A THREE under par 69 from Durham county player Steven Dance ensured he qualified first for the Durham County Golf Championships at Bishop Auckland.

The Ramside Hall golfer, who plays off a handicap of one, was in superb form in the qualifying round for the annual Stroke Play competition, to be played at South Moor Golf Club next weekend.

Dance's clubmates Jamies Birkbeck and Nigel Dodd both finished second and third respectively.

Last year's champion James Harper, of Seaton Carew, qualified automatcially.

Meanwhile, Billingham golfer Paul Oakley warmed up for a busy 2003 campaign by capturing the prestigious Durham County Boys Championship at Ramside Hall recently.

The 16-year-old fired rounds of 77 and 74 to lift the title and he finished two shots ahead of Castle Eden's Paul Frith and Stressholme's Adam Bates.

* The second week of the Teesside and District Union of Golf Clubs Inter Club League saw the entry of the Third Division teams.

And Wynyard started their campaign with the biggest win on the night over Middlesbrough Municipal and took a narrow lead in the standings. The night started well for the Muni with Steve Loughran overcoming Ryan Luke, but thereafter the scratch section players of Wynyard came to the fore and win followed win and Wynyard took the scratch points 10-2.

Middlesbrough also started well in the handicap section with a win by Simon Walker, but again Wynyard started to come back with victories from Martyn Jones and Peter Bryant and a halved game between Chris Wooley and Kevin Mannering. Middlesbrough took consolation with wins in the final two games of the card by Keith Harker and Paul Henderson to edge the handicap points 7-5, with the match ending 15-9 to Wynyard.

Blackwell Grange entertained Wilton in a match that looked initially to be heading in the vistors' favour. Honours were even until Wilton took two of the three remaining matches to take the scratch points 7-5. Things started to look black for the home side as both Wilton's R Daley and M Forsyth had wins, but they proved to be Wilton's last points as the remaining four Blackwell players won their games and the handicap section points 8-4 turning the match score to the home side by the narrowest of margins, 13-11.

The Third Division's other match saw Catterick at Dinsdale Spa with a contrast in fortunes for the scratch and handicap players of both clubs. Chris Carveth beat Ian Pattison, but wins by Nick Sanderson, Neil Hardy, Ian Peacock and Gary Lonsdale turned the match to Dinsdale. The final game in the scratch section went to Catterick's I Doughty to hold the home side's lead to 8-4.

Jon Robinson added a further two points to Dinsdale's score by winning the first handicap game, but then the five other players in the Catterick team had three wins and two halved games between them to completely reverse the situation to leave the handicap points 8-4 to Catterick and the match score all square at 12-12.

In the Second Division, Cleveland's match with Richmond was postponed, which gave Saltburn a chance to pull away from joint leaders Cleveland, although they apparently had a daunting task in their visit to Middlesbrough.

The balance swung to the visitors with narrow wins by Mike Preece and Ian Coombs but was then restored by R Palmer and Bob Barker's victories. It was left to the last two players for Saltburn, R Dunn and Malcolm Short, to win their games for Saltburn to finish 8-4 to the good in the handicap points and clinch the league's only away win of the night 14-10.

The Second Division's other match saw Barnard Castle go to Billingham and come away shell shocked. The match ended a whopping 22-2 to Billingham.

Bishop Auckland equalled Billingham's win in their First Division match at home to Hartlepool and in doing so the win catapulted Bishop to the top of the league with an eight points advantage.

Newly-promoted Darlington started their campaign at home to Seaton Carew. The normally dependable John Kirkpatrick went down to Hugh Hamilton but when Geoff Charlton and John Carter overcame Ian Hendry and Chris Chalk respectively, the home side edged into a lead that they never lost.

With two halved games and a further win by David Harper, the scratch points went to Darlington 8-4. As with the scratch section players, Guy Sowerby started the handicap section games with a win for Seaton which was followed by a halved game between Darlington's Alan Young and Ian Rowe, but then the next three games went to the home players leaving P Wilson to take the final points on the card for Seaton Carew and keep Darlington's advantage in the handicap section to 7-5. The match score of 15-9 gave Darlington a sound start in the First Division. Early leaders Eaglescliffe went down 14-10 to Castle Eden.

* North Durham Union of Golf Clubs results:

First Division: Consett 8, Houghton 6; South Moor 13, Washington 1; Wearside 7, Chester-le-Street 7; Durham 10, Whickham 4.

Second Division: Ravensworth 12, Boldon 2; Ramside 12, Seaham 2; South Shields 8, Heworth 6; Woodham 10, Crook 4.

Third Division: Ryton 11, Birtley 3; Brancepeth 7, Hobson 7; Roseberry 6, Whitburn 8; Mount Oswald 10, Garesfield 4.