Watson claims fourth title with four-shot victory

Watson won by four shots from another former captain, Brendan O'Brien, who beat Nigel Morris into third place on countback.

Watson, club champion in 1988, 1989 and 1998, shot gross scores of 74 and 78 for 152, while O'Brien was boosted by a hole in one on the 196-yards par-three sixth on the first day.

He scored consistent rounds of 78 and 78 for 156 and Morris returned 77 and 79 in a tight finish.

The Ravenhill Cup for the best nett score was won by Michael Boucher with 70 and 65 for 135, followed by Allan Hall, 70+67=137, and third-placed Paul Creasey, 69+69=138.

Jason Gillum won the County Members Cup for the best nett score on the first day with 87-21-66 and a countback was needed for second place with Andrew Merrick, 75-8-67, pipping Mike Storr, 83-16-67.

The Ford Bridge Cup for the best stableford score on the second day went to Daniel Davies with 42 points, while another former captain, Paul Merriman, was runner-up on 38 with current club captain Julian Morris third on 37.

Herefordshire Golf Academy staff member John Moody is through to the UK finals of the Volkswagen Masters after winning the top section of the Welsh Regional finals at Marriott St Pierre.

Moody, a St Pierre member and club champion, made the most of his knowledge of the parkland course near Chepstow which was in superb condition.

He shot a nett 65 off a handicap of four to win by four shots - and that was after starting with a double-bogey seven after topping his drive.

But he was five under for the back nine and finished with a birdie two on the final hole where a raised green is guarded by the edge of a lake.

The UK finals will be held at the new Ryder Cup course at Celtic Manor in September.

Six Hereford Municipal players represented the city in the regional finals of the Volkswagen Masters at St Pierre but none finished in the top two of their section.

Club captain Colin Morgan appeared the most likely to qualify for the UK finals when he played solid but unspectacular golf and was five-under nett after a birdie four on 14th hole. But visits to the water on the 15th and 17th put paid to his chances and he returned a nett one-over score. He also missed winning nearest the pin by inches.

Dave Wooles also had a good score going but three attempts, including two balls thinned out of bounds, from the wet sand on a deep bunker near the 16th green finished him off.

Municipal club newcomer Stuart Robinson combined with Kevin Childs to win the club's annual foursomes.

Results: 1 Kevin Childs and Stuart Robinson 89-23-66, 2 Harry Magee and Malcolm Keddie 86-17-69, 3 Averil Magee and Rob Pugh 85-16-69.

Herefordshire GC captain Willie Weaver was thankful for a rain-free Captain's Day when over 200 members gave their support.

There were some fine individual scores and Elliott Shaw produced a round of 65 to win the gross prize.

Other results, nett (0-14): 1 Tim Jones 40 pts, 2 Les Bond 40, 3 Geoff Gobey 39; (15-28): 1 Adam Herbert 47, 2 Oliver Price 42, 3 Dave Stocker 41; team: Butterworth, Williams, Mence and Herbert 155; longest drive, under-55: Dean Mayo-Evans, over-55 Terry Garratt; nearest the pins: Steve Brimfield, Paul Fisher; putting: Nigel Winney.

The day raised £1,100 for the captain's charity and he was thankful of sponsorship support.

Hereford suffered a 3-2 defeat in a friendly against Llandrindod Wells.

Seniors' stableford, (0-18): 1 David Knowles 37 pts, 2 Ian McIntosh 36; (19-28): 1 John Warren 37, 2 Graham Davies 36.

The seniors lost 6-0 in a match at Rolls of Monmouth.

A countback was needed to decide the top three after 72 Belmont members contested Captain's Day.

Results: 1 Richard Skyrme 40 pts, 2 Harry Hancock 40, 3 Barry Norton 40.

Seniors' June medal, (0-14): Terry Thomas 85-12-73, 2 Brian White 87-11-76, 3 Dennis Pritchard 88-11-77; (15-28): 1 George Cozens 87-18-69, 2 Brian Matthews 91-20-71, 3 Wref Digings 90-15-75.

Doug Taylor returned a superb nett 62 to win Kington's Greg Norman medal, while up-and-coming junior Will Frost took the Lewis Cup with a nett 64.

