ALEX Catchpole, a last-minute replacement, overcame the loss of his favourite driver to fire a two-over par 74 and win the Herefordshire Schools Championship and Under-16 title played over his home club Ross-on-Wye course.

Uncertain about his availability due to a prior commitment, the Bishop's School youngster only got in on the morning of the competition when one of the original entrants withdrew.

To complicate matters, the previous evening he broke the shaft of his driver as he was taking his clubs out of a car. His father, Ross professional Nick Catchpole, was unable to find a replacement shaft in time and so had to lend him his own driver. Alex used the heavier club with a stiffer shaft so effectively that his father is resigned to the fact that he probably won't get the club back.

Hereford Sixth Form pupil Jonathan Devereux (Herefordshire GC) took second place with a 75, and Kingstone's Gregg Morgan (Belmont) was third with 78.

The nett competition provided a blanket finish with three competitors finishing on 68. Jeremy Holder (Haywood), 96-28-68, took the championship on a card countback from Matthew Harrison (St Mary's), 79-11-68, with Brian Kirkham (Lady Hawkins), 95-27-68, in third place.

Hereford Sixth Form College won the senior team prize with Devereux (75), Richard Lloyd (79) and Philip Harrison (84) totalling 238. The Under-16 team prize went to St Mary's with Matthew Harrison (79), Carston Evans (81) and Daniel Scott (86) combining for 246.

n Gregg Morgan earned a half against the highly-rated Scott Jamieson as he helped England Schools to a 10-7 victory over their Scottish counterparts at Crail, Fife.

The 16-year-old, one of the youngest players in the match, lost his morning foursomes but played well to share the points with his experienced Scottish junior international opponent in the singles.

n Ian Harrison (Newent), Paul Hinton (Bridgnorth) and Darren Prosser (Three Hammers) each fired two-under par 67s to share first place in Sapey's Summer Pro-Am.

The Worcestershire professional, Richard Lewis, teamed up with club member Ian Smith and host club members Stuart Preece and Bruce Eddy to take the team prize with a 20-under-par total of 118, the best two nett scores on each hole counting.

n The grandfather and grandson combination of Isa Lloyd and Ben Synnnock teamed up to win the Rhosgoch Tarmac Open with a splendid better-ball nett 59.

Results: Isa Lloyd and Ben Synnock 59, 2 Kevin Hodges and Roger Jones 60, 3 Colin Palmer and Andrew Davies 60, 4 Colin Bufton and Glyn Protheroe 60; twos sweep: Chris Dance and Melvyn Hughes.

Mike Parry Trophy: 1 Edward Traylor 89-24-65, 2 Andrew Lloyd 92-25-67, 3 Gwyn Jones 87-18-69; twos sweep: Colin Palmer.

n G Riddell (Cradoc) won the cup and over-70 section at Belmont Seniors Open from a field of 165 competitors with a superb 40 stableford points. Alf Boswell, of the home club, took the gross prize with 83.

Results, (0-13): 1 R Warby (Cotswold Hills) 37 pts, 2 D Pritchard (Belmont) 35, 3 T Jones (Ross) 33, 4 R Spiers (Naunton Downs) 33; (14-18): 1 T Boswell 37, 2 B Turner (Belmont) 35, 3 J Jarrett (Ross) 35, 4 B Powell (Monmouth) 34; (19-24): 1 M Humphries (Chesterfield) 39, 2 G Bumfrey 33, 3 A Spence (Conwy) 33, 4 D Thorp (Belmont) 33; over 70's: 1 G Riddell (Cradoc) 40, 2 C Freeman (Bristol and Clifton) 35, 3 W Clowery (Worcestershire) 35, 4 P Drake (Redditch) 34; nearest the pins: J Whitehouse (Belmont), G Davies (Cradoc), R Rodick (Herefordshire), N Bell (Herefordshire), T Webber (Cleve Cloud); longest drives: J Jarrett (Ross), T Boswell (Belmont).

n Ross seniors suffered mixed fortunes in their friendly matches, beating Worcester Golf and Country Club 3-1 at home and going down 4-2 at Cirencester.

Skipper Derek Whatmore and his partner Bob Beavis led the way against Worcester with a 4 and 3 win in the opening match, and Paul Nottage and Don Hunter (2 and 1), John Hebdon (2 and 1) and Alex Baber and Colin Burchell (all square) secured the victory.

At Cirencester Ian Davenport and Gerald turner (2 and 1), Dennis Gilbert and Colin Burchell (1 up) and Derek Whatmore and Pat Curtis (all square) got their points, with a couple of the losses being decided on the last green.

n Herefordshire GC Men's Invitation Day, with a member and guest playing a better-ball pairs format, produced some outstanding golf with Jonathan Curtis and Darren Richards (Kington) posting a splendid 64 to win the gross prize, one shot clear of Jonathan Devereux and Joe Ferguson (Ludlow).

The nett competition was also well contested with Richard Harris and Darren Spragg (Burghill Valley) beating Phil Eynon and Mike Williams (Belmont) on a card countback after both finished on 61.

Results, gross: 1 Jonathan Curtis and Darren Richards 64, 2 Jonathan Devereux and Joe Ferguson 65, 3 Roger Wild and David James 70, 4 Neil Bell and Roger Bethell 71, 5 Wyn Owen and Richard Vale 71; nett: 1 Richard Harris and Darren Spragg 61, 2 Phil Eynon and Mike Williams 61, 2 Kevin Davies and Marlon Pritchard 62, 4 Cecil Wheatstone and Steve Wheatstone 62, 5 Brian Maggs and Mike Gullis 63; nearest the pins: Roger Griffiths and David Price; longest drive, under-55: Jonathan Curtis; over-55: Peter Handley.

n Junior members were prominent in Burghill Valley's July medal with only Mark Stephenson and Adrian Taylor preventing a clean sweep by the youngsters.

Results, division one, gross: 1 Adrian Marshall 76, 2 Phillip Harrison 77, 3 Dan Jarman 77; nett: 1 Phillip Harrison 77-12-65, 2 Adrian Marshall 76-10-66, 3 Mark Stephenson 78-12-66; division two, gross: 1 Matthew Jones 83, 2 Adrian Taylor 84, 3 Kris Jones 85; nett: 1 Matthew Jones 83-23-60, 2 Adrian Taylor 84-17-67, 3 Kris Jones 85-18-67.

n There was a blanket finish to Belmont's Terry Cox Memorial Trophy with four competitors finishing on 38 stableford points.

Results (after countback): 1 Tristan Dodd, 2 Paul Jones, 3 Barry Norton, 4 Bill Warren.