HEREFORDSHIRE county golfers just missed out on sharing the honours with a strong Worcestershire Colts team at Kidderminster when they lost the afternoon singles 6-5 after sharing the morning foursomes 3-3.

Jonathan Devereux and Kris Jones, Jim Payne and Guy Haines, and Dave Morris and Matt Weaver were the morning foursomes victors, and afternoon wins were claimed by Jim Payne, Kevin Gibbons, skipper John McQuillan, Will Lloyd and Matt Davies.

Paul Moses was held to a half as the Worcestershire Colts edged a 9-8 match win.

n Ross-on-Wye club champion Tony Howells defied windy conditions and a course playing its full length to win the prestigious Spring Scratch medal with a fine gross 79.

He finished two shots clear of joint runners-up Tom Grey, Brian Macnamara and John Hebdon, with Andy Thomas, Alex Catchpole and Neville Ovens a further shot adrift.

Brian Carter took the Spring Handicap event with 98-28-70, beating Ray Cropper, 87-17-70, on a card countback. Jeff Oates finished third with 84-13-71.

The seniors continued their unbeaten run of friendly matches with a hard-earned 4-4 home draw against The Worcestershire.

David Every holed a splendid putt on the final hole to give himself and partner Norman Duffield a one-up victory in the last match and earn his team a draw.

Other wins came from skipper Tom Moore and Bob Beavis, and John Hebdon and Roy Cope, with Colin Burchell and Gerald Turner, and Neville Ovens and Stanley Walker claiming halves.

n Mark Williams posted 40 points to take Sapey's Directlines Stableford, two points clear of runner-up Keith Leadbetter who beat Gerry Henderson on a card countback.

Paul Waring completed a notable April double when he won both the midweek and monthly medals. His midweek winning score was 82-14-68 and he followed this with 80-14-66, his consistent scoring reducing his handicap to 12.

n Burghill Valley just failed in their bid to record a notable Shropshire and Hereford-shire Winter Alliance double in the last event of the series at Sapey.

The team of Keith Preece (professional), Guy Evans, Mark Wright and Steve Rogers won the day with 86 stableford points and claimed the Team Shield, with Mark Wright taking the amateur prize with 38 points.

Preece came second in the professional competition with 33 points but just failed to overhaul the Order of Merit leader Joe Higgins for the title.

Higgins made a last- minute change of plan to play in the final event and his third place saw him total 765 points, 20 clear of Preece.

Club teams dominated the Am-Am tournament at Burghill with The Doublecheck Cleaners (Mike Bell, Alan Mow, Kevin Wallace and Ben Fisher) taking top spot with 86 stableford points.

They finished a point clear of Team Angle (Steve Lloyd, Guy Evans, Carl Rose and Barry Park), with The Snappers (Darren Spragg, Alan Lawrence, Paul Moses and Phil Harrison) a further three points adrift.

n A hot three-ball contested the Committee Cup at Kington with the three prize-winners playing together and bringing the best out of each other.

Club chairman Mike Lloyd fired a splendid 72-11-61 to edge out treasurer Vic Baggott, 75-13-62, with fixture secretary Ken Lewis taking third spot on 81-17-64.

The seniors remain undefeated in home friendly matches after seeing off the challenge of The Rolls, Monmouth, by 4-1.

n No fewer than four competitors finished with nett 71s in Belmont's monthly medal and Chronicle Cup qualifier.

Results, division one (0-14): 1 Steve Hughes 76-5-71, 2 Richard Lloyd 75-4-71, 3 Peter James 80-9-71; division two (15-28): 1 Dave Faulkner 96-25-71, 2 Paul Bufton 90-15-75, 3 Jeff Treadwell 92-15-77.

Chronicle Cup qualifiers: Faulkner, Richard Vale, Pete Edwards and Stewart Thomson.

n Only one point separated the winners and runners-up in Hereford-shire GC's Hereford Times Cup, a pairs medal combining the four nett scores over two days.

The winners were Terry Harding and Graham Slade with 274, one better than Robin Eckley and Ken Barr. Gerald Morris and Mick Carroll took third place with 283.

n Summerhill hosted the Wee Wonders regional qualifying event with ages ranging from five to 12 years.

It was played over the par-three and par-four holes as a flag competition with the youngsters posting a marker after 36 shots.

Results, 5-6 years, boys: 1 Frankie Jones (5th fairway), 2 Matt Howard (4 holes); girls: 1 Caitlin Alder (4th fairway); 7-8 years, boys: 1 Adam Finn (8th green), 2 Thomas Davies (7th green); 9-10 years, boys: 1 Jonathan Williams (9th green), 2 Stewart Snedden (8 holes); 11-12 years, boys: 1 Josh Powell (10th green), 2 Ben Davies/Robert Stokes (9 holes); girls: 1 Emily Davies (6th green), 2 Amelia Ratcliffe (4th green).