Steven takes medal win by five strokes
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THE August Medal had been cancelled twice during August due to atrocious weather but at last it was played at Wick last Sunday.
Although it was dry, a strong south-easterly wind, which grew in strength as the day wore on, made for extremely difficult scoring conditions with more than half of the competitors having no returns.
The exception to the rule was Michael Steven (12) who returned a nett 68 – a magnificent score in the conditions – to win the competition by five strokes from Greg Shearer (10). With the wind helping, Steven went out in 39, despite a double bogey at the ninth hole, and played superb golf back into the wind to cover the back nine in 41 strokes.
Shearer, who has had a fine season, claimed second spot with a nett 73. He made the best of starts with a birdie at the first going out in 38, which included a double bogey at the ninth, but struggled on the way back taking 45 strokes and, unfortunately, ran up a quadruple bogey at the 16th.
Two veterans were next with nett 76s – Allan Munro (6) and Ian Thomson (5), with the former claiming third place by virtue of a better inward half. Munro went out in 40 and back in 43 which included a triple bogey at the 15th and a double bogey at the 16th. Thomson was out in 38 but a lost ball at the 12th resulted in a triple bogey and he limped back in 43.
The next competition is the 36-hole Stroke Play Championship which is due to be played tomorrow and Sunday. This is the last club competition, however, the final contest of the season is the Ricky Shearer Open which is being rerun at the sponsor’s request and is being played on Sunday, October 9.
