PHIL Hodgson enjoyed a successful weekend at Brean as he finished second in the Winter League on Saturday before finding himself in the winning quartet in the Christmas Texas Scramble for the Grumpy Trophy. He was joined by the in-form Steve Jones, Pete Dunn and Jim McLauchlan as they combined well to return a nett score of 56.5.

The winners had a gross score of 63 over the 18 holes and the same gross score was also handed in by the second placed team. Andy Thomas, Stuart Wills, Paul McLanaghan and Martyn Cahill didn't have quite as many shots as the winners so ended up just over a shot and a half behind in the silver medal position. Third place was claimed by Matt Haskins, Dave Bradley Steve and Gail Mason with their nett score of 58.6.

The Winter League series finally got underway on Saturday and the first winner of the Winter was Mike Porter who carded an impressive 40 points to win by the narrowest of margins. That margin was thanks to a countback and the unlucky player having to settle for the runner up position on the day was Hodgson. Russell Shaw took third spot on 38 points Jim McLauchlan ended a barren spell for him in Seniors competitions at Brean as he won the December Stableford with an excellent score of 40 points.

McLauchlan mastered the elements though as he ended as the only competitor to beat his handicap and was rewarded with a handicap reduction of a stroke as a result. Seniors Captain Tony Roper was the runner up and not for the first time this year was pipped at the post by one of the later starters. He carded 36 points and led for a long time until McLauchlan in the penultimate group trumped him. Third place was taken by the ever consistent Roger Phillips with 35 points In the latest round of the Seniors Winter League the format saw two scores from three counted at each hole.

Pete Douglas, John Heath and Wally Pape scored an amazing 119 giving them an emphatic eight stroke victory. Second and third places were much closer though as two teams tied on 127 and a countback was required to separate them. The outcome of that was that Barrie Tucker, Ken Ponter and Dai Wood prevailed for the runners up spot over Colin Roberts, Len Young and Charlie Hastie. George Thomas notched the second hole in one at Brean in under a week during the Seniors Winter League competition.