Somerset County Cricket Club licensee and bar manager Mike Smith has rounded off his season in style by winning the Courage Golf Day.

Whilst Somerset have struggled out on the pitch this season and been relegated in both the County Championship and the NUL National League Mike has enjoyed considerable success on the golf course in 2002.

His latest triumph came at Royal North Devon which is one of the oldest golf courses in the country and is situated near Westward Ho on Northam Burrows.

Mike who is a member of Minehead Golf Club where he plays off a handicap of twelve won the stableford competition with a score of 35 to head the field of well over forty entrants.

The bar manager who has become a popular member of staff since joining Somerset in April 1994 still lives in West Somerset and before joining the club he ran the Egremont Hotel in Williton and the Bicknoller Inn.

He swept the board at Royal North Devon by coming first in the individual competition, being a member of the winning three man team and also won the nearest the pin contest, to come away with a number of prizes including a cut glass Dartington Glass ice bucket, a Dartington Glass tankard and some golf balls.

One of his most memorable shots of the round came on the eighteenth when he drove towards the green with his six iron but when he approached the putting surface could'nt find the ball. After lengthy searching and momentary panic because he needed a par to complete a good card, a sheep that had strayed onto the green stood up to reveal Mike's lost ball!

At the County Ground Mike told me: "I am absolutely delighted with the way that I played in the competition. It's good to have something to celebrate at the end of a disappointing season for the club."

© SOMERSET