WENVOE Castle's Club Finals Day oversaw a busy schedule with the contesting of nine different finals, as well as hosting a further eight matches in the Hallett Society Cup and Plate.

The finalists were greeted with quite heavy rainfall which briefly threatened to disrupt the programme, but all matches were able to go ahead as planned.

First out was the 36 hole Men’s Club Championship, which saw Matt Mullooly defending his title against Wayne Adams. After the first 18 holes Mullooly held a slender lead, which increased to a lead of three holes with just three to go. Adams struck back on the 16th and had a chance to take the match to the final hole, but Mullooly held out to retain his title with a hole to spare.

The Ladies Championship, also played over 36 holes, pitted another defending champion in Sheila Morrow against Lynda Campbell for the title. The match proved to be another very close contest with neither player building up a significant lead. Despite accidentally breaking the shaft over her driver during the first 18 holes, Campbell kept in touch and bravely played the second half with a new driver. It was not surprising to see the match ending all square after 36 holes and it went to sudden death. Morrow completed a successful defence of her title sinking a remarkable 25 foot putt on the first extra hole and both players can be proud of an exciting match played in an excellent spirit.

The Robert Rickard Cup was keenly contested by John Peters and Mike Veryard and played over 18 holes, with Peters capturing the trophy on the 17th green after another tight contest.

The Dragon Trophy is a qualifying competition for players with handicaps of 10 and over. Mark Bloomfield had entered the knockout stages by winning a five-way play off for one of the final eight places, going on to win the trophy with victory over Brian Morris in the final.

Three Ladies Finals followed with Barbara Beedham coming out on top against Lesley Sherrard to win the Mary Fellows Bowl, Wendy Motton then overcame Dee Lloyd to win the Ladies Bronze Championship and Maria Venn and Gill Rodgers fought out a repeat of last year’s final in the Blod Lewis Cup, with Venn avenging last year's defeat to win the trophy.

The H Regan Men’s Foursome saw an intriguing match between two pairs, seeing low handicaps versus high handicaps. With many strokes to be conceded, Neil Kelly and Pat Regan found it difficult against the consistent David Donovan and David Hutchings who opened up a strong lead in the early stages, holding on to achieve a well-deserved victory and get their names on the honours board.

In the last final of the busy day, Trish and Phil Walker proved worthy winners of the Mr & Mrs A M Foursomes Trophy against Deborah and Chris Jones.

A second finals day is held to accommodate players who reach a number of finals and Barbara Beedham claimed a second title playing with Heather Kinsey to win the White Cup against Wendy Motton and Mags Lewis.

Given the difficult and wet weather conditions, compliments were also paid to the green staff for the outstanding condition and presentation of the course. All winners can look forward to their names being engraved on the honours boards, while the losing finalists will no doubt reflect and use the valuable experience to go one better in the future.