Almost 200 golfers took part in skipper Simon Rossiter’s Captain’s Day at Leighton Buzzard’s Plantation Road club on Saturday, with Audi-car service manager Roger Hughes delivering a high octane performance to win by two shots.

Club committee man Phil Coumbe, a 3-handicap golfer, had one foot on the podium after carding 41 points, but as late-playing golfers returned to the club house, 56-year-old Roger took top spot with an impressive 43 points,

It was a third major trophy win for 18-handicapper Roger in the five years he has been a member of the Leighton club, having previously won the Captain’s Cup and Plum Duffs charity trophy.  On this occasion, he was presented with the silver Quaich by Gill McDougall, whose family donated the traditional Scottish drinking cup in memory of her father Maurice Leslie, a Leighton member for 68 years before his death five years ago at the age of 94.

There was some consolation for former RAF man Phil; he took the runners-up spot on countback from Greg White and Charlie McNally after all three finished with 41 points.

Other leading scores were: 40pts – Grant Tibbett, Tony Russell, Peter Myrants, Dave Embury, Chris Hawkins, David Evans; 39pts – Carl McDougall, Colin McLeod, Paul Morgan, John Waiting, Stephen Baines, John Allinson.

Jackie Phelps was top lady finisher, beating Stephanie Howlett on countback with 25 points over nine holes.

There were neaest-the-pin wins by Jenny Stafford, Stephanie |Howlett, Simon Thornton, John Allinson (2), Steve Gibbs and Colin McLeod; nearest-the-line wins by Patti Marriott, Tim Martin and Jamie Stone; and the longest drive by Ed Stephenson.

Funds raised on the day are being donated by skipper Simon towards the cost of staging Leighton’s Centenary celebrations in 2025.  

Vice Captain Graham Freer, who succeeds Simon in January, has named Tim Mitchell as his Vice Captain elect.

Daniel Latimer and Stuart McLeod teamed up to win Leighton’s Dennis Jordan foursomes qualifier with 42 points, two clear of Gary Hart and Darran Valentine and John and Michael David.

Leighton’s Senior squad celebrated a 5-0 victory over Stocks. While skipper Denis Leitch and Paul Johnson shared the spoils in the opening match, wins by Leighton pairings Robbie John and Dave Sweetnam, Harry Adam and Paul Bishop, Graham Pellow and Chris Figg, Steve Shepherd and Ken Wilson and Andy Mcdonald and Derek Browning earned the host team a walk-away win.