Saunton Golf Club
Wednesday 23rd & Thursday 24th February 2011

North Devon Festival

The eighth fixture in the 2010/2011 season was the Devon Alliance at Saunton Golf Club. 76 Alliance members enjoyed the two days at this fantastic venue and the conditions were favourable on both days considering the time of year.

The courses were in great condition and the first day was played around the West course. It was Crediton’s Barry Austin and his partner Matt Scott Tucker who were leading the Pro-Am event with a brilliant 45 points. This was enough for a 4 shot lead and Barry had 40 points by himself and was leading the Pro individual by 1 shot from home Professional Albert MacKenzie. In the Am-Am competition, Tim Shobrook (Yelverton) and his partner Keith Blake (Libbaton) were tied at the top with the Honiton pairing of Barry Dunn and M Tierney on 40 points.

The first day was followed by the Captain’s dinner and we had a fantastic 3-course meal. A Charity Auction and raffle followed the dinner and there were excellent prizes in both. Tim Shobrook conducted the auction and the 24 lots raised over £3,000 for the Captain’s charity, which this year is Children’s Hospice South West.

It was fantastic to raise that amount of money and a big thank you to all the Alliance members who donated money, as well as the golf clubs and companies that donated prizes. The auction was followed by a raffle and £540 was raised for the Devon Juniors.

On the second day the Alliance members played around the East course. In the Pro Am event, it was Neil Holman (Torbay GC) and his partner Rick Osbourne (Churston) who took first place. They scored a total of 82 points (41 and 41) to win the Mike Dunk Trophy for 2011. They won by 1 shot from Austin and Scott Tucker (45 and 36) and Exminster’s Jon Langmead and Adrian Hughes (39 and 42).

In the Am-Am event, Mark Dunsford (East Devon) and Andy Parker (Exeter) won the event with 79 points (38 and 41). They won by 1 shot from the Saunton partnership of Peter Dunstain and John Carlo on 78 points (37 and 41), beating the third place partnership of Andy Thompson and Mike Daniels (39 and 39) of Yelverton on countback.

Jon Langmead won the individual event by two shots with an excellent three under par 75 points (37 and 38). There were three players in joint second place, Albert MacKenzie (39 and 34), Neil Holman (35 and 38) and Barry Austin (40 and 33).

The Devon Alliance Captain Stuart Disney thanked Saunton Golf Club for allowing the Devon Alliance to visit their club, and in particular General Manager Peter McMullen and Professionals Albert MacKenzie, Jason Avery and Andy Knight. Stuart also thanked all the green staff and the entire bar and catering staff for two excellent meals to follow the golf.

The next Alliance fixture is on Thursday 10th March 2011 at Churston Golf Club and I will look forward to seeing you all then.

Neil Holman, Rick Osbourn, Stuart Disney, Mark Dunsford and Andy Parker