It was Charity Chalice day on Sunday for players at Greetham Valley and in the (Ladies) Meadows World Charity it was Kay Ropson who had the best score of all players when she amassed 42 points on the Lakes course.

Playing in some very variable weather with intermittent torrential downpours Kay (handicap 9) played a remarkably steady round in which she reached the turn at gross par, thanks to successive birdies on holes five and six and continued very much in this manner on her way home, only dropping three further shots on her round, to end up with a gross score of 76 and four points clear of her nearest rival.

That rival was Stephanie Craft (16) who totalled 38 thanks to a round with seven pars and eight bogeys (some of which, with a little more luck, could have been pars as well). Stephanie was consistent in her scoring throughout and a final bogey on the last meant that she took second spot on countback from Sue Brand, who had the same score. Sue (15) was exceptionally strong on the front half, which she completed in only three over gross but, in spite of making a par on the sixteenth it was a failure to score on the last as well as a few struggles on holes 15 and 17 which condemned her to third spot.

In the Gents Trophy, Gary Evans (10) came at the top of the pile with 41 points in spite of finding water on the last and registering a no-score. Gary had started like a train with birdies on the first two holes and he reached the turn in only one over gross.

The back half was hardly any more troubling as he dropped only two shots to the card until he reached the last, where his failure which was unexpected given his play up to that point.

Just behind him was Gary Adams (6) who had an amazingly varied round as he picked up five birdies to go with his nine pars but also managed to allow three doubles on to his card as well. Brian Ross (22) also totalled 40 points but he was undone on countback as he leaked shots over the last few holes.

On Wednesday the Ladies played a match against Kettering at home. The team of Susie Ellis, Liz Haughton, Dee Ginnity, Valda Austin, Dee Hinch, Chris Edwards, Rachel Southwell and Margaret Littlemore played beautifully against a challenging team and ended with a creditable half.

Sophie Beardsall was involved in playing for Lincolnshire in the National County Finals which were played over five days at Delamere Forest, with Lincolnshire eventually finishing as Runners-Up.

With foursomes and singles being played against each of the other five teams Lincolnshire ended up with three wins and two losses. County Vice-Captain, Gilly Grant, said that Sophie had played some amazing golf to help the county to this outcome.

On Saturday, the Gents Friendly team played against local rivals Rutland County on the Valley Course. The match was a closely fought affair, with the visitors fielding five players with under 7 handicaps, emphasising the importance of the win to them.

There was some outstanding play from the Greetham team, with standout individual performances from Craig Allan and Chris Hatch who won by 8 and 6, with both focused on the importance of the win to their captain.

Their consistent form throughout the season, both in team matches and in extensive participation in club competitions, has been impressive. The pairing of Max Maksymiw and Ian Cunningham performed exceptionally well (winning 3 and 1) whilst Malcolm Boyd with (newcomer) Jim Clarke also won, this time by 3 and 2.

All losing players had their moments, most of which were covered in the post-match review. The match was halved, resulting in a 'clean sheet' for the home team all season.

The Rutland County Club captain, Mark Durno (narrowly the victor in his pairing) was extremely complimentary of the team's performance, (which was clearly the toughest competition they had been subjected to this year), the hospitality shown by the club and the course condition, and looked forward to the return match scheduled for next season.

Chris Hatch is currently leading the 'player of the season award', closely followed by Peter Wood and Craig Allan (following the latter's massive win on the day) and as predicted last week, the story is yet to be finalised.

With Knockout Finals Day looming, the first of the titles was played early due to conflicting commitments and there was a win in the Family Pairs as Tom and Mark Haynes beat Lewis and Dave Chisholm to the title.

The Seniors section played a par-bogey qualifying competition on the Valley Course and there were some very close results at the top of the table.

Terry McNulty (20), who has been in good form recently was the overall winner with a score of +4 thanks to a run of five holes on the back nine (holes 12 – 16) in which he scored three pars and two birdies and a finishing par on the last was the icing on the cake to put him at the top.

Close behind, on +3, was Bernie Bell (17) who carded four pars on the back half to push him ahead of Neil Lowndes (11) on countback. Neil was his usual consistent self until he reached the sixteenth where he unaccountably took a double bogey which eventually counted against him when measured against Bernie.