LONGLEY PARK’S Dorothy Riley played a big part in helping her teammates land the Team Stableford competition, which traditionally opens the annual Examiner Overseas Golf Challenge week.
Held at the Laguna course, which as the name suggests contains more than its fair share of water holes – 12 in total – Riley (Dot to her friends) was joined by Branshaw’s Brian Wilson and Woodhall Hills’ Sue Morse (both past winners of the main competition) and debutant Jonathan Taylor from Woolley.
The teams are drawn out randomly at the pre-holiday meeting, and with a format of the best two to count on the first six holes, three on the middle six, and all four to count on the last six, Riley’s quartet dovetailed, particularly on the inward nine as they blitzed all-comers with a great score of 61 points and a total of 110.
Morse came onto the card on all-but two holes, but it really was a fine all-round team performance.
No-one else came anywhere close to the winners, with two teams sharing second spot on 96 points, some 14 behind the winners.
The Team Stableford is always viewed as a friendly opening to the holiday and a pre-cursor to the main event, and this year’s competition at Laguna was no different, played under a cloudless sky and with temperatures reaching the mid-70s, which left the non-golfers lounging poolside at the four-star Hotel Vila Gale Marina which overlooks the splendid Vilamoura marina – and the golfers gasping for liquid!
In second place, but out of the prizes were Brian Randerson, Noel Ward and the two Woodhall men Brian Verity and tour organiser Paul Hanson.
Apart from the winners, just three points covered the next five teams, and the leading three teams were:
Team Stableford: 1 D Riley (Longley Park), B Wilson (Branshaw), S Morse (Woodhall Hills), Jonathan Taylor (Woolley) 110 points; 2 B Randerson (Bingley St Ives), N Ward (Longley Park), B Verity and P Hanson (both Woodhall Hills) 96; 3 G Heywood and I Colleton (both Longley Park), D Whiting (Woodhall Hills), F Eccles (Bradford Moor) 96.
