ROSS Golf Club's Annual Layton Cup trophy for their mens' Seniors members is contested each year based upon the best three stableford rounds out of the six played throughout the Summer season. As the 1st round scheduled for March was washed out by the weather, the 2010 event will now cover just five rounds. Playing in the 2nd round and scoring 44 points to be the top performer on the day by miles, Eric Stephens, already well known throughout Gloucestershire for his past exploits on Rugby pitches and Cricket squares, will now be looking to be remembered for his golfing achievements too. On a difficult day for good scoring mainly due to the lightening fast greens, which troubled most of the 81 members who took part, Eric's round turned out to be a model in consistency and good course management and brought about a handicap reduction to 15 and means that with a seven point advantage, he must be considered favourite to win the Cup even after one round. David Thrower and David M Rees with 37 points each followed in Eric's wake as did the 36 pointers who were Seniors Captain Graham Chick, Mike Bourne, Brian Clouder, Brian Ingram, Trevor Flowers and Peter Newton.
Jean Ovens took charge of a mixed social team which visited Minchinhampton Golf Club, near Stroud, in the Club's programme of friendly matches and although reduced to non-playing Captain on the day through injury, this did not deter Jean from inspiring those in her care to a 6.5 points to 5.5 points victory. Quite an achievement as the match was played on the Club's Cherrington Course which will be used shortly by regional qualifiers for the British Open.
The Club's B team Captain, Eric Snape took his B team squad to play against Brockhampton Court and although they gave a good account of themselves, this did not prevent them having to return home with a 3.5 points to 2.5 points defeat. For Ross, the team's points were provided by 1 up wins for Eric Stephens/Bob Timms and Matt Blythe/Chris Harvey and a halved match result for Danny Gear/Martin Pimlow.
Meanwhile the Ross Seniors squad have faced 2 difficult away trips. With Seniors Captain Graham Chick in charge, they visited Stinchcombe Hill GC and they found the course much to their liking to bring about an excellent away win by 5 points to 3. The winners were Graham Chick/Peter Chapman, David M Rees/Geoff Baker and Dave Every/Peter Metcalfe who all won 3/2, Nick Swan/Fred Stott 6/5 and David Price/Keith Ray 4/3. When they travelled to play against their Droitwich Spa counterparts, Seniors Vice-Captain Doug David was at the helm and in winning his match with Gerald Turner 1 up, supported by wins from Pat Curtis/David Thrower 7/5, Brian Clouder/Mike Harris 4/2 and a halved match by David M Rees/Peter Chapman, this meant a drawn match with each team scoring 3.5 points to produce an acceptable result for all parties.