The age limit for Colts has been raised to under 25 on the day of the event and the new Mid Age Championship is for 25s and over and is played for the Boddington Trophy. You can find the Entry Forms on the links below or through
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A good result for us in this friendly match as we beat a good Warwickshire side at Finham Park on 11th May. Mind you we did have to borrow one of their players to get this result!!
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A better result for us in our second warm up match of the season. At Ashley Wood on 27th April we shared the foursomes in the morning and took the singles 5-3 to win the match.
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A new fixture has been arranged now that BB&O & Surrey have decided to withdraw from the SE Group Colts League from 2009. This first match saw our Under 16s take on the might of Surrey's Under 18 team and whilst we lost, there were some pleasing aspects to the result.
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I have posted the Entry Forms for these events. Remember they must be submitted by the Club. Get your Club Teams organised as soon as possible.
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The draw for this Championship has been completed and sent to competitors and reserves. Click on the link below for starting times.
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The Boys lost out to both Wiltshire and Hampshire in this opening friendly match of the season. There were however some promising performances from some of the newcomers.
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At Temple on 12th April we had a good morning and led after the singles 3-2. However, the 'wheels' fell off in the afternoon and we only managed two ½ points and lost the singles 1-9 and the match 4-11
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An excellent field of 66 competed for the Championship around the beautiful Duchess Course at Woburn on 8th April. On a fantastic day, given the recent weather, Jake Canning (Stoke Park) birdied the last to give him a 1 shot advantage over defending Champion Eddie Pepperell (Drayton Park). Alex Stubbs (The Oxfordshire) took the Handicap prize by 3 shots from Tom Snelling (Woburn) and Nick Obergan (Gerrards Cross). Jake also won the Padwick Trophy for the leading Under 16 score.
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| Jake Canning (Stoke Park) |
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| Alex Stubbs (The Oxfordshire) |
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This match was cancelled due to bad weather.
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I have posted the Entry Forms for the Foursomes Championship at The Lambourne and for the Douglas Johns Trophy at Harewood Downs. You can find the Entry Forms on the links below or through the Fixtures sub menus above.
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Some 50 Representatives gathered to hear the business of the day and support Iain MacCaskill as he took over the Presidency from the late Jim Walkinshaw. After the official meeting the 1st major of the year was played in Greensomes format which was won by Lloyd Sussex and Ray Merry from Gerrards Cross Artisans.
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| Lloyd Sussex and Ray Merry |
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Entries closed today at 12 noon for the Junior Championship. A record 101 boys entered and the cut was made at 6.2 Those from 6.3 to 7.1 have been included as reserves and the remainder will have their cheques returned later this week. Click on the link below for tee times. I apologise that the starting sheet sent out this week said Thursday 8th instead of Tuesday 8th - don't turn up 2 days late!
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I have been asked by Meg, Ian and Alastair Stewart to thank all those who attended Bob's Thanksgiving Service on Friday 14th March. They were amazed at the number of people who came from far and wide to pay their respects and were deeply appreciative of the efforts everyone made.
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The Colts managed a 2 point win over the home side scratch team in this friendly match
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Once again I have to report some very sad news. Bob Stewart, a stalwart of BB&O, died after a short illness on Friday 7th March. Bob was Secretary/Treasurer of BB&O for 13 years until 1999. He then took on the Presidency in 2000 and worked extremely hard to develop Junior Golf within the Union for the next 3 years. He will be sadly missed and I for one will miss him as he was a great mentor, friend and Boss.
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| Vale - Bob |
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After the untimely death of Jim Walkinshaw the Past Presidents met to recommend a successor. Iain MacCaskill (Denham) was the unanimous choice and this nomination has since been endorsed by the Executive Committee. Iain will be proposed at the Annual Council Meeting on 27th March and we wish him well in the years ahead.
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Roy Case was delighted to present Centenary Plates to Stoke Park Club and Frilford Heath Golf Club at the Annual Dinner
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| Ray Defazio (Stoke Park) |
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| Alistair Booth (Frilford Heath) |
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Once again we had an excellent turnout for the Annual Dinner on 3rd March at the Blue Mountain Golf Centre. Roy Case (President of the EGU), David Harrison (Captain of the R&A) and David Lane (Immediate Past President BB&O) all made excellent speeches and the evening finished with an amusing speech from Dave Lee MBE
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| David Harrison, David Lane & Roy Case |
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An early start to the season for the boys. The 18 hole match at the College was won by the BB&O Juniors 5½-2½
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I am saddened to report that our President Mr Jim Walkinshaw, a member of Denham Golf Club, passed away on Saturday 19th January after a short illness. Everyone in the County Union is shocked to lose such a friend and colleague and we will miss his enthusiasm for the game of Golf.
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| Vale - Jim |
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I have now posted the entry forms for the BB&O Junior Championship, Hillman Trophy, English Golf Union Championships and 2 BB&O Order of Merit events. Click on Fixtures on the menu above and Entry Forms on the drop down menu to find them in the various sub menus. I will post the remaining BB&O Championships entry forms by the end of January and others when they become available.
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We have sent our renewal notices to existing cardholders for 2008. We are pleased to announce that we have expanded the scheme to include some of our Midland & South West Groups Counties. The number of participating clubs has expanded to over 600 and the County Card offers terrific value for money at just £15. This year the card will run for 13 months so that all the Counties start the year on 1st April. All the money we raise from the scheme goes straight back into the development of our Game at grass roots level - your support is greatly appreciated. An application form is available on the link below and you will find a list of participating clubs in the County Card menu above. Please remember that YOUR Club must be in the scheme for you to be able to purchase the County Card.
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Fixtures 2009
