COMING off a six love defeat of Kidderminster GC, Worcestershire Golf Club's A team faced Ross at home in their next league fixture full of confidence.

The game of golf however has a habit of kicking confident players in the face and so it proved for the Worcestershire's lowest handicap player Graham Wallace who led off in the first match with seven handicap player Gerald Bird.

Graham seemed out of sorts and may have been missing his partner Terry Lloyd with whom he played with against Kidderminster. Despite Gerald playing exceptional golf this first pair lost one down to John Warwick and John Morgan, the two best players from Ross.

Former club captains Stuart Bird and Denis Chetwood restored the balance in the second match winning two up to draw the match level.

The Worcestershire suffered another defeat in the third match when, despite playing reasonable golf, Andy Dunster and Andrew McClelland went down two and one to Sayce and Howells of Ross.

The balance was however again restored in the fourth match when Mark Read and vice captain Simon Tinkler won a closely fought game winning one up on the last hole.

The last two matches were crucial and Jamie Theakstone and Nick Smith, playing off handicaps of five and nine respectively, were in scintillating form to win their match five up with three to play.

The sixth and final match saw the golfing veterans Garry Lynes and chairman Terry Smith paired together and their experience told in winning their match four and three. The Worcestershire ran out winners at the end of an exciting day by four matches to two.

In the mid-week Stableford competition John Wilde, in Division Two, was in excellent form and returned a score of 41 points, a clear six points better than par. Chris Hughes came second with 39 points and Pete Bellamy third with 34 points.

Colin Jones won Division One with a score of 38 points, one point better than Ian Belsham, who came second. Chris Hill was third with a score of 36 points.

The prestigious De Vere Open meeting saw a strong field of golfers from all over the county take on the challenge of the Worcestershire golf course.

Local members Mark Davis and Martin Lloyd returned the best net score in the four ball better ball Stableford competition with 44 points. Three pairs returned scores of 42 points and the scorers were given the task of separating them on the usual count back system. As a result club members Steve Bradshaw and Carl Theakstone were placed second. Visitors Steve Andrews and Mike Gasic from the Worcester Golf and Country Club were placed third and local members Andrew and Gerald Bird were placed fourth.

While Stuart Bird is playing excellent golf his pairing with Phil Dance was not quite good enough to win the best gross score of the day. Whilst Stuart and Phil returned the same gross score of 37 points as the ever reliable combination of Peter Lupino and Wes Curtis, they sneaked into first place on the count back system.

A record entry of 128 lady golfers on a sunny day saw the lady captain Jill Exell, playing with Cathy Harris, win the Ladies Open Four Ball Better ball competition.

Jill and Cathy returned the excellent score of 40 points. Janet Clowrey and Betty Mitchell were placed second, two points ahead of former lady captain June Jones and her partner Kate Foster on 38 points.

In Division One of the Ladies' July Medal competition young Joanne Yorke, playing off a handicap of 19, returned a net score of 70 to win first place. Four ladies returned net scores of 71 and were placed in the following descending order on the count back system: Pauline Belsham, Pat Catlin, Sally Dare and June Jones.

Fourth place in Division Two went to Trina Smith who returned a net 71. Ruth Scott was third with a net 70 and Jill Mico was placed second returning a net 69.

The winner of Division Two however was the experienced golfer Norma Pottinger who, playing off a handicap of 21, returned the very good score of 65. Norma's handicap has now been cut to 19.

Jenny Jones won the Stableford competition for the high handicap players with score of 41 points and her handicap has been reduced by four shots as a result.