Husband and wife pairing of Sue and Paddy Lockwood of Newton Green won the Suffolk Winter Alliance better ball Stableford with 43 points at Diss on Sunday. They won the Millennium Cup.

East Anglian Daily Times: Sue and Paddy Lockwood of Newton Green with the Suffolk Winter Alliance Millennium Cup which they won at Diss. Photograph: BILL DARLINGSue and Paddy Lockwood of Newton Green with the Suffolk Winter Alliance Millennium Cup which they won at Diss. Photograph: BILL DARLING (Image: Archant)

Runners-up Andy Goodwin and Alex Bligh of Stowmarket had with 42 points.

They had 21 on their back nine beating third-placed Martin Mansfield and Gerry Scott of Haverhill who had 19.

There were no professionals in the field of 71. After a frosty start the temperature rose to the mid-teens,

Stoke by Nayland players are dominating the order of merit with two events still to play.

The top three are Guy Vandervord, Dean Brace and Tony Carman. Stoke players occupy the top seven places.

Sam Forgan of Stowmarket is the runaway professional winner.

The next Winter Alliance meeting will be at Flempton on March 7. The season ends with a pro-am at Haverhill on March 24.

Other scores

39: M Tibbenham and W Darling, A Cherry and D Lumsden, R Deasy and C Leys, J Mumford and P Brace, B Castle and T Denmead, T Warren and I Benson, I Smith and G Holland.

38: T Carman and T Samways.

37: R Walters and P Samain, C Leathers and M Eaton, R Davies and D Yates, J Mair and J Hastie, P Fairbrother and G Cutting, M Milner and R Hood.

36: L Hastie and E Bareham, T Archer and R Cramsie, D Brace and R Bland, L Osborn and T Etheridge, J Williams and J Smith, S Rex and T Lyons.

35: S Turner and P Bartlett, S Turner and K Ward. P Nuttall and J Craddock, C Briggs and D Simpkin, J Snow and M Baxter.

33: L O’Donovan and S Brown.

32: D and A Cunningham, G Evans and E Penfold.

31: A Gipson and I Bedford, J Patterson and R Brazier, G Borthwick and P Bartlett.

30: S Kidby and J Cunnell.

FORMER Zimbabwe and Hampshire cricketer Sean Ervine hopes to make a breakthrough as a professional golfer at the age of 36.

He has been doing warm-weather training on the Iberian peninsula.

He is among the entries for the PGA Europro qualifier at Caversham Heath on April 3 and 4. He missed qualification for the Mena Tour at the Ayla Golf Club in Jordan.

COLCHESTER’S Ben David has made a good start to his season on the Mena Tour. He lost in a play-off against Daniel Gaunt in the Al Zorah Open (UAE) when finishing at nine under par.

Mena Tour money list, in dollars, includes: Matthew Baldwin (Royal Birkdale) 18,000, Daniel Gaunt (Australia) 14,725, David 8,237, James Allan (Chelmsford) 3,322, Todd Clements (Braintree) 2,667.

JAMES Reiss and Monty Scowsill of Aldeburgh have teamed up to play in the 85th Sunningdale Foursomes to be played between March 12 and 15.

Simon Dainty of Stoke by Nayland has entered with one-handicap Sam Kinnane of The Warren. They often play in the Felixstowe Ferry Winter football events.

Rhodri Harston of Felixstowe Ferry now plays out of Muswell Hill.

He has entered with Tara Watters also a member of the Middlesex-based club.

Ben Kerr, now a teaching professional at Saffron Walden, used to coach Suffolk Golf Union juniors from the time he was at the West Suffolk Golf Centre near Mildenhall.

He has played at Sunningdale for several years. This year his partner is Nathan Day of The Millbrook.

Andrew George, head professional at Ely City, plays with Emily Slater of Gog Magog. There is a powerful professional pairing of Matthew Cort from the Midlands PGA and Robert Coles from Maylands.

Among others in the field are Ronan Rafferty, Mitch Kierstenson, David Higgins, Lee Scarbrow and Ben Pierleoni, a member of the England Boys’ squad.

FREDRIK Edmunds, a former Aldeburgh junior and son of Suffolk Ladies’ senior player Lottie, is now a professional golfer in Thailand.

He has played on various tours in the Far East including the Mena Tour and the All Thailand Tour.

He also teaches golf based in Bangkok and Hua Hin. He is well known at the Black Mountain Golf Club.

SUFFOLK PGA have their first outing of the new season tomorrow when 10 players take on Aldeburgh in a Winter Series order of merit event.

Tee-off times: 12.00: Ali Hall (Halesworth) and Will Farley (Rushmere). 12.07: Tim Cooper (Newton Green) and Andy Cotton (Ufford Park). 12.14: James Markham (Aldeburgh) and Luke Tyler (Bramford). 12.21: Simon Reeve (Aldeburgh) and Kelvin Vince (Rushmere). 12.28: Stuart Robertson (Ufford Park) and Andy Goodridge (Bury Golf Range).