Report by Dave Tweed on Sunday 25th January 2015

After a lengthy break, due to heavy Serra de Monchique work commitments by the author last year, 2015 sees the return of what is hoped to be a regular Mens Matchplay newsletter.

The first Thursday of the month was on 1st January, so understandably there were not many takers! Silves was closed, so Larry Pratt, Stuart Walker and myself had a very relaxing and enjoyable round at Gramacho - although me and Larry enjoyed it more than Stuart, who had a "nightmare day"!

On Thursday 8th January we were back to full strength with 20 players, so 5 pairs matchplay 4balls were possible. The league table will be circulated to the particpants in due course, but winners on the day were Frans Bus & Dave Tweed, Pete Steward & Brian Pike, Chris Nickels & Dave Underwood, Ian Wakenshaw & Chris Crawford.

Five matches again on Thursday 15th, although some played the "split 6" game. Matchplay winners were Charles Bradshaw & Steve Morgan, Dave Tweed & Peter Chapman, Euan Pyper & Ian Wakenshaw.

Thursday 22nd was a wet, windy & cold day (by Algarve standards), so some late withdrawals meant there were only three matchplay games at Silves (one "split 6" and an "away day" for another 4 regulars). Matchplay winners were John Penn & Stuart Walker, Wim Hofmann & Piet Kolder, Charles Bradshaw & Dave Tweed. An agreement was made that the "away day boys" result would count towards the league once their €1 sub was agreed - and Peter Chapman & Warren Tennant won the day vs Stuart Deans & Euan Pyper.

So, after three weeks Dave Tweed is leading the league with 6 points; Charles Bradshaw, Peter Chapman and Ian Wakenshaw have 4 points - and Steve Morgan, Stuart Walker, Colin Hynd & Wim Hofmann have 3 points.

There are nine men on 2 points, a further four on 1 point - and six still to score. So we already have 27 members in the "playing pool" this quarter, not counting the several guests who play from time to time.

On Thursday 29th Silves is closed due to the European Seniors Tour Qualifying School, so we are at Alto - but will probably release several of the allocated tee times, as many members are on marshall duties this week.

At the time of writing, I do not have confirmation of our February tee times, but am assuming there will be at least 12 every week from 08:06 until 09:45. Clearly the Mens Matchplay will not require all those times, but that also takes the ladies games into account.