Jim Beach won the Cheltenham C-Level GC

[<<] [>>] by Ivor Brand at Cheltenham
15th July 2021 (GC)

This was played in a 'round robin' format involving 16 players being split by handicap and where possible by club into 4 blocks of 4. Each morning block was then seeded for the afternoon 'final' blocks with all the winners going together, likewise the seconds, thirds and fourths to their respective blocks. Although, most of the players were local some had travelled from as far afield as Hamptworth and Glamorgan to play on Cheltenham's fabulous lawns on what turned out to be a glorious sunny day, surely life does not get better than this despite the game's result?
Jim Beach (top seed) now on a 5 handicap went through in his block undefeated despite local girl Carol Cowlishaw taking him to the 'golden hoop'. The 3 other blocks were much tighter affairs with net points having to be used to separate Naomi Whitehead, Jill Bateman and Kathryn Gilden (Cheltenham members) as the eventual winners of their respective blocks. In fact Richard Jenkins was equal with Kathryn but lost out on who beat who.
Block D (positions 13-16) was won by an undefeated Richard Pinder from local club Beckford, while block C (positions 9-12) was also won by another undefeated local club player Martin Pollard from Worcester Norton. Block B (positions 5-8) was much tighter with three players needing to be separated by net points which resulted with Richard Jenkins this time coming out on top. Block A (positions 1-4) was again as predicted by the manager another tight affair with three players sharing the lead and having to be separated again by net points!!!
In the end it was a visitor Jim Beach from Glamorgan who managed to conquer the three Cheltenham's ladies to receive the Barter Trophy from Ivor Brand (manager).