Shane braves the elements

GOLF: SHANE Schofield braved strong wins and hailstones to win the Lowe Trophy, Stamford’s first major of the year which attracted a full complement of members.

Schofield shot 79-12-67, and won a card play-off against Anthony Cavanagh (75-8-67) and third-placed Anthony Healy (85-18-67).

Schofield is the current matchplay champion at Stamford and was delighted to land the second major of his golfing career.

Stamford’s notorious eighth hole, stroke index one, proved to be a handful.

Schofield had to to play a second ball off the tee, but held his nerve to record a six on the difficult par four.

Of his round, he said: "My putting was stand-out – I couldn't miss.

“The greens were fantastic considering the winter we have suffered and that is testament to our excellent groundstaff.."


CROMPTON and Royton’s women’s section held an open shotgun event which raised £400 for the Scroungers Golf Society, who buy wheelchairs for children.

The winning team was Maureen Parker, Jean Clark, Vicky Akin and Sheila Short of Brookdale, while runners-up were Marjorie Bray and Lynn Truelove (Crompton and Royton), Mary Buckley (Oldham) and Mary Donnolly (Ellesmere).

THE Oldham and District Golf League gets underway next week with North Manchester and Stamford hoping to maintain their dominance.

The pair held sway in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ sections last season, topping the four divisions and meeting in both finals — Stamford winning the ‘A’ and North Manchester the ‘B’ titles, and Stamford ‘B’ going on to complete the league and cup double.

This keeps the two clubs apart for 2014 following the end-of season shuffle which saw the teams that finished first, fourth and sixth in the ‘A’ East Division now facing those who were second, third and fifth in the West standings.

The league make-up for 2014 is as follows:

East Division: Blackley, Crompton and Royton, Fairfield, Saddleworth, Stamford and Werneth.

West Division: Ashton, Brookdale, Denton, Dukinfield, North Manchester and Oldham.

Castle Hawk ‘B’, who stood in for Oldham ‘B’ in the 2013 season, have retained their place in an expanded seven-club ‘B’ section West Division.