THE first week of November was a quiet one for the Fossils with only Thursday seeing any golf.

With all of the qualifying competitions completed, vice-captain Paul Osborne arranged a double-header with five Winter greensomes and a betterball competition for those not playing in the greensomes.

Despite mainly grey skies which later broke up to give blue skies and surprisingly strong autumn sunshine which made it feel very summer-like, the Kernow course had all but recovered from its recent maintenance and played really well.

It came as no surprise that in the better-ball competition there were some excellent scores with second out on the day, Alan Joel, Colin MacDonald and Tony Prout posting what turned out to be the winning score of 82 points. Close behind on 81 came Allan Evans and Keith Abbott, ably helped by the Ghost. In third place were vice-captain Osborne, Mike Richardson and Greg Clark with 80.

With the Greensomes’ teams being drawn on a random basis, there are always an assortment of views on the potential of each pairing and of course extraordinary results as it is played under matchplay rules.

Results in these early duels often do not tell the full story of the intensity of the individual tussles which are always played in good spirit, so the outcomes frequently give a false impression of what happened out on the course. The discussions in the clubhouse certainly confirmed the point.

Results: Albert Gunning and Kevin Smith won 3&1 against John Clements and Pete Williams; Lawrence Rowley and Pete Mehigan lost 6&5 against Ted Ahier and Mike Page; John Smith and Nigel Coulson-Stevens lost 5&4 against Mike Tamblin and Keith Field; Colin Marshall and Kevin Robinson won 6&5 against Colin Hatton and Sophocles Ioannou.

EIGHT ladies play a knockout and 8 men play a knockout with the winners playing in the final of the Grace Stevens Trophy. Debbie Flanagan played very well and triumphed over Tony Lane.

The Wednesday Fun Day on October 29 was held in rainy weather, meaning several of ladies decided not to play.

Despite the depleted numbers, seven ladies put on their waterproofs and played nine holes in teams of four, with two scores to count.

Sue Wenmoth, Pam Hughes, Wendy Phillips and ghost for the day – Chris Crichton, edged out Julie Cleaton, Glennis Wootton, Katy Milne and Chris Crichton.

Although there had been 44 millimetres of rain overnight before the Wednesday Stableford on November 5, the course was playing well with just a few wet areas, and it stayed dry for the competition which was won by Sam Peach on 36 points, two clear of Karen Cook who secured the runners-up spot on countback from Bridgitte Worth.

The nine-hole competition saw Sue Wenmoth’s 16 points prove enough for victory as she finished two clear of Wendy Phillips.

We are very lucky at St Mellion that ladies are able to play in 18 or nine-hole competitions as many clubs do not have this.

Playing in 18 or nine means ladies scores are recorded for handicap, and makes them eligible for trophy competitions if a certain number of holes are completed.