….while wife Sue tops the table by NINE.

Husband and wife golfers have won competitions at Leighton Buzzard’s Plantation Road club within four days of each other ….writing a new page of history and raising over £900 for a charity which supports children with life-threatening illnesses.

Retired super-store chief John Preston beat 147 club colleagues in Saturday’s Presidents’ Putter event by a fraction of a point, just days after wife Sue topped the table in Leighton Ladies monthly stableford,  carding an impressive 46 points

Yorkshire born John, 74, honed his golfing skills on the Lancashire moorlands near Burnley before moving south and joining the Leighton club of which he was Captain in 2012 and President four years later.

And in beating past winner Mark Sandham by just 0.2 of a point after both carded nett scores of 68, John became the first ex-President to win the annual Presidents’ Putter in the 98-year-history of the Leighton club.

Ryan Connew finished third with a nett 69, a shot clear of Simon Waller and Robert Cross, with Will Koch, Gareth Jenkins, Jack Jones, Simon Light,  Raymond Stewart and Phil Coumbe heading a chasing pack with nett 71’s.

There were nearest the pin prizes for Mark Leng, Mark Sandham, David Miles, Brian Pratt and Geoff Barker, while Chris Robinson was leading lady, with Josie Sheridan runner-up.

For good measure, competition winner John donated a voucher for two people to play three rounds of golf with a two day stay at the Old Thorns club in Hampshire. The prize was won by Martyn Flynn with the donation raising £900 for Keech Hospice Care.

Wife Sue carded an impressive 46 points to finish top scorer in Leighton Ladies July stableford, nine points clear of Maggie Shaw, with Joanna Cox third with 36 points.

Anne Tilbury was Division One leader with Carolyn Chamberlain and Christine Bateman all with 34 points; Maggie Shaw won Division Two with 37 points, with Marilyn Myatt runner-up with 34 points and Sandra Bellis third; while overall winner Sue topped Division Three  with 46 points, ten clear of  runner-up Joanna Cox with Oonagh Russell third.

[] Manny Barker, Gary Hart, Steven Tyas and Roger Hughes won Leighton’s Colin Wilson Remembrance Bowl with 127 points, beating Craig Custance, Michael Day, Grant Tibbett and Raymond Stewart on countback, with Tom Smith, Jordan Bush, Dan Spence and Dan Lewington third with 124 points.

PICTURE CAPTIONS:

[] Winner John Preston with Leighton President Trevor Stimpson,

[] Winner John Preston with club President Trevor Stimpson and runner-up Mark Sandham.