MIKE Russell hit a stunning hole-in-one during a Texas Scramble competition organised by Calcot Park’s 20 Section captain Peter Cook.

Russell’s moment of magic came on the 17th, while the winning trio were Gareth Ellis-Unwin; James Strang and Peter Bamford, scoring a nett 63.8.

Second place went to the captain’s team, consisting of Graham Harwood, Drew Selwood and Cook. They shot a nett 64.7.

The fourth event in the Tom Evans Foursomes series and the first of 2017 was won by James Darvall and Mike Russell with 38 points.

A field of 120 players took part and the runners-up spot – one point back – was taken by Nick Bunyan and Mark Cossey, on countback from Strang and Head Professional, Gareth Johnston, and fourth-placed Vic Hunt and Neil Musselwhite.

Ray Manning and David Sullivan finished fifth with 36 points, while the special prize for last place was won by Steve O’Connor and Tony Swift.

  • THE new men’s captain at Reading GC, Geoff Chivers, performed his ceremonial drive-in recently.

More than 200 members, friends, family and guests braved extremely cold conditions, albeit on what was beautiful day, to support Chivers.

He was greeted on the first tee by Head Professional, Joe Templer, and past captains sporting their captain’s blazers.

After hitting his shot, Chivers said: “It was probably one of the best drives of my life – straight down the middle which was much to my relief.”

Chivers’ chosen charity for this year is the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

In the morning shotgun start, played with the best two scores from four counting, the winning team of Paul Belcher, Paul Morris, Trevor Johnson and Danny Walsh scored a staggering 95 points to take the trophy.