2. The greens were very fast and pin positions difficult so scoring was not easy as chips which you thought were OK ran through to the back (mine did anyway!) and it is not surprising that Ian made his CSS only 34. Incidentally our Handicap Secretary had all 112 morning scores on the web site by 5.30 which was 30 minutes before I reached the Clubhouse after our Texas round. Soon he’ll be posting the scores even before we’ve finished our morning one! Well done Ian and thanks to you, Chris Bower, Steve Secker, Pat Romain and her friend and Chris Little for all your help and support on the day which would have been so much less successful without you all. We also appreciate all the assistance we get from Betchworth Park’s Club members in starting (particularly Tom Gale) and spotting (well done John Davies for organising this even though you weren’t able to take part on the day). Truly a great team effort.

3. Talking of teams we have a new winner of the Marsden Trophy. Hawk’s Hackers proved themselves anything but that as they powered their way to 118 points. You just can’t keep this man Hawkins down as this was the third event in succession he has been in winning mode. This time of course he needed the considerable help of family member Alan Langford who with his sons Tom and Gary gave the team a solid foundation by all scoring 31 or over. It was a great debut from a new team and our special congratulations to the boys who become the youngest joint winners of a major BAGS event. We hope they enjoy their fourball prize at Liphook, conveniently situated not too far away from their Hampshire home.

4. As for the Individual Competition, Peter Robertson won the BAGS event with 38 points and was very close to prevailing in the Open competition, finishing only two behind Keith Flack in Harry’s team. This was Peter’s fifth individual BAGS win and I note with interest that two of his previous victories, at Croham Hurst and Woodcote Park, came at Clubs which we are visiting in the second half of the year. Good to see you playing so well again, Peter and congratulations on this latest victory.

5. Very well done to Andrew whose performance brought his handicap down to 5.2 which is now the lowest in BAGS being slightly below Richard in decimal terms though they play off the same. No changes in the Chairman’s as Kevin retains his considerable lead over Ian.

 6. On now to the vital fund raising side of the Charity event. I met with Chris yesterday then John (whose second operation on his back has been much more successful so he is making good progress) and it’s certain we made over £20,000 with the likelihood that we are close to £25K. Though that figure would be made up of many individual donations and contributions, we are particularly indebted to Mike for his Company’s generous sponsorship of the event and those who supported the auction so enthusiastically. I am so proud of the efforts we have made over the years to help young cancer sufferers but this year’s performance, achieved in difficult economic circumstances, is just incredible. We all know that so much of the credit for this is down to a certain gentleman in Ashtead, but he will only modestly admit to being a link in the chain. To paraphrase one of Churchill’s famous sayings, ‘Some chain, some link’

7. Good luck to our Golfathon trio on July 1st and we hope the weather is not too hot on that special day. A reminder also that our final Charity event of the year will be held at Glenn and Alexia’s house on Sunday August 8th . This is a wonderful way to spend a summer’s afternoon with your BAGS friends and though we have 30 so far likely to attend, we’d like at least another 10 so do take a look at your diaries and try to make one of the highlights of the BAGS social season.

8. Our next event is on the coastal courses of Worthing on July 15th . We still have three spaces left so if you’d like a day out sampling the sea air while you take in some fabulous views, this is for you.

9. Just to remind you of the KO deadlines of June 30th. If there are results or scheduling problems, please contact organisers Roger or John.

Whatever the Slovenia result, enjoy these long days of summer (as the nights start to draw in!!)

Below are the photos taken by Terry Taylor during the awards.

The Team prize goes to Hawk's Hackers with 118 points

The BAGS competition winner, Peter Robertson with 38 points

The Open Competition winner, Keith Flack with 40 points

Chris Romain our Chief Auctioneer and Chairman of the Charity Committee

And finally, the main sponsor of the day, Mike Christieson of Atlantic Trading presents a cheque to The Royal Marsden's Amanda Heaton