Results, Greg Norman medal: 1 Doug Taylor 71-9-62, 2 Lee Wilson 70-6-64, 3 Moray Mackintosh 75-10-65; division one: 1 Keith Lister 74-8-66, 2 Dave Morris 74-6-68, 3 Kelvin Alexander 76-6-70; division two: 1 George Frost 80-13-67, 2 Rob Metcalfe 2nd 78-11-67, 3 Jeff Brown 82-14-68; division three: 1 John Coley 88-20-68, 2 John Hoyle 89-21-68, 3 Lee Turner 93-24-69.

Lewis Cup: Will Frost 74-10-64; division one: 1 Ross Moore 75-7-68, 2 Dave Morris 76-6-70, 3 Dan Morris 75-5-70; division two: 1 Ray Evans 79-11-67, 2 George Smith 79-10-69, 3 Gareth Jones 87-15-72; division three: 1 Mike Davies 85-19-66, 2 John Hoyle 90-21-69, 3 Mike Waygood 86-17-69.

Waugh Cup (20-28): 1 John Hoyle 90-21-69, 2 A Blackburn 97-26-71.

Stan Arnold has been appointed club captain for 2008.

Kington hosted the first leg of the Junior Quadrangular competition between themselves, Aberystwyth, Borth and Llandrindod Wells and came out on top.

The best six scores from teams of eight count in the stableford contest and Kington totalled 223, followed by Llandrindod, 207, Borth, 195, and Aberystwyth, 189.

Kington's Richard Scott was the best individual with 48 points.

The next round is at Llandrindod on July 21.

Kington juniors staged a foursomes. Results: 1 Ross Moore and Ryan Hotchkiss 41 pts, 2 Joe Hughes and Lewis Compton 34, 3 Rob Metcalfe and Ben Redfern 30.

John Davies was the overall winner of the club's latest Wednesday night competition with 69-4-65.

Other results, division one: 1 Ross Moore 74-7-67, 2 Kelvin Alexander 89-6-74: division two: 1 Ray Evans 76-11-65, 2 Gareth Jones 83-15-68; division three: 1 Marcell Veillett 88-20-68, 2 Darren Morgan 92-23-69.

The seniors' team lost 6-1 at Worfield but won 5-2 at home to Sapey.

Stuart Goulding won the June medal at Ross-on-Wye with a nett 64 and his handicap has been cut from 26 to 23.

Neville Ovens was returning to form with a nett 67 for second place and is now playing off 14.

Countbacks were needed to decide the top places in the third round of the seniors' Layton Cup stableford competition.

Results: 1 James Millar 41 pts, 2 Peter Lowe 41, 3 Trevor Flowers 40, 4 Tim Dixon 40.

Ross were drawn away to Shortwood Lodge in the first round of the Gloucestershire Union President's Cup foursomes and were knocked out 3-2 after extra holes were needed for a result.

The seniors' team gained a 5-2 win at Cirencester.

A countback was needed to decide Burghill Valley seniors' stableford.

Results: 1 Don Barrington 33 pts, 2 Arnold Morley 33, 3 Dave Kitson 33.

John Preece headed a large field to win Kingstone High School Society's June Mulligan medal but was closely followed by a host of players in form over the nine holes.

Results, overall winner: John Preece 38-16-22; division one: Ben Kennedy 34-8-26; division two: 1 Andy Wright 35-12-23, 2 Bill Cockman 39-16-23, 3 Richard Manning 41-14-27; division three: 1 Chris Dempsey 42-19-23, 2 Rhodri Kendrick 46-20-26, 3 Gareth Williams 49-22-27; novice: Nigel Mosinski 63-27-36.

Dave Radbourne was the winner of Luctonians Society's day at Builth Wells.

Results: 1 Dave Radbourne 37 pts, 2 David Price (cla) 37, 3 David Price (ins) 35; front nine: Monty Lowe 21; back nine: Keith Smith 18; nearest the pin: Dudley Cleland; longest drive: Tim Jessop.

Luctonians' Am-Am is being staged at Leominster on August 10.

Shropshire & Herefordshire Union Seniors gained their first win of the season at the fifth attempt when they beat Derby 4-2 at Worfield in a match reduced to 18 holes because of poor weather.