The annual COXA golf day took place once again at The Surrey Downs Golf Club, Kingswood, Surrey. The conditions were near perfect and the course was in excellent condition except perhaps for a few bumps on some of the greens, caused by damage during the winter.

For the second year we played in teams of three for a team prize and again we found this was very popular. The winners were the excellent golfers Tom Judge, John Flynn and Andy McDonald. They returned with 87 points, beating their nearest rivals by 5 points. We decided to drop the `longest drive’ competition this year in favour of a `nearest the pin’ in two shots, on the par 4 17th hole. This was very keenly contested and many were surprised that Dave Murtagh’s excellent two shots were actually beaten, by just a few inches, when Chris Webb’s drive of 285 yards left him a short putt to win the prize.

We had some excellent guest golfers playing this year and Mike Leathem returned a staggering 44 points to win the Stapleford competition and had no rivals with his `nearest the pin’ shot on the 14th hole. It was a pity he could not stay for the presentation, but his bottles of Moet & Chandon and COXA Prosecco are on their way to him.

The main competition of the day, The Stan Miller Memorial Trophy, was won by Andy McDonald with an excellent round of golf. Playing off 14 on a strange course is never easy, but Andy returned 3 under par and 39 points. On the way round he also won the Eamonn Taggert Memorial Trophy for `nearest the pin’ on the 2nd hole and helped his team to win the team prize – a brilliant day’s golf!

Mention must be made of the frustration and stress Tom Purcell must have experienced on the day. Tom arrived at Glasgow airport at 5:30 am to find his flight delayed until 10:25 am. Unbelievably and with the help of Uber from Gatwick, Tom was on the tee 1:20 pm

Results:
Stan Miller Memorial Trophy…. Andy McDonald 39 points
Eamonn Taggert Memorial Trophy, Nearest the Pin……Andy McDonald
Guest Stapleford winner… Mike Leathem 44 points
Guest Nearest the Pin……Mike Leathem
Nearest the Pin in Two Shots……. Chris Webb
Team Winners with 87 points…………. Tom Judge, John Flynn, Andy McDonald

Team Scores:
82 points Denzil’s team, 81 points Neil Lethem's team, 77points John Kateley's team, 76 points Frank Hixson's team, 76 points Mick O’Sullivan team, 76 points Brendan Williams team, 73 points Frank Barretta's team, 67points D. Leathem’s team, 67 points Spencer McGuire’s team, 62 points Phil Schwenks team.

Stapleford Competition
44 points…. M. Leathem (G)
39 A. McDonald, C Webb (G)
38 D. Lindo (G)
37 J. Flynn, B. Williams, N. Leathem (G)
35 G. Rainer (G)
34 M. McLoughlin, J. Kateley (G), A. O’Sullivan (G), J. Ackerman (G)
33 T McLoughlin
32 D. Rowlands (G)
31 D. Leathem, T. Judge
30 F. Hixson, J. McGuire, E. Kearns
28 D. Hackshaw (G)
27 T. Purcell, D Nathan (G)
26 D. Murtagh, F. Barretta, P. Schwenk
25 P. Smith, B. Rose (G)
23 P. Davis
22 D. Mascarenhas, P. White
21 S. McGuire
14 M. Burke
13 M. O’Sullivan